1941: How Green Was My Valley

Maureen O'Hara and Walter Pidgeon

The Best Picture Oscar for 1941 was awarded to 20th Century Fox's "How Green Was My Valley." It also won Best Director (John Ford), Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Black-and-White Cinematography (Arthur Charles Miller), and Best Black-and-White Art Direction, Interior Design (Richard Day, Nathan H. Juran, and Thomas Little).  It was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay (Philip Dunne), Best Supporting Actress (Sara Allgood), Best Film Editing (James B. Clark), Best Dramatic Score (Alfred Newman), and Best Recording Sound (Edmund H. Hansen).

"How Green Was My Valley" is an epic snooze-fest of a family portrait of the Morgans, who lived in South Wales in the 19th century.  The family's patriarch is Gwilym Morgan (Donald Crisp), and the matriarch is his wife Beth (Sara Allgood).  They have six sons - Huw (Roddy McDowall), Ivor (Patric Knowles), Ianto (John Loder), Davy, (Richard Fraser), Gwilym, Jr. (Evan S. Evans), and Owen (James Monks) - and one daughter, Angharad (Maureen O'Hara).  The action of the film (such as it is) is seen largely through the eyes of Huw, the youngest son.

There are a lot of plot-lines that get started and then never really go anywhere.  Central to the town is the nearby coal-mine, where all the Morgans work.  When the owner of the mine suddenly decreases wages, the older Morgan boys, in defiance of their father, organize a strike.  Beth Morgan makes an impassioned speech that no one had better bring harm to her husband, then promptly falls into a freezing creek.  That's pretty much the end of that plot-line.

But then Huw jumps into the creek to save his mother and as a result is temporarily paralyzed.
 Meanwhile, the town's new preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon) and Angharad share a mutual attraction.  Mr. Gruffydd helps with Huw's recovery, which only heightens Angharad's attraction to him.  But, as a member of the clergy, Mr. Gruffydd won't marry, so Angharad marries the son of the owner of the mine, relocates out of the country, and that's pretty much the end of that plot-line.

Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, and Sara Allgood

After Huw is rehabilitated, he is sent away to school, where he immediately gets his ass kicked by not only his fellow students, but his teacher as well.  A boxing instructor with the very Star Wars name of Dai Bando is called in to teach Huw to defend himself.  Huw takes care of the school-boys, and Dai Bando takes care of the teacher.  When Huw is offered a scholarship to continue his education, he declines, and joins his father and brothers in the coal mine, thus ending that plot-line.

In the end, the idyllic valley where Huw grew up is forever polluted by waste from the coal mine, so Huw leaves, never to return to again.

Zzzzzzzzz.

1940: Rebecca

The 13th film to win the Best Picture Oscar was 1940's "Rebecca," produced by Selznick International Pictures.  It also won Best Black and White Cinematography (George Barnes), and was nominated for Best Director (Alfred Hitchcock), Best Actor (Laurence Olivier), Best Actress (Joan Fontaine), Best Supporting Actress (Judith Anderson), Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison), Best Film Editing (Hal C. Kern), Best Original Score (Franz Waxman), Best Black and White Art Direction (Lyle R. Wheeler), and Best Special Effects (Jack Cosgrove and Arthur Johns).

The film begins in Monte Carlo, where society dowager Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates) is vacationing with her paid companion (Joan Fontaine).  When the grieving widow Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) meets the young companion, he begins to court her, and within a few weeks they have fallen in love and married.  Maxim takes the second Mrs. de Winter (she is never referred to by any other name) back to his palatial estate, Manderley, which is overseen by the icy housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson).

Joan Fontaine and Florence Bates

Although she has been dead for a year, Maxim's first wife Rebecca's presence is everywhere.  He monogram is on nearly every item in the house, and Mrs. Danvers has preserved her bedroom and study as a sort of shrine.  Overwhelmed by her position as mistress of the estate, the second Mrs. De Winter begins to doubt her husband's love for her, convinced that he still deeply loves Rebecca.  Mrs. Danvers, for her part, adds fuel to those doubts by constantly talking about how beautiful, smart, and beloved Rebecca was.

Wanting to make her husband happy, the second Mrs. de Winter hosts a costume ball.  She decides to design her own costume and surprise Maxim with it.  Mrs. Danvers suggests she copy a gown worn by one of Maxim's ancestors in a portrait that hangs at Manderley.  This is indeed what the second Mrs. de Winter does, but when she makes her appearance at the ball, everyone is mortified: it's the same costume Rebecca had worn at the previous year's ball.  She confronts Mrs. Danvers who tells her she'll never be able to take Rebecca's place, and nearly convinces her to leap to her death.  But in that moment, a flare signals that a ship has hit the rocks, and everyone's attention is diverted to that situation.

During the rescue, another boat is discovered at the bottom of the sea: the sailboat Rebecca was on when she drowned.  And, despite Maxim having identified and buried another body in the family cemetery, Rebecca's body is also found on the boat.

Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, and Judith Anderson

Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier

When the second Mrs. de Winter finds Maxim in the boathouse, he makes a confession to her: he mis-identified the body in order to hide the shocking truth:  he hated Rebecca.  She had informed him only days after their wedding that she had not intention of ending her wanton ways, and indeed continued to have affairs throughout their marriage.  Publicly, their marriage was seen a ideal, but privately it was a sham.  On the night that Rebecca died, she'd confronted Maxim with the news that she was pregnant with a child that wasn't his, and how delighted she was that her son would grow up to inherit Maxim's beloved Manderley.  During the argument that followed, Rebecca fell and hit her head, killing her instantly.  Maxim then
put her body on board the boat and scuttled it.

