1946 - 33rd Ceremony

The Best Years of Our Lives (Director: William Wyler)
Nominees: Notorious, A Matter of Life and Death, Great Expectations, Beauty and the Beast, Under the Bridges, It's a Wonderful Life, My Darling Clementine, Shoeshine, Pastoral Symphony, The Killers, The Big Sleep

Oscars pick: The Best Years of Our Lives
Nominees: Henry V, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Razors Edge, The Yearling

Oscar didn't get it wrong in 1946. William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives is deserving of every accolade. The film –about soldiers returning home from war- is poignant and wise, and while some films of this ilk become dated, "Years" remains powerful and relevant, even with its tidy ending (which by no means indicates it’ll be a tidy life from here on out). At the time, Billy Wilder called it the best directed movie he'd ever seen.

William Wyler was shooting for authenticity with this picture -- he had his principal actors purchase their own clothes, and he filmed in life-sized sets. He wanted the movie to play out in a realistic, naturalized way. Cinematographer Gregg Toland, with his deep focus techniques, and Oscar-winning editor Daniel Mandell, aid in this endeavor. As do the performances - lead by Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy, Fredric March and real life war vet, Harold Russell.

I see a few bloggers and the like will place the Christmas perennial It's A Wonderful Life in their top spot. And while it’s a goodie, I seem to be allergic to overreaching sentimentality and corn (my hang-up with Chaplin). It's A Wonderful Life has its dark edges, true - but that sticky Capra-Corn is had in heaping mouthfuls (and I mean, come on: So if George Bailey had never been born, the women in his life would have become prostitutes or librarian spinsters?)

I believe "Years" holds up better than "Wonderful" but is it the overall best? Its stiffest competition comes from Hitchcock's masterfully directed, wartime romance, Notorious, Powell and Pressburger’s ethereal A Matter of Life and Death, in which a pilot goes to Heavenly court to plead for his life. Jean Cocteau's surreal and soulful (as Tomatoes put it) Beauty and the Beast, Helmut Käutner's Under the Bridges and David Lean's fantastic adaptation of Charles Dickens Great Expectations - a UK production that won't be considered by the Academy until next year, as it didn't play in L.A. until June of 47.

Not only that but the year offered up gems like Howard Hawk's The Big Sleep, John Ford's My Darling Clementine, an adaptation of Ernest Hemmingway's The Killers, and the Postman Always Rings Twice with Lana Turner and John Garfield.

Difficult decision here but If I twist my own arm and force myself, it comes down to two: Notorious and The Best Years of Our Lives. And while I’m a Hitchcock man and find Notorious a nearly flawless production, I see no reason to kick Oscar simply for the sake of being contrary. Best Years of Our Lives is a brilliant motion picture (Roger Ebert called it "Modern, lean and honest." when he named it one of the all-time great movies in 2007).

Acting? I like all my winning and nominated performers, and I had a tight race at supporting actor - some real treats here... Claude Rains in Notorious, Lionel Barrymore in It's A Wonderful Life, Robert Livesey & Marius Goring in A Matter of Life and Death. In addition, I decided to give one of my rare, special Felix's to the stellar cast of The Best Years of Our Lives. Not only because they were taking up all the slots on my list of nominees, but because they deserved some kind of awards recognition.

Best Actor: James Stewart, It's a Wonderful Life
Honorable Mentions:
Pierre Blanchar, Pastoral Symphony * Humphrey Bogart, The Big Sleep * Alastair Sim, Green for Danger * Cary Grant, Notorious * James Baskett, Song of the South * Franco Interlenghi & Rinaldo Smordoni, Shoeshine * Sydney Greenstreet & Peter Lorre, Three Strangers & The Verdict

Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman, Notorious
Honorable Mentions:
Michèle Morgan, Pastoral Symphony * Olivia de Havilland, The Dark Mirror & To Each His Own * Donna Reed, It’s a Wonderful Life * Rita Hayworth, Gilda * Setsuko Hara, No Regrets for Our Youth * Joan Crawford, Humoresque * Lauren Bacall, the Big Sleep * Haruko Sugimura, Morning for the Osone Family

Supporting Actor: Henry Travers, It's a Wonderful Life

Supporting Actress: Jean Simmons, Great Expectations

Special Award - Best Ensemble: Best Years of Our Lives
Dana Andrews, Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Harold Russell, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, Cathy O'Donnell, Hoagy Carmichael, etc








