Nominees: M, Little Caesar, City Lights, The Public Enemy, The 3 Penny Opera, Tabu
Oscars pick: Cimarron
Nominees: East Lynne, The Front Page, Skippy, Trader Horn
Flush off the success of the short Un Chien Andalou, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali teamed up to offer a bit of subversive surrealism titled L'âge d'Or (Age of Gold)... which opens with documentary footage of scorpions, is bound by a thread of separated lovers - is political, provocative, anti bourgeoisie, anti-clerical, and deeply sacrilegious (Jesus plays the role of de Sade's literary serial killer, Duc de Blangis) and it made me laugh harder than I did during Chaplin's masterwork, City Lights (one of my nominees).
The friendship between Dali & Buñuel unraveled during production. They differed on what the film was supposed to be about (according to Buñuel, Salvador's intentions were to "expose the shameful mechanisms of contemporary society." For Luis, it was about passion - "the irresistible force that thrusts two people together, and the impossibility of their ever becoming one.") What emerges from their discord is a wicked and giddy madness that manages to blend both ideas: Sex, violence, repression, and hypocrisy play a big part, and in regards to the couple, the basic theme is that the desires of the individual will ever be frustrated by the will of governments, institutions and the social mores of the masses.
While it's no surprise that Oscar would avoid the film like the plague, I do find it odd that they bypassed the Chaplin vehicle. They also skipped both gangster films that I nominated (Edward G. Robinson’s star-making turn in Little Caesar / Jimmy Cagney's Public Enemy) and director Fritz Lang's M (which had several release dates. I'm going by its premiere in Germany). M was the strongest challenger for my top spot. Peter Lorre was incredible playing the child killer, the look of the piece is amazing. I felt some of the police procedural stuff was a bit dry, and Lang lingers a little too long on certain scenes but other than that it's a winner.
For its best picture, the Academy went with the overcooked western, Cimarron. The flick has some spectacular scenes (the land rush), but the story is scattershot and there’s a lot of racism in it and today many consider it one of the worst movies to win the award. Of Oscar's nominees, The Front Page is decent but not as good as the remake (His Girl Friday). Until 2018s Black Panther, Skippy was the only comic book/strip adaptation to earn a Best Picture nod from Oscar.
Supporting Actors: Lorre is one of those you could put in the supporting group, but like a couple other sites, I preferred him as my lead. There was a crowded field in that category - Harry Myers in City Lights, Dwight Frye in Dracula and Clark Gable in a Free Soul were several I considered for the award.
Honorable Mentions:
Edward G. Robinson, Little Caesar * James Cagney, The Public Enemy * Harry Baur, David Golder * Charlie Chaplin, City Lights * Bela Lugosi, Dracula * John Barrymore, Svengali * George Arliss, The Millionaire
Honorable Mentions:
Barbara Stanwyck, Miracle Woman * Lya Lys, L'Âge d'Or * Marie Dressler, Min and Bill * Helen Twelvetrees, Her Man * Sylvia Sidney, An American Tragedy * Louise Brooks, Prix de beauté * Jeanette MacDonald, Monte Carlo