The ensuing investigation points to the idea that Rebecca had committed suicide by sabatoging her own boat.  But when the father of the child she'd been carrying, Jack Favell (George Sanders) produces a note written by Rebecca that dispels that notion, with which he attempts to blackmail Maxim.  Maxim notifies the police, and he is accused of murdering Rebecca.  Favell reveals that Rebecca had been seeing a doctor in London during her pregnancy.   When the doctor is interviewed, the full truth finally comes out: Rebecca was not in fact pregnant, but suffering from a late-stage cancer, with a prognosis of only months to live.  Her confrontation with Maxim had been an attempt to get him to murder her, as a passive form of suicide.

When the investigation is finally concluded, Maxim returns to Manderley, only to see it engulfed in flames.  The deranged Mrs. Danvers would rather see Manderely destroyed than to see Maxim and his wife happy there, so she burnt it to the ground.  The second Mrs. de Winter escapes the inferno, but Mrs. Danvers does not.  Although Manderley is forever gone, it is presumed that the de Winters lived happily ever after.

1939: Gone With the Wind

The Best Picture Oscar for 1939 was awarded to "Gone With the Wind," produced by Selznick International Pictures and MGM. It set the record for most nominations and wins for one film.  The nominations include Best Actor (Clark Gable), Best Supporting Actress (Olivia deHavilland), Best Visual Effects (Jack Cosgrove, Fred Albin, and Arthur Johns), Best Original Score (Max Steiner), and Best Sound Recording (Thomas T. Moulton).  Wins include Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel - the first African-American Oscar winner), Best Director (Victor Fleming), Best Adapted Screenplay (Sidney Howard), Best Color Cinematography (Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan), Best Film Editing (Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom), Best Art Direction (Lyle Wheeler), and two special achievement Oscars: outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood (William Cameron Menzies), and pioneering in the use of coordinated equipment (Don Musgrave and Selznick International Pictures).  Whew!  That's a lot of awards!

Since this blog is really just for my benefit, I'm not going to write much about this film, as I've seen it at least a dozen times, and it's already one of my all-time favorite movies.

Hattie McDaniel

Just one interesting note, though, that I only became aware of through this project:  Harry Davenport (Dr. Meade) appeared in three consecutive Best Picture Winners.  He was the Chief of Staff in "The Life of Emile Zola," and the Night Court Judge in "You Can't Take it With You."  How about that?

Vivien Leigh, Olivia deHavilland and Leslie Howard

Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh

1938: You Can't Take it With You

James Stewart and Jean Arthur

The Best Picture Oscar for 1938 went to Columbia Pictures' "You Can't Take It With You."  The film also won Best Director (Frank Capra), and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Spring Byington), Best Writing (Robert Riskin), Best Cinematography (Joseph Walker), Best Film Editing (Gene Havlick), and Best Sound Recording (John P. Livadary).

Ah, another delightful light comedy directed by Frank Capra - such a treat!  The stars this time around are a very young James Stewart and Jean Arthur as lovers from different social classes. As with Gable and Colbert in "It Happened One Night," the stars enjoy great on-screen chemistry.

The story begins with Anthony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold), a successful banker who is seeking to build a munitions factory.  In order to do so, he must acquire several residential properties, but there is one home-owner who refuses to sell: "Grandpa" Martin Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore).  Grandpa is the patriarch of a free-spirited household where everyone only does what truly makes them happy and pursues their own unique brand of creativity.  The merry band of
"weirdos" includes Grandpa's daughter Penny Sycamore (Spring Byington), who has taken to writing plays only because a typewriter was once erroneously delivered to her (later in the film she returns to a previous hobby of painting); her husband Paul Sycamore (Samuel Hinds), who manufactures fireworks in the basement; their daughter Essie Carmichael, an aspiring dancer who also produces candies; Essie's husband Ed (Dub Taylor) who plays the xylophone; and Essie's sister Alice (Jean Arthur), the least eccentric of the family, who works as a stenographer for the son of Anthony P. Kirby, Tony Kirby (James Stewart).  Other unrelated members of the household include Potap Kolenkhov (Mischa Auer), Essie's Russian dance instructor whose opinion of everything is "it steenks;" and Mr. Poppins (Donald Meek) as a former accountant who quits his job in favor of "making things up;" and Mr. DePinna (Halliwell Hobbes), who prints the advertising campaigns for the fireworks. There are also the servants Rheba (Lillian Yarbo) and Donald (Eddie Anderson).

When Tony proposes to Alice, she insists that their families meet each other, and invites Tony to dinner at her home.  Wanting his snobbish parents to see Alice's family as they truly are, he intentionally brings his parents on the wrong night.  Alice's family is in full "free-spirit" mode, and the evening does not go well, with everyone ending up in jail.

Halliwell Hobbes, Spring Byington, Dub Taylor, Ann Miller, and Mischa Auer

There's no point in going over each and every twist in the plot - the outcome is what you'd expect.  The senior Kirby comes to realize there's more to life than money, and that friends and passion are what really make life worth living.  Despite their ups and downs, and their seemingly insurmountable differences, the young lovers are allowed to be together at last, living happily ever after.

I thought this was a thoroughly delightful film.  It was charming, sweet, and funny.  I must say, though, I'm surprised at Spring Byington's nomination for Best Supporting Actress.  She wasn't bad, mind you (no one in the cast was), but it seems to me that others of the "eccentrics" stood out more than she did, particulary Donald Meek as Mr. Poppins and Lillian Yarbo as the maid Rheba.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed "You Can't Take It With You."

1937: The Life of Emile Zola

The Best Picture Oscar for 1937 went to the  Warner Brothers biopic "The Life of Emile Zola."  It also won for Best Supporting Actor (Joseph Schildkraut) and Best Screenplay (Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, and Norman Reilly Raine).  It was also nominated for Best Director (William Dieterle), Best Actor (Paul Muni), Best Art Direction (Anton Grot), Best Score (Max Steiner), Best Sound Recording (Nathan Levinson), Best Original Story (Heinz Herald and Geza Herczeg), and Best Assistant Director (Russ Saunders).