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1945 - 32nd Ceremony

Children of Paradise (Director: Marcel Carné)
Nominees: Scarlet Street, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Rome, Open City, Brief Encounter, Red Meadows, Leave Her to Heaven

Oscars pick: The Lost Weekend
Nominees: Anchors Aweigh, The Bells of Saint Mary, Mildred Pierce, Spellbound

While it's showing its age, Billy Wilder's Lost Weekend was an important picture about alcoholism, and for the time, a solid choice by Oscar. However, aside from it and Mildred Pierce, I felt the Academy’s remaining nominations were a bit weakish. I prefer Rossellini’s neorealistic Open City (co-scripted by Fellini), David Lean's Brief Encounter, and Fritz Lang's second feature with the trio of Robinson, Bennett and Duryea, Scarlet Street. In which an older, rather pathetic Edward G. Robinson goes ga ga over trashy young Joan Bennett.

I would have chosen the Lang film, if not for the poetic genius of Children of Paradise, which many consider the greatest French film of all time. Carné’s masterpiece is set in the theatrical world, and thus an artificial air hangs over the entire production. With truth and illusion bleeding into both the onstage and offstage goings on. Despite its dreamy charms, there is something real in it. An honesty – as Terry Gilliam notes in his DVD introduction- that you don’t find in U.S. studio productions. As poetic as it is, Paradise doesn’t ring false, it’s not the gritty realism of a later French film like the 400 Blows, but it comes off just as authentic.

The story concerns a woman who draws the attention of several men, causing the ruination of a couple of them. The characters are based on real people. In fact, the real-life thief and killer in this film was the inspiration for Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov in Crimes and Punishment. The picture has a kind of melancholy magic to it, especially in the scenes with the pantomime (which I liked best). It runs about 3 hours, with the first half brighter and moving at a quicker pace - the second half, set several years later, has a darker, more leisurely style.

Watching them back to back, Scarlet Street is still something special, but Paradise is in another stratosphere. To select anything else would be akin to taking "How Green Is My Valley" over "Citizen Kane".

Best Actress: Gene Tierney, Leave Her To Heaven
Honorable Mentions:
Celia Johnson, Brief Encounter * Joan Bennett, Scarlet Street * Arletty, Children of Paradise * Maria Casarès, Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne * Peggy Anne Garner, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn * Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce * Judy Garland, the Clock * Wendy Hiller, I Know Where I'm Going * Greer Garson, The Valley of Decision

Best Actor: Jean-Louis Barrault, Children of Paradise

Honorable Mentions:

Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend * Edward G. Robinson. Scarlet Street * Pierre Brasseur, Children of Paradise * Aldo Fabrizi, Rome, Open City * Trevor Howard, Brief Encounter * Boris Karloff & Henry Daniell, The Body Snatcher * Dick Powell, Cornered * Robert Livesey, I Know Where I'm Going

Supporting Actor: Michael Redgrave, Dead of Night

Supporting Actress: Anna Magnani, Rome: Open City
also liked Angela Lansbury in the Picture of Dorian Gray and María Casarès in Children of Paradise

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1944 - 31st Ceremony

Henry V (Director: Laurence Olivier)
Nominees: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Woman in the Window, Laura, Jane Eyre, Murder, My Sweet, Gaslight, Lifeboat, María Candelaria

Oscars pick: Going My Way
Nominees: Double Indemnity, Gaslight, Since You Went Away, Wilson

I don’t do schmaltz, and the warmly received Oscar winner Going My Way with Bing Crosby was pure, unfiltered schmaltz. I do however dig Noir, and Noir hit Hollywood in a big way this year. These pictures –cynical, drenched in shadow, and often featuring voice-over narration- are about murder and mystery, and feature quick-talking guys who lose their heads over a captivating femme fatale. Film noir wasn't new but it was hot stuff in ’44.

There was Billy Wilder's dark sardonic Double Indemnity with Fred MacMurray as insurance salesman Walter Neff who falls for icy Barbara Stanwyck. Fritz Lang offered up Woman in the Window, with its nail-biting plot that breaks like a cold sweat. It stars Edward G. Robinson as the older man who takes a shine for a younger Joan Bennett, which gets him tangled up in murder. Otto Preminger's Laura, where sweet Gene Tierney bewitches Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, and Vincent Price, in a tale of jealousy and obsession. And Murder, My Sweet saw crooner Dick Powell changing his image playing Philip Marlowe.

But the movies I liked best went for laughs and drama over murder.

