Category Archives: Academy Award winners

1949: All the King’s Men or Gun Crazy

:All the King’s Men: This Best Picture winner was engaging, had wonderful pacing, and a storyline that really moved. I can definitely recommend it. The acting was also top notch and two additional academy awards for acting were granted to this picture. One went to Broderick Crawford for his depiction of protagonist Willie Stark and theContinueContinue reading “1949: All the King’s Men or Gun Crazy”

1948: Hamlet or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or Johnny Belinda

:Hamlet: Not available via Netflix :The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: This is a morality tale about the evils of greed. When I first received this movie in the mail, I thought it was going to be a western. But one of my colleagues that I play euchre with during Friday lunch pointed out thatContinueContinue reading “1948: Hamlet or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or Johnny Belinda”

1947: Gentleman’s Agreement and a real life story about Snakeladylibrarian at work

:Gentleman’s Agreement: This movie is apropos of a real life situation I’m facing. “What did you do this weekend?” a friend and colleague asked me the Monday after Easter. “I don’t celebrate Easter,” I said easily, and smoothly changed the subject by saying we’d gone to the park with a friend the day before toContinueContinue reading “1947: Gentleman’s Agreement and a real life story about Snakeladylibrarian at work”

1946: The Best Years of Our Lives and It’s a Wonderful Life and Notorious

1946 singlehandedly restores my faith in classic movies!! :The Best Years of Our Lives: This Academy Award winning movie followed the lives of three men returning from service in WW II to their home town, Boon City, and the hardships they faced: alcoholism, broken marriages, fitting in with significant physical disabilities (one man had lostContinueContinue reading “1946: The Best Years of Our Lives and It’s a Wonderful Life and Notorious”

1945: The Lost Weekend

:The Lost Weekend: I came at this film with great trepidation. This would be the tell. This would be the moment I’d been waiting for. I was going to compare The Lost Weekend with the modern-day television show Nurse Jackie and their treatment of addiction. This would be where the wheat was separated from the chaffContinueContinue reading “1945: The Lost Weekend”

1944: Going My Way or Double Indemnity

:Going My Way: Remember how I said in my 1930s wrap-up that I wanted movies that showed me how to be a better person? Well, this movie delivers on that but boy was it boring! This is the tale of a church deeply in debt with an elderly priest at the helm. The bishop sendsContinueContinue reading “1944: Going My Way or Double Indemnity”