I found this film to be dreadfully dull.  It begins in 1862 with Emile Zola (Paul Muni) and Paul Cezanne (Vladimir Sokoloff) sharing a run-down studio apartment in Paris.  Zola writes a scandalous (but best-selling) book about the underbelly of Paris called "Nana."  He continues to write and becomes a huge, wealthy success, finally marrying his fiance Alexandrine (Gloria Holden).  Cezanne - still a struggling painter - decides to leave Paris for the south of France, but not before telling Zola that his success has made him complacent, no longer taking on social and political issues.

Paul Muni and Gale Sondergaard

Meanwhile, it comes to light that there is a traitor among the officers of the French Army.  Going on nothing more than the fact that he's Jewish, the Army convicts  Captain Albert Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut) of the crime, and banish him to the prison on Devil's Island, in South America.
 Eventually, Col. Picquart (Henry O'Neill) discovers evidence implicating Major Esterhazy (Robert Barrat) as the actual spy, but is ordered by his superiors to remain silent, in order to avoid embarrassing the French military.

Dreyfus's wife Lucie (Gale Sondergaard) asks Zola to take up her husband's cause. Though he is reluctant to give up his life of luxury, he sees the injustice, and pens an article for the newspaper accusing the Army of a massive cover-up.  He is charged with libel.

Then there are long and confusing courtroom scenes, but in the end Zola is found guilty.   Rather than serve his prison term, he flees to London so that he can continue to write about the Dreyfus Affair.   Eventually, new administration admits that Dreyfus was innocent, the officers who were involved in the cover-up either commit suicide or resign, Dreyfus is returned to the France, given a promotion in the Army and knighted as a member of the Legion of Honor.  At his ceremony, Dreyfus wonders why Zola did not attend, and at that moment the newspaper boy announces the headline, "Zola Found Dead!"  He had died of carbon-monoxide poisoning, thanks to a faulty stove.

I think the film would have been better - or at least more interesting - if they'd concentrated more on the Dreyfus Affair than, well, the life of Emile Zola.  The pace of this film is very slow, and filled with lots of flowery speeches about liberty, and justice, and the power of ideas, and blah blah blah.

Not a great one!

1936: The Great Ziegfeld

The ninth Best Picture Oscar winner was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "The Great Ziegfeld," from 1936.  It also won  Best Actress (Luise Rainer) and Best Dance Direction (Seymour Felix).  It was nominated for, but did not win, Best Director (Robert Z. Leonard), Best Art Direction (Cedric Gibbons, Eddie Imazu, and Edwin B. Willis), Best Film Editing (William S. Gray), and Best Original Screenplay (William Anthony McGuire).

Let me start by saying LUISE RAINER, LUISE RAINER, LUISE RAINER.  She made this film for me.  She was the first actor to win back-to-back Best Acting awards (she won the next year for her portrayal of O-Lan in "The Good Earth."  I've not seen that film, but I've read the novel, and the character is light-years away from what she portrayed here).

"The Great Ziegfeld" is a fictionalized account of the life of theater impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, of follies fame.  The film roughly follows the events of his life, but was intended less as a biopic than as a tribute.  Interestingly, Ziegfeld had died only four years before the film was released.  It seems that his widow, famed actress Billie Burke (Glinda the Good in "The Wizard of Oz") was eager to pay off his debts, and was only all to happy to sell the rights to his life story.

The film begins at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.  Florenz Ziegfeld (William Powell), the son of a well-known music professor, is attempting to draw audiences to his star attraction: Eugen Sandow, "The World's Strongest Man" (Nat Pendleton).  Across the Midway, his chief rival Billings (Frank Morgan) is having considerably greater success getting audiences for his "hoochy-coochy" dancer Little Egypt. Eventually, Ziegfeld starts thinking outside the box and allows female audience members to caress the muscles of Sandow, increasing his show's profits.

When Ziegfeld takes his strongman to San Francisco, he is denounced as a fraud when the lion that was supposed to battle Sandow falls asleep as soon as it's released from its cage.  Ziegfeld flees to Europe, encountering Billings on the ship.  Once in Europe, Ziegfeld loses all his money in Monte Carlo, then proceeds to steal not only Billings' valet (Ernest Cossart), but his potential star, as well.
The star is French entertainer Anna Held (Luise Rainer), whom Ziegfeld eventually marries (in the film, not in reality), to keep her under contract.

William Powell and Luise Rainer

Held eventually becomes a huge star, and spurred by his success, Ziegfeld decided to launch an over-the-top extravagant revue to be called "The Ziegfeld Follies."   And the rest of the film pretty much chronicles his swings between success, squandering his fortunes, and rebounding.  Eventually, he and Held divorce - though Held is still devoted to him - and he ultimately remarries the actress Billie Burke (Myrna Loy).   By 1929, his successes are largely behind him, his stars are leaving Broadway for the burgeoning film industry in Hollywood, and he's generally derided as a "has been."   Hoping to regain his past glory, he invests heavily in the stock market, just in time for the collapse of 1929 and the Great Depression.  With one last look at the lights of Broadway, Ziegfeld dies in his chair at home, leaving his widow deeply in debt.

I've skipped over a lot of plot points here.  The main thrust of the movie is a tribute first to the extravagance of Broadway during its "Golden Age," and secondarily to the charm and charisma of the man who drove it.  As a result, the film has several lavish production numbers, some more entertaining than others.  Of particular note is an amazing dance routine by Ray Bolger (portraying himself), and the only film footage of Fanny Brice I've ever seen (also portraying herself).