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek was Preston Sturges’ hilarious poke in the eye to the Hays office. With Miracle, he demolishes the censorship code, while keeping to it. It’s beautifully subversive and marked by madcap screwball antics as well as Preston’s sharp tongue and rapier wit. The film I rank slightly above it is Henry V.

Cinema's first great Shakespearean adaptation, was also jingoistic war propaganda, meant to rally English spirits during turbulent times. Though there's irony in the fact that Henry V casts Britain as an invading force – the dialog and performances, the music and camerawork (in particular the tracking shot that follows French horsemen riding into battle). The bright technicolor, and the sets and painted landscapes that were inspired by - and sometimes directly mimicked art from the Book of Hours - is so dazzling, so brilliantly realized that I willingly, and happily, went along with it... Even if there were times when I'd bristle at its romanticism (the French seem so delighted with their conqueror at the end), I appreciate that we are at least shown the human cost in scenes where we see bodies strewn across the battlefield.

In addition, I like the framing device Olivier employs which gives us a movie within a play. And though he takes liberties with the source material (not a big deal for me), I like that Laurence remembers the humor in Shakespeare; remembers that he was not a dry, deadly serious storyteller. Including these broad brushstrokes keeps things lively, especially in those scenes set within the confines of the Globe Theatre.

Acting: I know these are odd, non-traditional picks, but honestly I'm not overly fond of Double Indemnity (it's alright), and the leads didn't generate any heat between themselves to my eyes. Stanwyck was rather flat a femme fatale. Whereas Raines was a knock-out in Phantom Lady. Cherkasov? I find the performance, and those darting, bird-like movements of his, weirdly intoxicating.

Best Actor: Nikolai Cherkasov, Ivan the Terrible, Part I
Honorable Mentions:
Laurence Olivier, Henry V * Charles Boyer, Gaslight * Edward G. Robinson, The Woman in the Window * Dick Powell, Murder, My Sweet * Hans Albers, Great Freedom No. 7 * Laird Cregar, The Lodger * Clifton Webb, Laura * Pedro Armendariz, María Candelaria

Best Actress: Ella Raines, Phantom Lady (also, Hail the Conquering Hero)
Honorable Mentions: Tallulah Bankhead, Lifeboat * Judy Garland, Meet Me in St. Louis * Betty Hutton, Miracle of Morgan’s Creek * Joan Bennett, Woman in the Window * Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight * Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not * Ann Carter, Curse of the Cat People * Ilse Werner, Great Freedom No. 7 * Dolores Del Rio, María Candelaria

Supporting Actor: Edward G. Robinson, Double Indemnity

Supporting Actress: Diana Lynn, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek







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1943 - 30th Ceremony

The Ox-Bow Incident (Director: William A. Wellman)
Nominees: Day of Wrath, Shadow of a Doubt, Ossesione, The More the Merrier, Cabin in the Sky

Oscars pick: Casablanca
Nominees: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Heaven Can Wait, The Human Comedy, In Which We Serve, Madame Curie, The More the Merrier, The Ox-Bow Incident, The Song of Bernadette, Watch on the Rhine

Denied Casablanca, I struggled to find a suitable replacement. I considered Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. Featuring Joseph Cotton in a chilling, Oscar-worthy performance. Cotton himself was enough to get it a nomination... but other elements didn't work as well, even when allowing for the "Our Town" vibe of it. The romance with the cop --- heck, the cop, in general, didn't jibe. A minor quibble but enough to relegate the film to runner-up status. George Steven's wartime comedy, romance The More the Merrier, is another good one. But again, I just can’t see it as my Best Picture.

The top candidates I weighed in with were Luchino Visconti’s Ossesione – a rather Neo-realistic adaptation of the "Postman Always Rings Twice".  And Carl Theodor Dreyer's stunning Day of Wrath. (Edit: Watched the musical Cabin in the Sky on Oct 2018 and added it to my nominees. Some of it hasn't aged well, but the performances, from its all-black cast, are out of this world).

Wrath is a piece that explores forbidden love, repression, and paranoia, all wrapped around the matter of faith. I have to believe when Ingmar Bergman made the Seventh Seal, he had to have been inspired in some way by Dreyer. The camera work and deep, shadowy black and white cinematography bring to mind Bergman's work in the 50s. The story is a slow brewing one, and its psychological and sociological explorations left an indelible impression. I went back and forth between it and the Ox-Bow Incident, watched both again, and I feel they are each are worthy of the top prize. Ultimately I elected to go with the Wellman film.

