Screenplay & Story Oscar Winners Before 1970

By the time the Oscars started, narrative movies had already been around for roughly two decades. And this was the last big year for silent pictures. This film impressed me because the acting is less over-the-top than earlier silents, the story is good, and the camera work and use of tints to suggest different locations and emotions made for visual interest.

nominated for best picture oscar

The scene of the rush out west for cheap land with hundreds of extras in wagons, on horse back, and on foot is an amazing epic scene. The rest of the movie I thought was awful. Over the top performances and the lead actor going way too heavy on the makeup make this another embarrassing early talky.

nominated for best picture oscar

I've read other reviews that have called this sentimental and sappy. I guess I enjoy that on occasion. I identified with Beery's character trying to get by, struggling to improve himself. I also like performances by children who are precocious enough to show innocence at times, but mostly have a toughness and worldliness to match their adult co-stars.

Hilarious! It deserved all the Oscars it got. Exceptional chemistry between Gable and Colbert. Iconic dialogue and scenes that bring images of Loony Tunes to mind.

The story grips you. The internal struggle of the main character is at once suffocated by guilt and uplifting.

I've come to love the performances of Paul Muni through the characters he portrayed in the 30's. He is like a character actor who blends into his character through makeup so fully that you don't recognize him otherwise, and yet he plays the leading man with powerful natural delivery of his lines.

A story of a great man. A story about justice, injustice, and the power of intellect to overcome corruption.

A boy ranger meets wised up Washington types and a political machine, he's Don Quixote, he's David against Goliath without a slingshot. I enjoyed this very much. Sure Stewart is so squeaky clean and sentimental, but he's the little guy you have to root for against corruption. You have to! People can't give up on ideals and making the world a better place. Wonderful supporting characters in Arthur, Mitchell, Rains, and Arnold too. Jean Arthur is incredibly attractive! She is intelligent and strong and Jefferson Smith would have never said what he needed to say in the Senate filibuster without her.

The use of color and the grandness of scale of this movie, particularly in filming the lavish interiors, is still amazing. I can hardly imagine what the original audiences must have thought in '39. I have heard some people say they do not like the main characters, so they cannot enjoy the movie. The main characters are flawed, but I found them intriguing to watch and still very much enjoyed the movie.

I don't remember it being that great. But, I think I need to see it again to give it another chance now that I am familiar with other older movies.

Suspenseful road movie. Interesting look at Canadian countrysides and villagers. Character study of marooned German U-boat soldiers trying to blend in till they can make their way to the safe US border (takes place before the US entered World War II).

Snappy romantic comedy! There's a reason Tracy and Hepburn were such a famous pair. Their chemistry and delivery of great dialog with plenty of attitude is worth seeing.

More iconic lines and music. Love the shadowy film noir aesthetic of this film. "The problems of a few people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."

Docu-drama film-noir of the FBI's efforts in the 40's. Nice twist at the end.

These social issue movies from the 40's really impressed me. Maybe it's cause I'm kinda naive and as I watched these award winners in roughly chronological order, it was as if I was viewing it with the eyes of the original 1945 audience. The topic and its portrayal was shocking and powerful, whereas by today's standards it would be tame. Someone had to deal with alcoholism back then though so we could get to the point we are today (and deal with today's issues). The filmmakers presented it very well in my opinion.

Another social issue movie of the 40's. A topic that continues to be an issue in society since, returning vets adjusting to home life. One performer stands out exceptionally- Harold Russel! He was not an actor, but a real vet, and you can tell his performance is pure truth. Even from WWII it was hard for the three main characters, as played by March, Andrews, and Russell, to overcome the inner conflict that has formed within each one. It's a battle with one's self having seen the things a soldier sees and remembering more innocent times, plus not knowing the reactions of those who stayed home. This movie ends romantically, the main characters find a way to adjust to civilian life without quite so much trouble as vets from later wars perhaps faced. But some strong forces that need overcome are portrayed. Awe inspiring.

Bogie's character arc is unforgettable. He turns so ugly, from the inside out. The setting, the dialog, the characters, the imagery are all marvelous. The best study of greed.

