Friday, January 31, 2014

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1948

The Contenders:
Hamlet (winner)
Johnny Belinda
The Red Shoes
The Snake Pit
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

What’s Missing

It feels like the first time I’ve said this, but Oscar did a pretty good job with the nominations this year. Naturally there are a few other films that were worthy but weren’t nominated, but overall, the five films named for the top award were all good choices. Sorry, Wrong Number is worth some consideration, as might be Key Largo, Rope and perhaps Red River. On the foreign side, Ladri di Biciclette is worth a nod. I’d love to toss in Orson Welles’s Macbeth or the comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, but I haven’t seen either of them, so I can’t judge.

Weeding through the Nominees

5: Since I’ll almost certainly catch hell for putting it last, I should say that I think all five of the nominees were worthy of the nomination. My problem with The Red Shoes isn’t the music or the dancing; it’s everything else. The plot is just too thin and the romance is too suddenly worked into the narrative for me to buy into it. Add 15 minutes and sell the romance and I’d be more willing to consider it. Without that buy-in, this is just a beautifully made dance film that tries to have a story.

4: Hamlet is considered the world’s greatest drama and this version stars Olivier, the world’s greatest actor at the time. How can it come in fourth? Well, because despite all of the guaranteed quality, it’s still only the second-best Hamlet on film at best. While good, even great, not enough is done here to separate it from a stage play. Oh, we get some interesting camera angles. And? It being “just” Hamlet should be good enough, but really, it’s just Hamlet.

3. Deciding between second and third was actually the toughest call for me, but I’ll put Johnny Belinda third. I was suitably impressed with this film all the way through, but it’s still too telegraphed for me. The biggest failing is that the whole plot could be solved with a two minute conversation that happens at any point before the climax of the film. That’s a weakness in the script. Good performances are worth a lot and I love the serious nod to family here, but I can’t get past the idea that two or three sentences end this half an hour earlier.

2. I went into The Snake Pit knowing nothing and came out the other side buying into it almost completely. It’s the sort of film that has everything Oscar wants. It’s about a touchy and delicate subject, it deals with that subject as well as it can, and it has a hell of a performance from Olivia de Havilland. Ultimately, though, it shorts the ending. We go from “she’s crazy” to “she’s cured” with a fade to black. Here’s another one where 10-15 minutes more would make it even better.

My Choice

1. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is clearly the winner here. I may have had to think about what I put second and third, but it took me no time at all to choose the winner. This is a truly iconic film, and one that works as well now as it did in 1948, no changes necessary, no need to look at it through the lens of when it was made. It’s one of Bogart’s best performances, too. I’d have been mildly okay with any of the five nominees winning, but I’d have been by far the happiest with this one being named.



Final Analysis

18 comments:

  1. I had to look up which film actually did win in 1948 ("Hamlet," as it turns out), but in doing so, I found a site that agreed with you that "Sierra Madre" should have won.

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    1. Turns out they agree with me on 1985 and 1994, too.

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    2. Based on your comment and a few others not on the blog, I'll add something to indicate the winner on this, the previous posts, and future posts.

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  2. Something can be said for all the nominees here, though I haven't seen Johnny Belinda. That being said, The Treasure of Sierra Madre is one of my favorite film of all time. Certainly in my top five. Couldn't agree with your choice more.

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  3. Mr. Blandings Build His Dream House is funny, but not an all-time classic. The much more recent Ice Cube movie Are We Done Yet? is pretty much an uncredited remake, if you saw it.

    You mentioned writing something for the first time in this new type of post. Well, I'm going to do the same. I agree with you not only across the board, 5 to 1, but also on the reasons that The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is better than the other four. I'd also have trouble on 2 vs. 3. I also agree on what you said for Hamlet. It almost feels like it won simply because of the reputation of both the play and the actor, rather than on what actually ended up on screen.

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    1. @Chris/1001--Johnny Belinda is worth your time, but The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is worth everybody's time.

      @Chip--Glad to know I got this one right. I'd be willing to hear an argument for any of these five films, but I really can't see how Sierra Madre isn't the obvious pick here.

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  4. Oscar got it wrong and you got it right. I've seen all of them but The Snake Pit and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is head and shoulders above everything else.

    I've seen 23 films of that year and Sierra Madre would be my pick from those films as well. The only other film that would come close is Bicycle Thieves. Some other films that I love from 1948 that you haven't mentioned are The Fallen Idol, Oliver Twist, and Force of Evil.

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    1. I liked Force of Evil, but it didn't seem substantial enough for me to bring up in this context.

      The Snake Pit is really surprising.

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  5. I was hugely disappointed with Hamlet. I've rarely been so bored. I agree with your opinion of The Red Shoes too. I enjoyed the dance numbers and vivid colour but the plot is as flimsy as a worn ballet shoe. I also think that Rope deserves more recognition than it gets. One of my favourite Hitchcock films.

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    1. I have no way to know, but I'm wondering if Rope was too thin for the Academy. It's really short and doesn't do anything with location, etc. I agree it's a great film and I'd have been happy to see it nominated, but it may not have done enough for the Academy to consider it for anything.

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  6. I don't think you'll find too many people disagreeing with you on this one.

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    1. Admittedly, this has been the easiest one of these I've done so far.

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  7. Yep, Sierra Madre should've won, hands down. (I also agree that Olivier's Hamlet is... just Hamlet.)

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    1. So far, this is the one that's been the biggest consensus.

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  8. Now I understand why you placed The Treasure of the Sierra Madre first. I agree, definitely, but in my best of all worlds it would have been a choice between The Treasure, Ladri di Biciclette and Rope with The Snake Pit and The Red Shoes as outsiders. But I guess that is mostly because I never saw Olivier's Hamlet or Johnny Belinda.

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    1. Your list of five nominees is a list I'd get behind without too much arm twisting. Johnny Belinda is worth your time. Hamlet is only if you've got a need to see it, but Kenneth Branagh's version is better.

      Even with your three-way struggle, though, I'm still voting for Sierra Madre.

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  9. I have to honestly say that I don't love any of these nominees, I like them all but none are ones I'd term great, not even Sierra Madre though of the lot it would be my choice for winner. I'd drop Hamlet, Johnny Belinda and The Snake Pit for Easter Parade, Red River and my choice for what I thought should be the winner The Fallen Idol. Ralph Richardson would be my choice for actor in the lead of that film as well.

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    1. I think you're the first person who's ever told me that Treasure of the Sierra Madre didn't do it for you. I think it's one of the great films of its decade.

      I should probably watch The Fallen Idol.

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