Ox-Bow Incident is one of the saddest westerns I've ever seen. The movie has its humor, especially the opening scene where things are light-hearted and funny, but as it steamrolls towards its tragic end, it gets darker and more terrible. This stinging indictment against mob rule features an all-star cast, including Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan, and Anthony Quinn. Also, fans of the TV comedy, Mystery Science Theater 3000 might be interested in seeing Mary Beth Hughes (I Accuse My Parents, Last of the Wild Horses) in a small part.

Note: A few years after publishing this post, IMDB changed their date of release to Dec 4th 1942 (in St. Louis, Missouri) but they do not cite their source, or the circumstances or length of the showing (was it a day, a week? Was it a test screening?) Harry Morgan once spoke of the lukewarm response at a premiere viewing for industry insiders, was this in reference to the Dec 4th showing? The film was shelved for several months, before being shown in New York on May 8th, 1943. It was released to the rest of the U.S. on the 21st. I'm sticking with 1943 as that's when it played wide.

Best Actor: Joseph Cotten, Shadow of a Doubt
Honorable Mentions:
Victor Sjöström, Ordet * Roger Livesey, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp * Henry Fonda, The Ox-Bow Incident * Joel McCrea, The More the Merrier * Charles Laughton, This Land is Mine * Pierre Fresnay, Le corbeau & La main du diable * Orson Welles, Jane Eyre

Best Actress: Lisbeth Movin, Day of Wrath
Honorable Mentions:
Jean Arthur, The More the Merrier * Ida Lupino, The Hard Way * Ethel Waters, Cabin in the Sky * Joan Fontaine & Alexis Smith, The Constant Nymph * Ginette Leclerc, Le corbeau * Teresa Wright, Shadow of a Doubt

Supporting Actress: Jean Brooks, The Seventh Victim

Supporting Actor: Dana Andrews, The Ox-Bow Incident

I also liked Sydney Greenstreet in "Background to Danger"

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1942 - 29th Ceremony

Casablanca (Director: Michael Curtiz)
Nominees: Magnificent Ambersons, To Be or Not to Be, This Gun for Hire, Cat People, Talk of the Town, Bambi, The Glass Key

Oscars pick: Mrs. Miniver
Nominees: 49th Parallel, Kings Row, Magnificent Ambersons, The Pied Piper, The Pride of the Yankees, Random Harvest, Talk of the Town, Wake Island, Yankee Doodle Dandy

Okay, here’s where it gets weird. As mentioned, the Oscars go by Hollywood rules, a Best Picture nominee has to play in Los Angeles for a week to be eligible. The Felix's go by international rules: If you had a substantial run somewhere in the world, you’re eligible. Because of this, there will be a few oddballs. And here’s a biggie.

Casablanca had showings (primarily) in NY in Nov 1942 and ran for 10 weeks, but didn't get to L.A. until it was reissued later in 1943. That’s why you'll see Casablanca on critic's top 10 lists for 1942, though it was not acknowledged by the Academy until 43.  I'm sticking with its official release date of 1942.

So here we go. Even in acknowledging its plot holes, Casablanca was so clearly the best movie of the year, as well as one of the best of any year - though believe it or not, its win was seen as a bit of an Oscar upset over the dry Watch on the Rhine in 1943. Regardless, whether you put it in 1942 or 1943, no movie from either year offered the sublime craftsmanship of Casablanca. It was also a game changer for me as a film buff...

Casablanca was a film that so captivated my 8-year-old mind that instead of going out to play with my siblings and the neighborhood children, I stayed with the picture. It was a tough choice, those kids looked like they were having a blast - but I couldn’t tear myself away from this story, and that cool Bogart and that breathtaking Bergman. I remember my parents and grandparents coming home and finding me watching TV (this was a day and age before computers and video games), “What in the world are you doing indoors?” my father asked, a bit amused that his son was watching some old black and white movie that was probably over his head -- But not so much. I got it and was enthralled by the melodrama, the wartime intrigue and the dialogue that bubbled with wit, irony, and heartache. When an old flame walks back into Rick's life, the rush of longing, hurt and anger was palpable. It haunted me, and I point to that moment as the day I fell in love with motion pictures. Not simply as entertainment, but as an art form. 

Among my nominees: Magnificent Ambersons. Orson Welles’ follow up to Citizen Kane lost back-story and richer characterizations due to a studio mandated butchering, done while Welles was overseas. They even filmed and added that extra happier scene at the end while his back was turned. Despite this asshattery, Ambersons still manages to be magnificent.

