Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actress 1945

The Contenders:

Ingrid Bergman: The Bells of St. Mary’s
Gene Tierney: Leave Her to Heaven
Jennifer Jones: Love Letters
Joan Crawford: Mildred Pierce (winner)
Greer Garson: The Valley of Decision

He'll Steel Your Heart

Film: The Valley of Decision
Format: DVD from Mokena Public Library through interlibrary loan on laptop various players.

It’s hard for me to dislike Gregory Peck no matter what the movie and no matter the role. Part of it is that deep, resonant voice. Part is the man’s presence. And part of it is probably that he played Atticus Finch. With The Valley of Decision, Gregory Peck’s presence is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, though. Also along for the ride here are Lionel Barrymore, Dan Duryea, Jessica Tandy, and the great Greer Garson, who earned her fifth Best Actress nomination in as many years for this film. There’s a lot to love with a cast as deep as this one.

With The Valley of Decision, though, the love doesn’t really extend a lot further than the cast. The story here is one that is easy to see coming a mile away, provided you’ve ever seen a single movie from this era before. There are a few things we’re supposed to want by the end of this film, and so it’s not surprise that The Valley of Decision will serve those up to us no matter how convoluted the path we take to get there might become. This isn’t a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just a film that you’ve almost certainly scene before in a different exterior package.