I neither loved nor hated "The Great Ziegfeld."  It is was it is: an homage to a time and a place that was significant in its day but which no longer exists, and a tribute to the man who drove it.  But I will say it again: it there's any reason to watch this film, it is for the performance of Luise Rainer.  Her arc from comical diva to broken woman is just phenomenal.  As with Clara Bow in "Wings," I can only assume that Myrna Loy received billing above Luise Rainer because she was the bigger star of the day.  Loy doesn't make an appearance until the last 45 minutes of the 3-hour-plus film, and her total screen-time is probably about 20 minutes.  Luise Rainer is the female lead of this movie!

1935: Mutiny on the Bounty

The Best Picture Oscar of 1935 went to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Mutiny on the Bounty."  The film was also nominated for Best Director (Frank Lloyd), Best Actor (Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone), Best Screenplay (Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings, and Carey Wilson), Best Music Score (Nat W. Finston and Herbert Stothart), and Best Film Editing (Margaret Booth).

Oscar went back to honoring an epic film with "Mutiny on the Bounty," and although it is filled with historical inaccuracies, it is roughly based on a true story.

In 1787, the HMS Bounty sits in the harbor of Portsmouth, England, about to embark on a two-year journey to Tahiti.  The purpose of the trip is to bring to the West Indies enough breadfruit trees to serve as inexpensive food for slaves.  Although the ship already has officers, it needs a crew.  Inmates wishing to escape their sentences, and ordinary men pressed into service by the ship's Lieutenant Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) while out drinking form the majority of that crew.  Also going along is midshipman Roger Byam (Franchot Tone), whose sole purpose is to complete a dictionary of the Tahitian language for his patron, Sir Joseph Banks (Henry Stephenson).  The captain of the ship is the notorious William Bligh (Charles Laughton), a man known for his cruelty.

And that cruelty makes up the bulk of the picture.  Before the ship even sets sail, he assembles the crew on the deck to witness the discipline of a man who was found guilty of striking an officer.   When the convicted man is brought on board for flogging, it is discovered that he is dead.  Bligh has the corpse flogged anyway.

And so it goes.  Any infraction - however slight - earns the harshest treatment from Bligh.   Any hint of insubordination is similarly dealt with.   Needless to say, the crew (and the audience) doesn't so much fear Bligh as they hate him.

There are too many instances of horrific cruelty to name, but there are few crew members whose stories are focused on:

Ellison (Eddie Quillan), a young man who was pressed into service while he and his wife were out at a pub.  He left behind a baby son in England.

Clark Gable and Charles Laughton

Burkitt (Donald Crisp), a thief.

Smith (Herbert Mundin, who also played Alfred Bridges in "Cavalcade"), nervous sort who is the only nod to comic-relief in the film.

Bacchus (Dudley Digges), the ship's surgeon, whose cure for everything seems to be a bottle of spirits.  (OK, he's actually another nod to comic-relief).

The enmity between Christian and Bligh builds and builds, as does the resentment of the crew, and since we know there's going to be a mutiny coming, the audience is always wondering "will this be the straw that breaks the camel's back?"  I never so badly wanted to see a film character get what's coming to him!

But  the Bounty does in fact make it to Tahiti, and the men get a reprieve from the harsh conditions of the ship for a while.  All except Christian, who Bligh orders to stay aboard during the entire time they're in Tahiti.

Meanwhile, Bayam is invited to live with the local chief Hitihiti (William Bambridge) and begins a relationship with his daughter Tehani (Movita Casteneda, the longest surviving cast member who died in 2015).  Eventually, the chief persuades Bligh to allow Christian to come ashore for a day, and he too falls in love with a local girl, Maimiti (Mamo Clark).

Movita Casteneda, Mamo Clark, Clark Gable, and Franchot Tone

With the breadfruit saplings on board, the crew re-boards the ship and begins the journey to the West Indies.  But after their time in paradise, the brutal conditions of the ship seem less tolerable.  When Bligh's actions lead to the death of the beloved Bacchus, it's finally almost too much for Christian to take.  When he sees Ellison and Burkitt being held below deck in chains, he makes the decision: MUTINY!

Oh, how I wanted to see Bligh beg for his life like a sniveling coward.  You know that's how bullies always end up!  But no, Christian puts him and the rest of the officers and crew that didn't want to be part of the mutiny in a row-boat, gives them food, water, a compass, and sets them adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Bayam, who also didn't want to take part in the mutiny, was below decks, and missed being put on the boat.  He and Christian had become good friends by this point, so Christian promised him he could stay with them unharmed as long as he made to move to re-take the ship.  Bayam agrees, although it effectively ends their friendship.

As Bligh and the others run out of food, and start to lose all hope, Christian and the Bounty return to England.  Bayam marries Tehani, and Christian marries Maimiti, eventually producing a son with her.  One Christmas day, Bayam decides that he wants to be friends with Christian again and the two men reconcile.

Shortly thereafter, a British ship is spotted off the coast.  The mutineers know they either need to flee or hang for their crime, so they re-board the Bounty, and under Christian's command, set sail for parts unknown.  When the British ship arrives, Bayam is surprised to discover that it is captained by none other than Captain Bligh!  Of course, Bligh doesn't believe that Bayam had no part in the mutiny, and vows to have him court-martialed once they return to England.  But in the meantime, Bligh is on an obsessive quest to track down Christian, and sails around the south seas in search of him.

Christian, meanwhile, has led his band of mutineers (and a few native Tahitians) to the uninhabited Pitcairn island, where they decide to settle.  Since there is no natural harbor, the plan is to run the Bounty aground and then burn it.  From there, they will build their new island-paradise home together.

Meanwhile, Bligh manages to run his ship into a coral reef.  The ship sinks, but everyone escapes on the life-boats.  Somehow or other, they manage to get back to England.  Bayam stands trial, is found guilty of mutiny, and is sentenced to death.  In his final statement to the court, Bayam recounts the untold cruelty of Captain Bligh, and admonishes the British Navy to be one made of men who want to serve, not men who are forced to serve.  At the last minute, Bayam's old patron, Sir Joseph, appeals directly to King George III, and Bayam is spared.