Ernst Lubitsch's controversial political comedy To Be or Not to Be. Which is about a troop of actors who foil a Nazi plot. It’s an odd mix of the serious and the silly and it really comes to life whenever Jack Benny and Carol Lombard are on screen.

Aside from those two I also nominated the moody Cat People, as well as Ladd and Lake's first pairing in the noir hit This Gun for Hire, Disney's Bambi, and Talk of the Town, which starred Cary Grant.

The Academy's best picture winner, Mrs. Miniver is a good, though dated propaganda film. I wonder how she would have fared against Casablanca during the awards?

A fuller review of Casablanca.

🎭Acting! While I loved all my nominees, for my leading ladies it came down to two, Ingrid and Ginger. Bergman delivers the heavy drama, while Rogers shows off her impressive comedic skills, with a sprinkle of romance - she even dances a little, so you get a bit of the best of Ginger in the role. It was tough, but I think Ingrid will go on to even greater acting highs ("Notorious" chief among them) and selecting Ginger allows to me to award one of my favorite performers.

Best Actress: Ginger Rogers, The Major and the Minor 
Honorable Mentions: 

Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca * Carole Lombard, To Be or Not to Be * Simone Simon, Cat People * Ida Lupino, Moontide * Michèle Morgan, Joan of Paris * Ilse Werner, We Make Music * Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver * Veronica Lake, I Married a Witch

Best Actor: Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca (pictured on top)
Honorable Mentions: 

Monty Woolley, The Pied Piper & The Man Who Came to Dinner * James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy * Ronald Colman, Random Harvest * Jean Gabin, Moontide * Ichirô Sugai, Mother Never Dies

Supporting Actress: Agnes Moorehead, The Magnificent Ambersons

Supporting Actor: Claude Rains, Casablanca (pictured above) also Moontide, Kings Row, and Now Voyager (he had a great year)

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1941 - 28th Ceremony

Citizen Kane (Director: Orson Welles)
Nominees: The Lady Eve, The Maltese Falcon, Ball of Fire, Blind Venus, The Devil and Daniel Webster, Little Foxes, Sullivan's Travels

Oscars pick: How Green Was My Valley
Nominees: Blossoms in the Dust, Citizen Kane, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, the Maltese Falcon, One Foot in Heaven, Sergeant York, Suspicion  

Are you kidding me? This is a no brainer. How Green Was My Valley is a fine film, but fine vs. timeless all world classic one of a kind masterpiece? I wouldn't even rank the overly maudlin "How Green" as one of John Ford's top 5 or 7 movies, and its win reeks of Oscar politics. Since he lost for the ‘much superior’ Grapes of Wrath last year, they gave it to the lesser film the following ceremony. Again, not a bad film, but not as good a film as John Huston's Maltese Falcon, or Preston Sturges' delightful The Lady Eve, or even Howard Hawk's snappy Ball of Fire.

And none of them -no matter how wonderful they are- can hold a candle to the colossus that is Citizen Kane – not only for its breadth of technical achievement but for the wise and resonating human story that is as poignant and perceptive today as it was over 80 years ago.

Citizen Kane. Nuff said!

Update: Something else to say? In September 2025 Regal cinemas launched their "Month of Masterpieces", and the first I attended was on Sunday, the 7th, at 9:20 pm, with a showing of Citizen Kane; and what an experience - a true work of genius, where even its mistakes (the bird without an eye, the out-of-synch voices) adds to its legend, and it's mysterious, dream-like qualities. CKs reputation would make one think it a stodgy tragedy... but it's actually quite lively and amusing at the start - the wealthy and their absurdities are revealed in how oversized everything is, their collections, their mansions, or in the cavernous, near empty room (where voices echo), that houses Thatcher's unpublished memoires, it all comes off rather ridiculous (contrast that with the low ceilings and cramped, humble offices of The Inquirer). The music can be broad and comical; Kane's goofy theme song is almost akin to the numbers heard in Python's "Holy Grail". And while Agnes Moorehead brings a quiet dignity to her role in the first act, it's only after Charles marries that the movie sobers up; examines the nature of humankind, and the pain and pointlessness of it all.

And of course, the visuals are incredible - from the avant-garde look of Kane's final moments to Gregg Toland's breathtaking deep focus camerawork and noirish lighting - the reflections seen on various surfaces, the form and compositions within a frame - yeah, Kane is something else.

