Oscars 005

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but one thing I’ve really noticed about this era of cinema – the late twenties and early thirties – is that women owned the screens. From Norma Shearer to Gloria Swanson, Janet Gaynor and Clara Bow in previous years, the fifth Oscars really saw a surge in actresses remembered, imitated and emulated today. Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Marlene Dietrich all made a big splash this year in diverse and compelling roles, and some now lesser known stars, Marie Dressler, Helen Hayes, were equally strong. It was a golden era for women in cinema, and this year’s films gave them meaty roles to sink their teeth into.

Of course, there were some great men too – the Barrymores, Fredric March, James Cagney to name a couple, but the serious commanding presences like William Powell, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper were either still in small or supporting parts, or still a few years away from stardom.

It makes for an interesting commentary on the era and, even more so, an interesting point of reflection from now, where dark, smouldering women were a runaway favourite for leading roles.

Putting that aside, this is an interesting year for the Oscars for a few reasons. One it was the last and only time that a best picture winner would be nominated for no other award (a crime, to be honest, given the calibre of the winning film, Grand Hotel). It also saw a more determined swing away from historical and war films and towards romantic comedies – something that would be a staple for quite a few years to come. This year three of the eight Best Picture nominees were romantic comedies  and many of the other nominees were domestic or courtroom dramas. This is the first year since the start of the Oscars where not one war film was nominated, not necessarily a strange fact given the timing between world wars, but a remarkable one all the same.

While I won’t be reviewing short films at this time, hey! Short films entered the race this year with three categories – animated short, comedy short and novelty short. Also worth noting that this was the last year that Best Sound Recording went to a studio instead of an individual.

Three Films to Watch

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Maybe it’s my monster heart speaking, but I really do love this film. It’s one of the earlier monster films to be nominated, and has some amazing effects and a stirring, compelling performance from Fredric March in both the titular roles. He goes for it, and the film is nowhere near as camp as the genre and the era would allow for. It was dark and gritty before that was a staple of the form.

Shanghai Express.  Something you might not know about me – I love train movies. They can condense so much tension, so much drama through compartments and carriages in a way other settings struggle to replicate. Snowpiercer, Strangers on a Train, hell, even Unstoppable. Shanghai Express does it better than most, grounded in the remarkable performances of Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. It’s terrific.

Grand Hotel. It certainly hasn’t been every year that the Best Picture winner has made this list, but Grand Hotel was one of the relatively few times that the Academy got it right. From the compelling and interweaving narrative, to the performance to some of the most impressive cinematography I’ve seen from this era of heavy cameras, Grand Hotel pretty much has it all.

Three Films to Miss

Bad Girl. While not a bad film, the sort of narrative of a young woman and man hating each other and then falling in love are really a dime a dozen.

One Hour With You. A fun romantic comedy, but Maurice Chevalier really bothers me as an actor. I find him smug, which sort of ruins the effect of this would-be charmer.

A nous la liberte. Look, it’s blasphemy, but I didn’t warm to this French satire on the nature of capitalism at all.