Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 1930-1931

The Contenders:

Cimarron (winner)
East Lynne
The Front Page
Skippy
Trader Horn

Another Step Closer

Film: East Lynne
Format: Internet video on the new internet machine.

1001 Movies bloggers are a particular breed. We stick together. When I received an email today from Adolysti that mentioned the bulk of East Lynne could be viewed on line, I knew what I was going to review today. There is a caveat with watching this version of East Lynne online: the last 12 minutes are missing. So here’s the deal—I’m going to spoil this movie. I’m going to do this for a couple of reasons. The first is that aside from the total completist, most people don’t have a reason to watch a movie missing the last 12 minutes. The other is that if you do watch it, you’re going to have to look up the ending anyway, and it wasn’t easy to find—Wikipedia doesn’t list it. I finally located what happens in the last 12 minutes on the TCM website.

As will surprise virtually no one, a movie made in 1931 based on a book from the middle of the 19th century proves to be wildly melodramatic. This is one of those films where the entire plot could be rectified by one clear conversation or one person being less of an idiot. I find movies like this very unsatisfying. It comes very close to moralizing, and I never like feeling like I’m being preached at.