Wow!  Talk about adventure on the high seas!  There was so much that was great about this film, but first and foremost I have to mention the acting.  Captain Bligh has got to be one of the most evil, loathsome, hateful, despicable characters in cinematic history, and Charles Laughton NAILED IT!!  It's said that he was always self-conscious about his weight and (perceived) unattractiveness, and it was especially hard for him to work alongside hearth-throbs Gable and Tone, but every physicality he brought to the character - the way carried himself, the downturn of his mouth, the hooded eyes - emphasized the unattractiveness of the character.  And then there's Clark Gable and Franchot Tone.  Following up on his success with "It Happened One Night," it's easy to see why Gable was considered the "King of Hollywood."  The fact that all three men were nominated for Best Actor led to the creation of the Supporting Actor categories the next year.

Add to that the locations, the special effects, the drama....this was definitely an EPIC Best Picture!

1934: It Happened One Night

Columbia Pictures' 1934 production of "It Happened One Night" was the seventh film to win the Best Oscar prize.  It was also the first film to win the "Big 5," winning Best Director (Frank Capra), Best Actor (Clark Gable), Best Actress (Claudette Colbert), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Riskin).  This would not be accomplished again until "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975.

Unlike most Best Picture winners, "It Happened One Night" is not epic in scale, it address no social issues, nor does it really examine the human condition.  But it's a thoroughly entertaining, funny, and charming romantic-comedy.

Ellen Andrews (Claudette Colbert) has eloped with King Westley (Jameson Thomas), a pilot of whom Ellen's father (Walter Connolly) does not approve.  Attempting to get her to agree to an annulment of the marriage, he holding Ellen against her will on his yacht.  Desperate to get to New York to re-unite with her husband, Ellen jumps overboard, and swims ashore to Miami.

In Miami, she boards a Greyhound bus to New York, and on-board meets Peter Warne (Clark Gable), a recently unemployed newspaper writer.  Initially put-off by Ellen's spoiled demeanor (though of course also a bit intrigued by her), Peter sees Ellen's picture in the paper and agrees to help her get to New York without being discovered by her father's detectives is she will grant him exclusive rights to her story.

Let the mis-adventures begin.  When fellow passenger Oscar Shapeley (Roscoe Karns) recognizes Ellen and makes a plan to collect the reward her father has offered for information about her whereabouts, Peter and Ellen leave the bus.  Continuing on by foot, by hitchhiking, and by a car stolen by Peter, the two get into all sorts of shenanigans along the way, and - of course - begin to fall in love.

Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert

The night before they plan on arriving back in New York, Ellen confesses her love for Peter.  Peter sneaks off in the middle of the night and drives the rest of the way to New York to get money to marry her, but when she wakes up before he gets back, she thinks he has left her.   She contacts her father - who has since agreed to let her stay married to King - and returns to New York.  When Peter gets back to the Motel, he thinks she has left  him, and he heads back to New York feeling betrayed.

On the day of the big wedding (Ellen's father has insisted on a proper marriage ceremony), Ellen confesses to her father that she really loves Peter.  Peter had recently written to Mr. Andrews about a financial situation concerning his daughter.  When Peter shows up at the mansion and asks only for re-imbursement for his expenses during the time he was helping Ellen (a paltry $39.60), rather than the $10,000 reward, Mr. Edwards realized Peter is a good guy.  When pressed, Peter admits that he loves Ellen.

As Ellen and her father are marching down the aisle, he fills her in on all these details.  It's not until the moment that Ellen is expected to say "I do" that she makes a mad dash for it, and drives off to find Peter.

Ellen and King's marriage is annulled, Peter and Ellen get married, and everyone lives happily ever after.  As I say, not a "deep" movie, but absolutely delightful.  Gable and Colbert have great chemistry, the writing is clever, and the story is engaging.  Glad Oscar finally rewarded a comedy!

1932/1933: Cavalcade

Fox Film's "Cavalcade" was the sixth Best Picture Oscar winner, released in 1933.   The film also won the award for Best Director (Frank Lloyd) and Best Art Direction (William S. Darling).  Diana Wynyard was nominated for Best Actress, but did not win.

Based on a Noel Coward play, "Cavalcade" follows the life-events of two families - the upper-class Marryots, and their servants, the Bridges - from the last moments of 1899 to the first moments of 1933.

It begins on New Years Eve 1899, at a quarter to midnight.  Robert and Jane Marryot (Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard) return home to continue their tradition of ringing in the New Year with a toast between the two of them.  This year they allow their young children Joey and Edward to participate as well.  Jane expresses anxiety for the coming year, because Robert has enlisted in the armed forces as in officer and will be heading to South Africa to fight in the Boer War, a conflict Jane's brother is already fighting in.

Herbert Mundin, Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook and Una O'Connor

Meanwhile, the Marryot's maid Ellen Bridges (Una O'Connor) is similarly upset because her husband Alfred (Herbert Mundin) - who is also the Marryot's butler - has also enlisted to fight in the Boer War. Ellen wonders what would happen to her and their baby girl Fanny if anything were to happen to Alfred.  Jane and Ellen bid tearful farwell to their husbands.  Jane's friend Margaret (Irene Brown) brings her daughter Edith around to play with Joey and Edward.  The men return home safely.

Upon coming home, Alfred announces that he has purchased a pub and that he and his wife will now be in business for themselves.  The death of Queen Victoria is announced.  Everyone is sad.

A few years go by, and the Bridges are having a hard time paying their rent, as Alfred has developed a drinking problem and is drinking the pub's profits.  Ellen has Jane and Edward (John Warburton), now a student at Oxford, over for a visit, and tells them that Alfred isn't there because of a leg injury.  At that moment, a drunk Alfred bursts in, behaves inappropriately, chases Fanny out into the street, and is run over and killed by a horse-drawn fire engine.

