Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day Thirty-Four: Lets Go Outside

So we're going right back to the second Oscars ceremony and the first held in 1930. The Best Picture was won by The Broadway Melody, a film I am yet to watch, but the most historic film in that list has to be In Old Arizona. The film was the first ever Western to be filmed using sound or as it says in the picture 100% all-tallking and also the first ever sound film to use exterior locations. As it was concentrated on the production you can imagine the plot wasn't up to much. It basically deals with The Cisco Kid and Mickey Dunn, the man who's mission it was to track The Kid down and bring him to justice. The whole thing was complicated, or as complicated as it gets in this film, when The Kid's girl Tonia Maria gets involved. Tonia is in love with The Kid mainly because he brings her nice things from his hijacking escapades but when Dunn offers her a split of the reward he will get from bringing The Kid in she decides to side with and romance him as well. As she is the most manipulative character in the piece it is her, and not one of the two men, who gets shot and killed at the end.

Although the film didn't win Best Picture, or cinematography, direction and writing, it did pick up a Best Actor Oscar. Warner Baxter became only the second recipient of the award for his portrayal of The Kid and I have to say he deserved it. I'm guessing Baxter was a star of the silent era judging from his over-enthusastic body movements but he bought a likeable side to a character who is essentially the villain of the piece and who was almost more likeable than the hero, Dunn. While The Cisco Kid is charming and principled all the other characters are a little more brusque and manipulative. I'm guessing the moral of the tale is that we shouldn't always judge a person on their crimes but what they are like as a person. Or maybe I'm just reading a bit too much into it.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day Thirty-Three: Its all getting a bit ship

Its been a while since I've watched a winner and the Mutiny on The Bounty DVD has been lingering on the side since it was delivered from LoveFilm several weeks ago. Mutiny on The Bounty one the Best Picture Award at the 1936 ceremony beating off competition from films I've watched already including a Midsummer's Nights Dream, Captain Blood, Ruggles of Red Gap and Top Hat. Another film that I've already watched, The Informer, was nominated alongside Mutiny on The Bounty and was the big winner that year. In fact Victor McLaglen won Best Actor over three actors in Mutiny on The Bounty - Charles Laughton, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone. Having previously bigged up McLaglen's performance I'm now not entirely convinced that he deserved the award mainly because Charles Laughton's performance as the monsterous Captain Bligh was completely mesmerising. If the award for Best Supporting Actor was around then (it didn't come in till the year after) I think Laughton would've fit that role better. As you can probably guess from the title the plot revolves around the ship The Bounty and the mutiny that eventually occurs on it. That is mainly due to the way that Bligh tortures the sailors under his command and eventually Clark Gable's Officer Fletcher Christian decides enough is enough and sets Bligh adrift with a number of his supporters. Meanwhile Franchot Tone plays the man in the middle who is forced into mutiny and goes back to England to face his penalties at the end of the film.

For me the film was at its best in the scens on the ship with Laughton lashing the disobedient sailors and depriving them of food. He was absolutely brilliant in the role and I feel the film lags when he's not in it. Most of these scenes are off the ship in 'Tahiti' where both Christian and Tone's Byam fall in love with local girls. I found a lot of the portrayal of the natives insulting and their native ways were sneered upon. It is Tone rather than Gable who is the dashing male lead and is the more reasonable of the three men, meanwhile Gable gets to play the rebel and probably changes the most throughout the film. While The Informer was the big movie at that year's Oscars, the grand scale of Mutiny on The Bounty obviously shined over the gloomy 'Irish' scenery in John Ford's film. I certainly think this film was better but I don't know if I want to watch it again, however I have to watch the remake which was also nominated for the Oscar in the 1970s.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day Thirty-Two: Its all an Illusion

In the main Best Picture category it is very rare that a film that is completely in another lanuage, features in it. This is especially true since the academy intorduced the Best Picture not in the English Language award in the late 1940s. However from time to time there is a Cries and Whispers or a Crouching,Tigerr, Hidden Dragon that make it in and the first to do just this was Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion making the list in the 1939 category which was won by You Can't Take It With You. I am a little familiar with Renoir's work having studied early French cinema but I'd never seen this film. It concerns what life was like for French Prisoners-of-War during the First World War Jean Gabin's Marechal and Pierre Frenay's de Boeldieu both of whom get captured and along with other former officers plan to escape. The first half of the film sees the escape attempt foiled as they are moved to another POW camp which is claimed to be an unpenterable fortress. De Boldieu, Marechal and a third Rosenthal all plan an escape but De Boldieu decides to be the decoy and ends up getting shot by the remorseful German Captain. The final part of the film careers off and sees Marechal and Rosenthal's attempted escape which sees them living with a widowed farm-mistress and Marechal starts to fall for her. The end of the film sees the two men escaping into Switzerland as the Germans decide not to shoot them as they are no longer in Germany.

