Category THE OSCARS

               ‘A Man for All Seasons’, a British biographical drama film based on Robert Bolt’s play of the same name, is the film that won at the 39th Academy Awards. The film and play both depict the final years of Sir Thomas More, the 16th century Lord Chancellor of England who refused to take an oath of supremacy declaring King Henry VIII supreme head of the Church of England.

               The screenplay, well adapted by Robert Bolt himself, is intelligent.  It was directed by the already very famous Fred Zinnemann. The movie won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Paul Scofield).

               In 1995, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of cinema, the Vatican listed it among the greatest movies of all time. In 1999, the British Film Institute named ‘A Man for All Seasons’ the 43rd greatest British film of all time. In 2008, it came 106th on Empire magazine’s ‘500 Greatest Movies of All Time’ list.

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               The two top 1965 films in the Best Picture Oscars race were ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘Doctor Zhivago’. Both the movies had ten nominations each, and also won five Oscars respectively. ‘The Sound of Music’ won Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Wise), Best Musical Score, Best Editing, and Best Sound Recording.

               The movie was adapted from the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway musical. It was the real life story of a spirited postulant Maria, who left Austria’s Nonnberg Abbey, and became governess to seven motherless Von Trapp children. She eventually helped to lead the singing family out of Nazi-occupied Austria to Switzerland

               ‘The Sound of Music’ was a successful film at the time of its release. The movie also topped ‘Gone with the Wind’ as the most money-grossing film to date – thereby saving its studio, 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy.

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               ‘My Fair Lady’ is a 1964 musical film from Warner Bros., adapted from the popular play of the same name. ‘My Fair Lady’ stars Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, and Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins. The film was very well received, winning eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director.

               The exquisite picture is extraordinary-and is a unique gem of filmmaking. The screenplay was written by Alan Jay Lerner and the movie was directed by George Cukor. Cukor and Lerner have not done the conventional treatment of a stage play made into a movie, i.e., erratically moving scenes outdoors for greater playing area, or into bigger settings than the stage could manage.

               The film depicts Eliza’s transformation from a poor flower seller to a proper lady, as she takes speech lessons from Professor Higgins. In 1998, the American Film Institute named this movie the 91st greatest American film of all time.

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             The smash hit period comedy, ‘Tom Jones!’ (1963), winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture was based on Henry Fielding’s classic novel – ‘The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling’ (1749).The screenplay was adapted by playwright John Osborne.

               The movie stars Albert Finney as the titular hero. It was one of the most critically acclaimed comedies of its time, winning four Academy Awards. The film was directed by Tony Richardson.

               The movie tells the story of Tom Jones, a country boy living in England. Over the course of the film, Jones tries to amass his own fortune, and win the heart of Sophie.

               ‘Tom Jones!’ is the only film in the history of the Academy in which three actresses were nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

               However, all three nominations were unsuccessful.

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              ‘You Can’t Take it with you’ the second Oscar-winning comedy after ‘It Happened One Night’ was also directed by Frank Capra. Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the film is about a man from a family of rich snobs who became engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.

              The movie stars Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart and Edward Arnold. The film received two Academy Awards from seven nominations, Best Picture and Best Director, for Frank Capra. This was Capra’s third Oscar for Best Director in just five years, following ‘It Happened One Night’ (1934) and ‘Mr. Deeds Goes to Town’ (1936). It was also the highest-grossing picture of the year.

              The 11th Academy Awards were held on 23rd February 1939. It was also the first ceremony in which a foreign language film, Jean Renoir’s ‘Grand Illusion’ was nominated for Best Picture.

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            The Tenth Academy Award, winning movie – ‘The Life of Emile Zola’ was a biopic based on the life of the famous French writer Emile Zola. It is the second Best Picture winner in a row to go to a biopic, although this film couldn’t be more different than ‘The Great Ziegfeld’.

            This biographical film opens with French novelist Emile Zola starving in an attic room. After struggling to establish himself, Zola wins success writing about the unsavory side of Paris. He is able to achieve both fame and fortune with the publication of Nana, an unadorned tale of a woman. The film stars Paul Muni as Zola, and is directed by William Dieterle.

           ‘The Life of Emile Zola’, was nominated for ten Oscars, which was then a record. It won three, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Joseph Schildkraut. Unlike many of the winners in the first decade of the Oscars’ existence, it has retained its critical acclaim, and was inducted into the US National Film Registry.

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             ‘The Great Ziegfeld’ won three Academy Awards in the year 1936, including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Dance Direction. It was nominated for four other awards. The film was directed by Robert Z. Leonard, and produced by Hunt Stromberg. The movie stars William Powell, Luise Rainer, and Myrna Loy.

               It is a biopic about Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Broadway theatre’s most famous producer of his time. From humble beginnings, Ziegfeld reaches the heights of success, producing hit show after hit show, and staging the famous Ziegfeld Follies.

               The screenplay by William Anthony McGuire, was a “novelty” to the audience. The film was shot at MGM Studios in Culver City, California, mostly in the latter half of 1935. At the time of its release, the movie was acclaimed as the greatest musical biography to be made in Hollywood.

 

            ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ won in the Best Picture category at the 8th Academy Awards ceremony. It is one of the best adventure films of all time.

             The rousing, 18th century story of the Bounty’s mutiny, directed by Frank Lloyd, was adapted from the first two volumes of the novel ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ written by Charles Nordhoff-James and Norman Hall.

            ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ stars Charles Laughton and Clark Gable. The film was one of the biggest hits of its time. The film actually portrays the historical case of the Tahiti- bound British naval vessel HMS Bounty that suffered a famous mutiny in 1789 against its iron-fisted, sadistic commander Captain Bligh.

            The 8th Academy Awards were held on March 5th, 1936, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. This was the first year in which the gold statuettes were called “Oscars”.

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           Frank Capra’s movie ‘It Happened One Night’ is a romantic comedy. The film dominated and swept all major categories of the Academy Awards – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay, in the year 1934.

            Adapted by Robert Riskin from a short story called ‘Night Bus’, the movie revolves around the unlikely romance between a spoiled socialite, Claudette Colbert travelling on a bus after running out on her wedding, and a reporter, Clark Gable on the hunt for a good story.

            The film illustrated that even a wealthy heiress could find happiness and adventure on the road among common folk. The film, composed mostly of a road trip by the couple, contains some of the most classic scenes ever made.

            It was the first time in Academy history that both male and female leads, Gable and Colbert, from the same film, won the top award for acting.

 

 

              ‘Cavalcade’ which is based on the Noel Coward play of the same name, became the third anti-war movie to win the Best Picture Oscar. The movie was directed by Frank Lloyd. The screenplay was written by Reginald Berkeley and Sonya Levien. The film stars Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook.

               ‘Cavalcade’ won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Frank Lloyd won the Academy Award for Best Director, and the Academy Award for Best Art Direction went to William S. Darling. Diana Wynyard was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress but lost to Katharine Hepburn for ‘Morning Glory’.

               ‘Cavalcade’ tells the story of two upper-middle class British families from 1899 to 1933. Throughout the film, the passage of years is indicated by dates on title cards, with a medieval cavalcade marching in the background.

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