The next year, the Marryots encounter Ellen and Fanny (Ursula Jeans) - now a talented dancer - at the seaside.  Edward is now dating his childhood playmate, Edith (Margaret Lindsay).  The families witness the flight of Louis Bleriot over the English Channel.

Jump to 1912.  Edward and Edith are on an ocean-liner celebrating their honeymoon.  After a protracted conversation about mortality, the couple step away from the railing to reveal the name of the ship on a life-preserver: RMS Titanic.

Frank Lawton and Ursula Jeans

Jump to 1914, and the outbreak of World War I.  Robert and Joey Marryot (Frank Lawton) go off to war.  Joe encounters Fanny Bridges and they begin an affair.   Fanny expresses concern that they can never get married because they come from different social classes.  When Ellen finds out about the affair, she confronts Jane and insists that Joey must marry Fanny.   As they argue, Jane receives a telegram that Joey has been killed in action.

The rest of the film is a crazy montage of what I suppose is meant to represent a rapidly changing society in chaos.  Finally, we see Robert and Jane continuing their tradition of a private toast as they ring in 1933.

I found "Cavalcade" to be deadly dull.  None of the characters are developed much at all, and the framing of scenes around historical events isn't effective.  Each event (the death of Victoria, the flight over the English Channel, the Titanic) just serves to end a scene, and then the timeline jumps forward a few years.   Well received in its day, this film really doesn't hold up.  BORING!!

1931/1932: Grand Hotel

The Academy gave its fifth Best Picture award to 1932's "Grand Hotel," produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.  It is the only film to win Best Picture without receiving any other nominations.

For some reason, I was under the impression that "Grand Hotel" was a comedy.  It's not, but it certainly isn't a huge drama, either.   It follows the goings-on of the guests staying at Berlin's Grand Hotel.  There are many different story lines which ultimately overlap, but I think it's best to start by identifying the characters:

Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone), a permanent resident at the hotel,  begins by observing "People coming, going.  Nothing ever happens.   His face is disfigured, the result of his service in WWI.

Otto Kringilein (Lionel Barrymore) is a meek accountant who has just discovered he is terminally ill and doesn't have long to live.  He thus decides to live out his days in luxury and books one of the most luxurious rooms in the hotel.

General Director Preysing (Wallace Beery) is Kringilein's former boss.  He as at the hotel to close an important deal, but negotiations aren't going well.  He hires Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford), a s stenographer, to assist  him.

Madame Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo) is a ballerina whose glory days are behind her.    Her shows in Berlin are not well attended and she is very depressed about the state of her career.

Finally, Felix von Geigern (Lionel Barrymore) is a baron who has squandered his fortune, and now supports himself as a gambler and thief.  Early in the film he takes a liking to, and befriends Kringilein.

While Madame Grusinskaya is at the theater, von Geigern breaks into her room to steal her jewelry.  She returns early, and he hides in the closet.   He overhears her talking of wanting to end her life, and he comes out of hiding to find her holding a vial of some sort of medication.  Despite a burglar

John Barrymore and Greta Garbo

having just emerged from her room, she finds herself attracted to him.  The next day, von Geigern returns the jewelry he had stolen, and asks Grusinskaya for forgiveness.  She invites him to accompany her to Vienna, which he says he will do.  One problem: he has to get some money first.

The Baron joins Kringilein and Flaemmchen at the hotel bar.   Flaemmchen gets the timid accountant to dance with her, but Preysing cuts in and demand she dance with him.  Disgusted by his former bosses crass behavior, he tells the man just what he thinks of him.  Preysing attacks Kringilein, and the two men must be separated.

Lionel Barrymore and Joan Crawford

Later, the Baron and Kringilein get a poker game going. Kringilein is the big winner, and subsequently gets very drunk.  When he drops his wallet, the Baron picks it up and hides in his jacket pocket.  But when Kringilein begins frantically searching for his money, the Baron doesn't have the heart to steal from his friend, and gives him back the wallet.

In a last desperate attempt to get his business deal done, Preysing asks Flaemmchen to accompany him to London.  The two are in Preysing's room, when he sees the Baron rifling through his things.  He confronts the would-be thief, the two struggle, and Preysing beats the Baron to death with the telephone.  Flaemmchen calls the police, and Preysing is arrested.

Grusinskaya leaves for the train station, expecting to find the Baron waiting for her there.  We don't see her again, but presumably she returned to Vienna, never knowing why the Baron didn't show up.

Kringilein offers to take care of Flaemmchen, but she suggests they travel to Paris together and seek medical treatment for his condition. They're the only two who get a happy ending.  And the final moment of the film is the Doctor repeating the sentiment with which the film began: "Grand Hotel. Always the same.  People come. People go.  Nothing ever happens."

"Grand Hotel" obviously enjoyed a star-studded cast, and it was fun to see all the performances of the day's big movie stars (I particularly liked Lionel Barrymore).   The story is cleverly constructed but while dramatic things happened, there just didn't feel like there was much drama.  It was enjoyable enough, but certainly not the type of film we'd expect to win Best Picture today.  Overall, it was just kind of "meh."

1930/1931: Cimarron

The fourth film to win Best Picture was 1931's "Cimarron," produced by RKO Radio Pictures.  It also won Oscars for Best Writing, Adaptation (Howard Estabrook) and Best Art Direction (Max Ree).  Other nominations that did not win were Best Director (Wesley Ruggles), Best Actor (Richard Dix), Best Actress (Irene Dunne), and Best Cinematography (Edward Cronjager).  It was the only western to win Best Picture until 1990's "Dances With Wolves".

