Academy Award winners – Page 4

1942: Mrs. Miniver or Sullivan’s Travels or the Magnificent Ambersons

:Mrs. Miniver: In the event you’ve ever wondered where the “Keep Calm and Carry On” motto comes from, well, this movie might as well be it (although that motto does not actually appear in this flick). The movie is a bit of war propaganda, shining a light on the best that our posh WW IIContinueContinue reading “1942: Mrs. Miniver or Sullivan’s Travels or the Magnificent Ambersons”

1941: How Green Was My Valley and Citizen Kane

:How Green Was My Valley: I came to this movie prepared to hate it and with the battle cry: Bronwen Morgan is not a blonde!!!!! (At least not in my mental image.) what’s more Angharad and Mr. Gruffyd are not the main characters of the story yet the actors get top billing! If “favorite” isContinueContinue reading “1941: How Green Was My Valley and Citizen Kane”

1940: Rebecca and The Grapes of Wrath

:Rebecca: This was Hitchcock’s first American film and his only best picture Oscar. He never won for best director although he was nominated several times. What a hose job. Rebecca was a wonderful flick. Laurence Olivier played the frosty, imperious, tortured Maxim deWinter, Joan Fontaine (Olivia de Havilland’s sister) his innocent, lost young wife and JudithContinueContinue reading “1940: Rebecca and The Grapes of Wrath”

1930s Wrap Up

As we finish the 1930s and my comparison of all of the academy award winners for best picture as well as all of the movies that filmsite.org posits *should* have won in each year, the movies that made the greatest impression on me are below. The bulleted movies rank in Snakeladylibrarian world as “movies IContinueContinue reading “1930s Wrap Up”

1939: Gone With the Wind and the Wizard of Oz

: Gone with the Wind : This is a really tricky movie to admit to liking. The racial stereotypes and mythical lies of the “Old South” on display make me want to say: This movie is just not cool. Look elsewhere. But in all honesty I can’t. I’m utterly swept up in the romance onContinueContinue reading “1939: Gone With the Wind and the Wizard of Oz”

1938: You can’t take it with you and The adventures of Robin Hood

: You Can’t Take It With You : Oh joy. Another “zany” one by Frank Capra. This one starred a young Jimmy Stewart, another of my favorite actors, but I actually fell asleep the first time through. It could not hold my attention in a positive way. The last zany Capra Best Picture winner wasContinueContinue reading “1938: You can’t take it with you and The adventures of Robin Hood”

1937: The Life of Emile Zola and The Awful Truth and Lost Horizon and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Sorry about the delay on these award winners; I’ve been watching ahead and got behind. :The Life of Emile Zola: This movie itself had all of the common features of 1930s movie making and culture that have caused them to be so foreign to me that I can’t relate to them. I’m not a particularlyContinueContinue reading “1937: The Life of Emile Zola and The Awful Truth and Lost Horizon and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”