There's no denying that Renoir is a masterful director and every frame is artfully put together, the scenes which show the horrors of the camp are certainly the stand-out. However I found at times that the narrative was comprised in favour of the films aestethics. Parts of the film were the POWS were plotting early on were long and meandering and the romantic plot between Marechal and the Germa woman dragged towards its final stages. However these are minor niggles and overall the film was absolutely brilliant the acting was particularly masterful while Gabin was a standout Erich Von Stroheim as the German Captain was absolutely terrifying. Von Stroheim is probably most famous for his role as Max in Sunset Boulevard but he was just as captivating in this yet I'm guessing Oscar couldn't look past the subtitles. I'm surprised this was nominated to start off with so I don't think it had a chance of winning. But it obviously proves that Oscar was starting to become forward thinking at the end of its first decade.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day Thirty-One: More of Maurice

A third Maurice Chevalier film and the earliest one to feature in the Best Picture category. It also saw Chevalier pick up a Best Actor nomination. Chevalier is directed by long time collaborator Ernst Lubitch, who also picked up a Best Director Oscar nomination, as well as Jeanette MacDonald his leading lady in One Hour With You. The plot, if there really is one, sees Cheavlier's Parisian count being exiled to a fictional country and start a relationship with MacDonald's Queen Louise. For some reason Maruice Cheavlier is irrestible to any woman and they are soon married, but hilariously Chevalier then has to be an obedient husband, he soon realises that as prince consort he has no power and it is the Queen who makes all the decisions. This gender role reversal is the main basis of the second half of the film as Maurice becomes more and more disenchanted with the whole marriage as he feels it belittles his masculinity to have to run everything past his wife. However, Maurice is cleverer than he seems and his able to sort out all of Louise's financial wows and come up with a whole budget for the country, which is odd seeing as most of the time he is singing he doesn't seem to have a lot of time to do any maths. The end of the film sees Louise come around and let Maurice do whatever he wants which seems to be a lot more singing.

I think when sound first came into cinema people were impressed by just about everything but by today's standards these Maurice Chevalier films seem incredibly dated. Saying that The Love Parade has some good set pieces and is a lot more solidly directed than the other Chevalier films that I watched (which were made after this). The film has some brilliant set pieces and was rightfully nominated some technical awards for cinematography, sound recording and art direction. The plot maybe flimsy, the songs may drive you crazy but there's no denying that some of the musical numbers are well choreographed and well shot.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day Thirty: For What its (Dods)Worth

And we're into the 30th day of the challenge with the film that garnered the most nominations at the 1937 ceremony, Dodsworth. I actually had never heard of this film before but it is one of the best rated films of the 1930s on imdb and also has a higher rating than that year's winner - The Great Ziegfeld. While Ziegfeld is a sprawling epic chronicling thirty years of one man trying to survive the changing face of the entertainment industry, Dodsworth is a much more personal piece about one man trying to rediscover himself following early retirement and losing his wife. In terms of Oscar history this was also a landmark film as it gave William Wyler, the most nominated director in Oscar history, his first nod. Wyler would later go onto direct three Best Picture Winners but arguably Dodsworth should've won as well. Walter Huston, nominated for Best Actor, played Sam Dodsworth an industrialist who made his fortune in motors but is convinced by his wife Fran not to take a promotion and instead travel around Europe with her. Once on their travels Dodsworth tries to become a new man learning the languages and getting excited by seeeing new sights. But early one we learn that Fran has ideas above her station and starts to become bored with Sam instead finding solace in a number of men including Capt. Lockheart (an early role for David Niven) and a man named Arnold. Her relationship with Arnold makes her seperate with Sam for a time as he goes back to America and she is forced to finish her relationship with Arnold when her and Sam become grandparents. Sam and Fran are briefly reunited but Fran falls in love again this time with a German nobleman and makes plans to divorce Sam. Sam has to stay in Europe to finalise his divorce and ends up in Italy where he encounters Edith who he and Fran met while travelling to Europe. When Fran's new marriage falls through she tries to reconcile with Sam but Sam decides that Fran isn't the woman for him and he would be much happier with the uncomplicated Edith and the last reel of the film sees them together in Italy.