The story takes place over 40 years, beginning in 1889.   Yancey (Richard Dix) and Sabra (Irene Dunne) Cravat are living in Wichita with Sabra's parents, when President Harrison opens up the Oklahoma Territory to white settlement.  At the appointed hour, Yancey - and thousands of others - rush in to stake their claims.  Yancey has his sights set on a tract of land called Bear Creek, but he is outwitted by Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor), a prostitute hoping she can change her life by starting a ranch.  With his dream of ranching on Bear Creek gone, Yancey goes back to Wichita and announces that he and Sabra, along with their young son Cimarron, will be moving to the frontier town of Osage.

On the way to Osage, a group of bandits rides in to the Cravat's camp, but it turns out their ringleader - The Kid (William Collier, Jr.) - is an old acquaintance of Yancey's.  How they know each other is never explained, but in any event, the bandits ride off without harming or robbing the Cravats.

In Osage, Yancey establishes a newspaper, the Osage Wigwam.  The publisher of the town's previous newspaper had been murdered by Lon Yountis (Stanley Fields), who Yancey confronts and kills.  Later, after Sabra has given birth to a daughter, The Kid and his gang come to Osage and terrorize the town.  In order to protect his family and the town, Yancey kills The Kid.

When another land rush is announced - this time in an area known as the Cherokee Strip - Yancey decides once again to embark on an adventure, and leaves his family behind in Osage for five years. Sabra runs the paper in his absence.  When Yancey returns, he represents Dixie Lee in court (it's not stated what she's charged with, but presumably it was prostitution) and gets her acquitted.  This does not set well with Sabra, until Yancey makes her realize it's not Dixie that's guilty, it's "the social order."

In 1907, President Roosevelt makes the Oklahoma Territory a state, and Yancey writes an editorial suggesting that the Indians should be treated more fairly than they had been by the US government up to that point, and that they should, in fact, be given full US citizenship.  This is too much for Sabra, who has very bigoted anti-Indian views.  When oil is discovered on the Osage Indian Reserve, Yancey decides to run for governor, but is defeated when he refuses to participate in a scheme to rob the Indians of the income the oil is providing them.

Irene Dunne and Richard Dix

And then, for no apparent reason ("struck by wanderlust" is the only statement made), Yancey decides to up and leave his family again for several years.  He does not stay in touch, but Sabra maintains the belief that he's alive.  Meanwhile, she becomes a member of the US House of Representatives, the first woman from Oklahoma to do so.  At a reception held in her honor, she introduces her children, and speaks warmly of Cimarron's Indian wife.

Before Sabra leaves for Washington, there is an explosion at one of the oil fields.  A man was gravely injured while saving several of the oil workers, and an ambulance is called.  When Sabra asks who the brave man was who risked his life, she is told it's an old drifter some people call "Ol' Yance."  Realizing it's her husband, she rushes to his side.  He declares his eternal love for her, then dies in her arms.

I enjoyed "Cimarron," but it's definitely got some strange things about it.  First off, it's odd that it's titled after a relatively minor character.  And, as noted, there are some plot developments that aren't fully explained.  Still, it's interesting to see a frontier town deal with racism, classism, and anti-Semitism.  Although Yancey is something of a schmuck for leaving his family over and over, he is noble in is treatment of other people.   William Dix's has a strange rhythm to his voice, but the acting of all the leads was very good.   The Category of Best Supporting Actress hadn't yet been established, but if it had, Edna May Oliver certainly would have been nominated.  She turns in an absolutely hilarious performance as Mrs. Tracy Wyatt, a snooty society matron.

1929/1930: All Quiet on the Western Front

The third Best Picture winner was 1930's "All Quiet on the Western Front, " released by Universal Pictures.  It also won Best Director (Lewis Mileston).  It was nominated for - but did not win - Best Writing (George Abbott, Maxwell Anderson, and Del Andrews) and Best Cinematography (Arthur Edeson).

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is another film about World War I, from the perspective of young German soldiers.   The actual plot is pretty minimal: a group of young German boys get caught up in patriotic fervor and sign up for duty during WWI.  Turns out war sucks.

There's more to it than that, of course, but that really is the basic premise.  It's a film about the horrors and futility of war.  To that end, it's quite a graphically gruesome movie.  Most of the main cast ends up dead after living through horrific scenes of carnage.  It's scene after painful scene of young men being slaughtered.  Seriously.

Lew Ayres and Raymond Griffith                       

One particularly painful scene involves a soldier named Paul (Lew Ayres).  He stabs a French soldier and then is trapped in a hole with the dying man for the rest of the night.  He tries desperately to help the Frenchman, but is ultimately unable to do anything to save him.   As the Frenchman lays dying, Paul realizes they have a shared humanity, which the war asks them to ignore.  He begs the corpse to speak and forgive him: "we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony. Forgive me, comrade, how could you be my enemy?"

Later, Paul goes back home on leave and is angry at how little the people know about what the war is really like on the front lines.  He hears the professor that inspired him and his comrades to "fight for the fatherland" make the same speech to a new class of boys.  Angry and disillusioned, he returns to the front lines.  In the final, iconic scene, Paul sees a butterfly just beyond his trench.  As he reaches out for it, he is exposed to the enemy.  He is shot and killed.

This is a film that's hard to like, honestly.  It's easy to appreciate - the cinematography, the realism, the acting, the message - but it's very, very depressing.   Of course, it would be next to impossible to make an anti-war film that wasn't.

1928/1929: The Broadway Melody

The second Best Picture winner was "The Broadway Melody," released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1929.  It was also nominated for, but did not win, Best Director (Harry Beaumont) and Best Actress (Bessie Love).

Only the second Academy Awards, and already we have a clunker.  "The Broadway Melody" is the story of the Mahoney sisters (Hank and Queenie), performers from the vaudeville circuit who have come to New York to try to make it on Broadway.  The film is one giant cliche.  Hank ("the smart one") is engaged to Eddie Kearns who is already on Broadway, and imagines he has enough star power to get the sisters parts in the revue he's performing in (he doesn't).  But when the sisters arrive in  New York, Eddie sees Queenie ("the pretty one") for the first time since she was a girl, and is instantly smitten.

