Unlike any year before it, Oscars Year Seven was all about the romance. Of the 23 films nominated for awards, 16 were straight up romance films and another four had it as a major subplot. Whether it was back stage love affairs or military-musicals (which were incredibly popular at the time) featuring soldiers falling fast for their marks, love was in the air. It made for a weird few weeks watching, that's for sure, but what became really apparent was how difficult it is to make a timeless romance. There are some charming nuggets in these 23 films, but the transcendent ones are masterful efforts at creating not just something sweet, but intimate narratives that often commentate on social constructs, expectations and class. This is especially present in It Happened One Night, The Richest Girl in the World and Of Human Bondage.
It wasn't just the genre that was repeating though. Certain actors were too. Claudette Colbert starred in It Happened One Night, Imitation of Life and Cleopatra (all three of which were nominated for Best Picture), Clark Gable was in It Happened One Night and Manhattan Melodrama, William Powell and Myrna Loy were in both The Thin Man and Manhattan Melodrama, Fredrich March was in The Affairs of Cellini and The Barretts of Wimpole Street. This wasn't exactly uncommon in this era, but it was more noticeable than ever in this year and you were left watching films in the same genre with the same actors rotate the same themes.
Weird, right? In some ways it was interesting though. I mean, to have a genre dominate so fully really means you start to identify the beats of it, the pacing, the scenes so formulaic and trope heavy you can predict them as they come. It's why when films like It Happened One Night and Of Human Bondage come along to in the former's case, utilise the tropes to make magic, or in the latter's case to revert them to make magic, but a near diabolical kind, they easily become talking points. The former also, y'know, swept up.
The Seventh Oscars is also significant as it's the year Bette Davis exploded onto the scene and showed the rise (and rise) of a few established movie stars, particularly Clark Gable and William Powell, who'd continue their Hollywood domination for the next ten years.
The Seventh Oscars is also significant as it's the year Bette Davis exploded onto the scene and showed the rise (and rise) of a few established movie stars, particularly Clark Gable and William Powell, who'd continue their Hollywood domination for the next ten years.
Three to watch
1. The Thin Man. This wasn't really what I expected and I mean that in the best sort of way. Crime and detective movies weren't rare in the twenties and thirties, but what was - and still is - is the degree of affection and sense of partnership that the movie finds in Nick and Nora, played wonderfully by William Powell and Myrna Loy. It's fun, brilliantly paced and utterly charming.
2. Of Human Bondage. Let's be real, watch this for Bette. There's a reason she's one of the best actresses in modern history, and she's on full show here. Vulnerable, angry, biting and bitter, she's a spectrum of woman trapped in a man's ideal. It's 500 Days of Summer's spitting spinster aunt and man does it work.
3. It Happened One Night was the first straight romantic comedy to win the best picture Oscar, and in a year of romance films, it really deserved it. It's charming and lovely, and Clarke Gable's a total swoony delight.
Three to miss
1. The Affairs of Cellini. Nothing is exactly wrong with this film, it's just how many old school Lotharios schmoozing their way across a continent am I going to have to watch?
2. One Night of Love. It was a big year for romance, and this one just really misses the mark.
3. Flirtation Walk is another retread of a million other films circulating the era, and doesn't offer any real new thought into the concept.
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