Dodsworth is a multi-layered film, well-written and often subtely acted film it doesn't feature melodrama or big musical numbers or massive set pieces, instead it is a character study about a very simple man and a woman who is worried about getting old and just wanting to have fun elsewhere. The relationship between Sam and Fran is never quite concrete but it is clear he is more in love with her than she is with him, she mainly loves his money and what it can do for her. In my opinion Walter Huston's performance is what holds the film together and he was a lot more deserving of a Best Actor Oscar than Paul Muni in The Story of Louis Pasteur other performances that are noteable are that of former silent movie star Mary Astor, in her first major sound role as the divorcee Edith, her first scene in which she meets Sam for the first time is absolutely brilliant and also Maria Ouspenskaya as Fran's perspective mother-in-law the almost monsterous Baroness Von Obersdorf a role that got her a nomination in the first ever Best Supporting Actress category, although I believe Astor should've been in there as well. The film did win one award, Best Art Direction, but deserved so much more. Although Wyler would go onto find larger success directing such classics as Roman Holiday and Ben Hur, Dodsworth has to be put in that category as it is truly a great film.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day Twenty-Nine: Another Dose of Double D Action

In today's world that has lost its innocence if a film was released today called 100 Men and a Girl and the poster says of its leading lady, 'she thrills you again', you'd immediately think that it was a dodgy top shelf release. Although in the more innocent times of the mid-1930s, 100 Men and a Girl was another film in the cannon of Deanna Durbin who I previously became aware of when I watched Three Smart Girls. As Durbin had a constant stream of films released I'm guessing most of them had a similar theme in which adults got in trouble and Durbin saved the day. In Three Smart Girls she had help from her on-screen sisters here she is all on her own. The film sees Durbin's Patricia help out her father, an out-of-work trombonist by helping to organise an orchestra for unemployed musicians with the help of a rich old lady named Mrs. Frost. However, the day the orchestra is about to begin Mrs. Frost goes away and it is Mr. Frost, who is unaware of the situation, who Patricia turns to but he turns her away thinking that it is also some kind of pratical joke set-up by one of his rich friends. The film has many cases of mistaken identity and Patricia generally saving the day eventually getting famous conductor Leopold Stowtski (playing himself) to postpone a European tour so Mr. Frost will be appeased and the orchestra can go on. So Durbin saves the day and everybody is happy

Just as with Three Smart Girls, there are several opportunities for Durbin to break out into song and because this film is all about music she sings quite a fair bit. There's no denying that Durbin has a fine pair of lungs on her but it just seems that it splits up the narrative structure a little bit. There is also a taxi driver who keeps popping up throughout the film and just keeps driving Patricia around and singing to himself. Although I wasn't much for Three Smart Girls I at least found it bearable but 100 Men and A Girl is shorter and has less of a plot. But for some reason it was nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture. The others were for Editing and script (both underseved) and. for a film all about music, it was nominated for sound recording and won best score for Charles Previn a composer who had almost 400 credits to his name between 1936 and 1966. I also wasn't aware at the time I watched the film, that Stowtski was actually a composer and famously conducted most of the music in Disney's Fantasia. Durbin was one of those stars who stopped working after her childhood was behind her, so thankfully I won't have to watch any more of her singing and generally saving the day.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day Twenty-Eight: The Butler Did It

In 1934, Charles Laughton won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Private Life of Henry VIII which cemented his career and made him a big name in Hollywood. Fast forward two years and Laughton stars in two films both nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. One was eventual winner Mutiny on The Bounty which got him a Best Actor Nomination, the other was culture clash comedy Ruggles of Red Gap, a film that gives us very old school humour and presents us with several sterotypes in order to give us the desired comic effect. Laughton plays Ruggles, a man servant to an English lord who is lost in a card game to a ghastly American couple who have come into money and have ideas above their station. While the wife wants their money to improve their lifestyle, the husband would rather stay grounded and be a rich cowboy wearing completely checked suits and sporting a giant moustache. The first half of the film takes place in Paris in which Ruggles is encouraged to relax by the husband and he gets him to start drinking which doesn't sit well. Ruggles is certainly taken back to Red Gap in Washington where he meets the wife's brother-in-law who also has aspirations above his station. While the wife and brother-in-law expect Ruggles to stay true to his manservant roots the rest of the population of Red Gap are quite happy for him to become a new man. The comedy takes an unexpected turn when Ruggles falls for a local girl and also gets mistaken for an English colonel an event which leads to him being sacked by the brother-in-law. Ruggles then finally finds himself becoming more independent and, in probably the film's finest scene, is the only one in a bar full of Americans to be able to remember Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Adress. This inspires him to open his own restaurant and at the end he is congratulated by his old boss for making a success of his life.

Ruggles of Red Gap is a very simple film and one that would never be nominated for an Oscar today although the high standard of the acting puts it ahead of any modern culture clash comedies. The Americans are either a little bit stupid or a little bit stuck-up, the French are all very randy and the British are incredibly reserved. Laughton's performance is brilliant and his transformation from obedient manservant to someone who is able to embrace Red Gap as his new home is just fantastic. Mary Boland and Charles Ruggles are also very good as the tiresome Floods, Boland especially excels as the nouveau-riche monster. Overall very enjoyable and charming comedy but one, it seems, that was used to bump the Best Pictue category up to ten as it was not nominated for any other awards.