When the girls audition for the revue's producer, he is only interested in Queenie.  Queenie says she and her sister will perform for one salary if Hank can be in the show, too.  She also asks Zanfield to pretend that it was Hank's business acumen that convinced him.  This endears her even more to Eddie.

During rehearsals, Hank and Queenie are cut from Eddie's number ("The Broadway Melody").  Meanwhile, another girl falls and is injured, and Queenie is chosen to replace her.  The role is literally nothing more than standing on stage as essentially a set-piece.  No lines, no singing, no dancing, no movement of any kind.  Absurdly, Broadway is captivated by her.  Her "performance" particularly catches the eye of notorious playboy Jock Warriner, who Queenie begins dating in an attempt to deny the feelings she's developed for Eddie.

Anita Page and Bessie Love

Jock buys Queenie her own apartment, and holds a big party for her.  Jock gets amorous, Queenie resists, Eddie confronts Jock, Jock punches Eddie, Eddie and Queenie confess their love for each other and leave the party.

Jump to Eddie and Queenie returning from their honeymoon.  Queenie announces that she's done with show-business and is going to settle down.  The film ends with Hank rehearsing with a new partner, telling her she's sure they'll be on Broadway any day.  The end.

"The Broadway Melody" is a musical, but the music is instantly forgettable.  The dialogue is flat, the characters are cliches, and the story just isn't that compelling.  Given what she had to work with, I will concede that Bessie Love (Hank) gave a solid performance.

I tried to imagine this film through the eyes of the audience of the day.  Curiously, it was the top-grossing film of 1929, and was favorably reviewed.  Perhaps it's because talkies - not to mention musicals - were still so new (a silent version of the film was also released, as not all theaters were equipped with sound equipment).  There was also apparently a Technicolor sequence, but no color prints are still in existence, only black-and-white.  So maybe the combination of talking, music, and color was enough to thrill 1929 audiences.  Or maybe then, as now, the Oscars was an industry popularity contest.

But in 2017, I'd skip "The Broadway Melody" if I were you.

1927/1928: Wings

The first film to win the Best Picture Oscar was 1927's "Wings," directed by William A. Wellman for Parmount Pictures.  It was the only silent film to win the award.  It also won for Best Engineering Effects (Roy Pomeroy).

Prior to seeing "Wings," I don't think I'd seen a feature-length silent film before.  I'd seen plenty of silent short films, but at almost two and a half hours, I didn't know if was going to be able to get into "Wings."

Well, I did, and all I can say is "WOW!"   This is a phenomenal film.

Jack (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) and David (Richard Arlen) live in the same small town.  David's family is wealthy, and Jack's is more working-class.  Both boys vie for the affection of Sylvia (Jobyna Ralston), who in fact loves David, but humors Jack and leads him to believe she loves him.  Meanwhile, Mary (Clara Bow), is in love with Jack, but Jack considers her "just a friend."

When the US enters WWI, both Jack and David sign up to become fighter pilots.   Assigned to the same squadron, they are at first enemies, but eventually become best of friends, both serving with distinction.  Mary joins the war effort as an ambulance driver and encounters Jack while he is on leave in Paris, but he is too drunk to recognize her.  Mary gets Jack back to his hotel room, and after Jack passes out, she changes her clothes.  It is at that moment that two military policemen enter the room to tell Jack that his leave has been cancelled.   Of course, they make the wrong assumption, and Mary is forced to resign and returns to the states.

It is interesting to note that Clara Bow received top-billing for the picture.  Granted, she was the box-office draw at that point, but by no means is she the star of the movie.   It's not too much of an exaggeration to say she's barely in the movie.  "Wings" is a wartime buddy-picture, and it belongs to Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen.

The climactic sequence centers around the Battle of Saint-Mihiel.  Jack and David have a spat about Sylvia before they take off.  During the battle, David's plane is shot down, and he is presumed dead. Devastated by the loss, Jack goes wild, gunning down Germans at a fevered pitch, even swooping down and killing a German general in his car.   Once the battle is over and the squadron is returning to their base, Jack spies one lone German plane still in the sky, heading towards the Allies.  Vowing to kill one more German for his dead best-friend, Jack shoots the plane down.  When he lands in the field to take a war souvenir from the plane, he makes a sickening discovery: David survived when his plane was shot down, and he was able to steal a German plane to get back to the Allied base.  The plane Jack just shot down was piloted by David, who now lays dying.

Richard Arlen and Buddy Rogers

Heartsick, Jack rushes to David's side, holding him in his arms.  The scene is meant to be fraternal, but I have to say, it's the most romantic scene in the film.  The two friends swear their undying friendship to each other as they caress each other's face and hair.  Jack kisses David, in what is one of the first same-sex kisses in cinematic history. Finally, David dies in Jack's arms.  It's a heartbreaking scene.

Jack returns home a hero, and begs forgiveness from David's parents.  David's mother absolves him of blame, saying it was war that killed David, not Jack.  And finally, Jack realizes that Sylvia loved David, and that he (Jack) really loves Mary after all.

I really enjoyed "Wings."  My only complaint was that it was a bit long, and some of the scenes could have been tightened-up a bit.   But some of the longest scenes were also the most thrilling: the aerial combat scenes.  Contemporary audiences must have been blown away!  The film was lauded for it's combat realism (meaning it's pretty gruesome), and the acting was outstanding, particularly Buddy Rogers.  And I'll say it right now: Buddy Rogers was adorable!  I've developed a 90-years-too-late crush on him!

I highly, highly recommend "Wings."  You can rent the 2012 remastered version on Amazon.