🎭 Acting! Bette Davis was killer in Little Foxes; it's one of my favorite performances from the actress. But Stanwyck owned 1941 with a pair of delightful comedic femme fatale roles. And while Bogart is incredible in Falcon - with that amused, confident smile - I prefer Welles as my lead actor, simply because I think he's asked to do more. He ages from 25 to 70, which he convincingly conveys both physicality and emotionally. We see him arrogant, tender, playful, cruel, and regretful.

Supporting is where it gets interesting. I had some difficulty finding a lone, standout actress. And there was a crowded field at actor, with Arnold & Huston in The Devil and Daniel Webster, and Lorre & Greenstreet in the Maltese Falcon. Lorre and Huston have their Felix's. So, I'll go with the magnetic Greenstreet, making his film debut at age 62. He's a real character among characters and much deserving of the award.

Best Actress: Barbara Stanwyck, Lady Eve (also Ball of Fire & Meet John Doe)
Honorable Mentions: Carole Lombard, Mr. & Mrs. Smith * Jean Arthur, the Devil and Miss Jones * Betty Field, The Shepherd of the Hills * Viviane Romance, Blind Venus * Bette Davis, Little Foxes * Ida Lupino, Ladies in Retirement * Michèle Morgan, Stormy Waters

Best Actor: Orson Welles, Citizen Kane (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions: 

Humphrey Bogart, The Maltese Falcon, High Sierra * Edward G. Robinson, The Sea Wolf * Charles Coburn, The Devil and Miss Jones * Henry Fonda, The Lady Eve * John Wayne & Harry Carey, The Shepherd of the Hills * Cary Grant, Suspicion * Peter Lorre, The Face Behind the Mask * Joel McCrea, Sullivan's Travels * Jean Gabin, Stormy Waters

Supporting Actress: Veronica Lake, Sullivan's Travels

I also liked Patricia Collinge, Little Foxes

Supporting Actor: Sydney Greenstreet, The Maltese Falcon (pictured above)






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1940 - 27th Ceremony

The Grapes of Wrath (Director: John Ford)
Nominees: Foreign Correspondent, Rebecca, The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, The Shop Around the Corner, Pinocchio, Nartaki

Oscars pick: Rebecca
Nominees: All This and Heaven Too, Foreign Correspondent, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Dictator, Kitty Foyle, the Letter, The Long Voyage Home, Our Town, The Philadelphia Story

The Academy spread the wealth this year. They gave Best Director to John Ford, Best Screenplay to Philadelphia Story and Best Picture to Rebecca.

I love Hitchcock's gothic Rebecca and his other nominee, Foreign Correspondent. While it’s not as elegant as Rebecca, Correspondent is good, solid suspenseful fun.  One of Disney’s best from their classic era is just behind them, the freaky Pinocchio. I also enjoyed Lubitsch's Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart and Howard Hawk's brilliant comedy His Girl Friday, with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell trading quick and clever quips.

But the best of the best was John Ford's adaptation of John Steinbeck's sociopolitical dust bowl drama The Grapes of Wrath. While Jane Darwell can get a bit weepy as Ma Joad, Ford and screenwriter Nunnally Johnson keep things sober and relatively unsentimental. Gregg Toland's cinematography delivers a natural authenticity to the picture and is marked by deep shadows and low key lighting.

The driving force behind the film was Henry Fonda's unforgettable turn as Tom Joad. His famous speech near the end of the movie was one of cinema's most stirring and powerful moments. It's remarkable that he didn't take home the Oscar for Best Actor. I like winner Jimmy Stewart, and he was good in The Philadelphia Story, but even he thought his good friend Fonda deserved the golden statuette.

Best Actress: Rosalind Russell, His Girl Friday
Honorable Mentions:
Bette Davis, The Letter * Margaret Sullavan, The Shop Around the Corner * Valerie Hobson, Contraband * Ingrid Bergman, June Night * Katharine Hepburn, The Philadelphia Story * Ginger Rogers, Kitty Foyle * Joan Fontaine, Rebecca

Best Actor: Henry Fonda, The Grapes of Wrath (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions:
Laurence Olivier, Rebecca * Conrad Veidt, Contraband * James Stewart, Shop Around the Corner & Philadelphia Story * Cary Grant, His Girl Friday & The Philadelphia Story * Edward G. Robinson, Brother Orchid

Supporting Actress: Judith Anderson, Rebecca

Supporting Actor: John Carradine, The Grapes of Wrath (pictured above)







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