About three years ago, I got it into my head to watch every film ever nominated for an Oscar. It's a pretty insane feat, given that the nominees are well into the thousands, but it's a project I'm yet to regret embarking on. It's just a hell of a lot of fun and has given me this sort of startling education in the history of cinema and narrative. While I've been watching films on an ad hoc, out of order basis over on tumblr, I am finally starting to be able to cross full years off my list, and as I do, I'll be recapping them here.
In a lot of ways, this year exploded the Oscars open. As opposed to three films being nominated in categories, eight and twelve were, and categories like Sound Recording and Dance Direction really dominated. It's a sign of a different time.
This year was pretty diverse as far as genres were concerned (if not stars, who were recurring across features and forms faster than you could check 'em). Musicals were the flavour of the year, but science fiction, fantasy, period dramas, war films and domestic dramas all had hats in the ring. It made for a pretty interesting viewing experience.
It was also a huge year for Franchot Tone, who had key supporting roles in
Mutiny on the Bounty (for which he was nominated for Best Actor),
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and
Dangerous. He's perhaps most famous for the latter, as it's the film in which he and Bette Davis met and her pursuit of him was stopped following news of Tone's engagement to Joan Crawford, sparking the infamous feud between Crawford and Davis.
Jumping back to Tone though, it's also a year the acting categories were a bit of a mess. Paul Muni for
Black Fury was written in, but lost along with
three Mutiny on the Bounty actors to Victor McLaglen in
The Informer. Bette Davis won for
Dangerous over Katharine Hepburn for
Alice Adams, a scandalous and retrospective award given Davis really should've won the year before for
Of Human Bondage. Supporting Actors and Leads were thrown in together in a way they never should've been, which ultimately led to the formation of separate categories in the ninth year of the awards in the following year.
All in all, a dynamic year, but one with its fair share of duds too.
Five to Watch
1.
Les Miserables. It may not be as
large as the more recent adaptation, or even a musical, but there's something magical about the story of
Les Mis and that's really on show in this 1935 film. It helps that it's led by Fredric March, who was such a charismatic and versatile leading man.
2.
Private Worlds is, in a lot of ways, very ahead of it's time. A woman psychologist, played wonderfully by the effervescent Claudette Colbert, finds her job in jeopardy when a new doctor is hired who doesn't believe women belong in a psych ward. It's a terrific exploration of the workplace and doesn't skive on discrimination or horror. It's a crime it was nominated for so little in this bloated Oscars year.
3.
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. Films about brotherhoods forged in war are a dime a dozen, but there's something special about this one, so greatly buoyed by performances by Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone. It helps that it's beautifully shot, and, like with
Private Worlds, the horrors are shown in the same breath as the heroics.
4.
Bride of Frankenstein. You knew this one was coming, right? This is such an exciting, thrilling, cult classic that it's almost strange to come across it again through this project. It's an awesome entry into science fiction and hell, cinema generally.
5.
A Midsummer Night's Dream. I hummed and harred about including this one, but I think it is worth the watch. It can't be an easy play to adapt, and William Dieterle does an admirable job of falling into the dreaminess of the story instead of fighting against it. It's strange, fantastical and unusual.
Honourable mentions to
Alice Adams and
Dangerous too which are both awesome.
Three to Miss
1.
Ruggles of Red Gap is the total epitomisation of the American Dream, where an English butler finds himself out working for a Southern family of new money and finding his own footing as a man. It's also insanely dated, boring and lacking in any real charm. Definitely one to miss.
2.
Black Fury. There are things to like in this story of a coal miner leading a rebellion, but man, is it an overdone story. To be fair to
Black Fury it was early in the piece, but there's nothing to really set it apart from similar films.
3.
She. Reincarnated lovers find each other again right in time to try and murder each other in the arctic. There's a good story in here somewhere, but it never really finds it. The performances are stifled, the direction sort of lame, and it's gratuitous with some pretty cringeworthy stereotypes and casual racism. The colour is kind of cool though.
