Nominees: Out of the Past, Monsieur Verdoux, Odd Man Out, The Ball at the Anjo House, Daisy Kenyon, The Lady from Shanghai
Oscars pick: Gentlemen’s Agreement
Nominees: The Bishops Wife, Crossfire, Great Expectations, Miracle on 34th Street
Kazan's Gentlemen's Agreement is about a writer (Gregory Peck) who pretends to be a Jew in order to report on the prejudice he faces. While it was a significant picture in 1947, today it seems soft, it doesn't pack the punch it could have. Crossfire also addresses anti-Semitism, but it's wrapped around a murder investigation, and I liked it a bit more. I nominated Great Expectations in the year before, upon its British release and I think that's the best of Oscar's 5.
My nominations include Chaplin's controversial Monsieur Verdoux - controversial because the central character is a lady-killer. It’s a funny flick, and Martha Raye as one of Verdoux’s wives and intended victims is a hoot and a half (I love the scene in the boat). But of course, as often happens with Chaplin, the film stops being about Verdoux and becomes about Chaplin. And when he steps on his soapbox and blames society, eh, I wanted to puke. I hate when he goes down that self-aggrandizing path. And while it doesn't ruin the picture it does ruin his shot at winning the Felix.
Just behind Verdoux is Carol Reed's political thriller, Odd Man Out - It's Roman Polanski's favorite from Reed, he even prefers it to the Third Man. I don't agree, as it has a more theatric air to it than 3rd Man, but it's still a great one - a taut character study about an I.R.A operative on the lam. It stars James Mason in a breakthrough role.
In the end, it came down to two: Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus and Jacques Tourneur's film noir masterpiece, Out of the Past. As I've often done when things are this close, I had a little marathon… and came away from it none the wiser. Narcissus has the sheen of an art piece; it’s an erotically tinged, psychological story about Nuns who set up a hospital and school on a remote mountaintop in the Himalayas. The film is gorgeously shot by Jack Cardiff, and superbly acted, especially by Deborah Kerr. Who plays it reserved, but one can see the little cracks start to show.
Out of the Past is less art (though it is artistically photographed, by Nicholas Musuraca) and more steeped in rougher, B-movie roots. While not as elegant as Narcissus, it's just as amazing a picture. Robert Mitchum is at his coolest playing a guy who is trying to live a normal quiet life when his past comes back to haunt him. Loaded with tough guys (Kirk Douglas) and one of Noir's best femme fatales (Jane Greer), Out of the Past is worthy of the Felix. But when I try them both out in that top spot, Narcissus simply feels like the better fit, the better film.
For the second year in a row, I had an impossible choice, and it gets no easier on me next time as I have 4 bona fide classics to choose from, with yet another Powell and Pressburger movie in the middle of it.
Other movies I liked from 1947 (Not mentioned above): Nightmare Alley, Angel and the Badman, Kiss of Death, Body and Soul
Honorable Mentions:
Richard Attenborough, Brighton Rock * Pierre Fresnay, Monsieur Vincent * Ronald Colman, A Double Life * James Mason, Odd Man Out * Tyrone Power, Nightmare Alley * Charlie Chaplin, Monsieur Verdoux * Michel Simon, Panic * Sydney Greenstreet, That Way with Women * Charles Ruggles, It Happened on Fifth Avenue
Honorable Mentions:
Jane Greer, Out of the Past * Setsuko Hara, The Ball at the Anjo House * Joan Crawford, Possessed & Daisy Kenyon * Ann Sheridan, Nora Prentiss * Carol Marsh, Brighton Rock * Rita Hayworth, The Lady from Shanghai * Susan Hayward, Smash Up
Supporting Actress: Kathleen Byron, Black Narcissus (pictured above)
Note: I'm seeing conflicting release dates for Brighton Rock. IMDB says it premiered Jan 8th 1948, whereas Tomatoes puts it Nov 7th, 1947, while another source has it Dec 12 '47. Since it doesn't affect the winner either way, I'll nominate Attenborough & Marsh here.