Most people don't seem to realize that movies in the early 50's (or even before) dealt with such tough topics. Another reason I love William Holden. Gloria Swanson's character is so memorable too including her impersonation of Chaplin.

won best British film from BAFTA

Storyline is kind of similar to It Happened One Night, which is a movie I like much better. I can believe the romance that forms between the journalist and heiress in that picture. This movie shows you a lot of the beauty of Rome, has some cute moments that make you chuckle, and just a couple touching moments. In this case it is a princess and an enterprising journalist so the princess leads an even more sheltered life and the two are from totally opposite worlds. They run wild for awhile then the sudden kiss and tears come not so much from a deep need for each other, as from the realization that this one day stand or temporary fun has come to an end. The holiday is fun while it lasts and Peck is honorable by deciding not to exploit the relationship, but the movie is a passive, empty piece of fluff.

The original 40 Year Old Virgin. Well I don't remember if the character was 40 years old, but you get the point. Much more subtly funny and dramatic. One of the first award winning movies I can remember that didn't deal with beautiful people. This was the first Oscar winning movie that was a remake of a TV movie.

The scenery and effects were probably amazing to the 50s audience who hadn't seen many exotic locals. I've also heard that a main reason for this film's popularity were the massive amounts of cameos by various celebrities. I like to think that through my goal to watch Oscar winning movies that I can recognize quite a few well known stars, but all these cameos are a gimmick and they don't carry the story. Where does that leave the story? It's choppy and barely sustained through the 80 days.

The filmmakers succeed in giving this big red balloon personality! The balloon is a friend to the little boy though it sometimes teases and pulls away drawing the boy to places he has not been. The balloon wants to be free. While watching this film, I was reminded of the Peter, Paul & Mary song Puff the Magic Dragon. Both are about fleeting innocence.

Sweeping Lean! The acting is awesome. I love the battle of wills between the two top officers. POWs captured by the Japanese somewhere in Asia during WWII are ordered to build a bridge that will help the Japanese war effort. But then Alec Guinness decides to build his men's moral by taking on the building project and plans to leave the bridge as a monument to British resourcefulness and engineering skill. This movie has another charismatic performance from Holden too. After escaping, Holden must journey back toward the POW camp on a mission to destroy the bridge that the Japanese will use to transport supplies. You see two Allie forces working at opposite goals. Meanwhile, Hayakawa plays a Japanese General riddled with shame. And the ending is edge of your seat suspenseful without all the excessive special effects and stunts used in today's action dramas.

Rehash of Tracy's and Hepburn's Woman of the Year from 15 years before. Not a bad retelling. There are many funny observations. However, I like the chemistry, frazzled nerves, and rapid dialog of the movie with the classic couple better.

The words raw and desperate come to mind. An early performance from another one of my favorite actors, Sidney Poitier. Those who say Poitier always played a clean cut, successful black man and therefore was not a threat to white audiences are basing that on just a few of his performances. I am a fan of Stanley Kramer's pictures even though he favors a message over style. And like 49th Parallel I appreciate the study of various characters along the escape route of the two convicts. Curtis and Poitier, as the convicts, are solid anchors at the center.

There are not very many Oscar winning movies that I thought were awful. I think that just about any movie that has been nominated for or won an Oscar is a step above. My average ratings are fairly high because I have seen a lot more good movies than bad. But I just didn't understand this one. Maybe I got a bad video transfer that was making it hard to even hear the dialog or maybe this is simply too dated. I'm going to use the same review for this and Women in Love because I don't know what else to say about it.

Religious satire, I love it! Gantry has an image to uphold for his flock, he has the skills to be a dynamic preacher, but how long can he keep fooling the flock because he's really a conartist.

A movie I watched in school. Atticus deserves the AFI #1 movie hero honor. A great example of a classic book being translated well into a classic film.

I had a hard time wrapping my mind around this one and appreciating this type of bawdy British humor and melodrama. There are some weird Keystone Cops kind of sped up action sequences that just left me thinking, "Huh?". I really thought I was going to find this a total waste of time till the movie got to about half way through. When Tom Jones leaves home by foot to see London and make his own way in the world it suddenly became much more interesting to me.

Cary Grant is still entertaining even as he starts graying.

Beautiful epic movie! The sweeping scenery, time line, and emotions are not to be missed.

I wasn't very interested in the characters. The story was slow and the version I saw on video had really bad voices dubbing the English. You could especially tell that the voices of the kids of the man and woman were being dubbed by adults talking in a higher pitched voice to try to sound like children.

I love Sidney Poitier. He plays a powerful character with pride and intelligence. And still he has prejudices that might be misleading to solving the case. The relationship between Poitier and Steiger is something to watch.

The last great Spencer Tracy Katherine Hepburn pairing. And another performance from Sidney Poitier that I love. I have a scene from this movie saved to my favorites here; I don't remember it making such an impact when I watched the whole film, but it's a very important monologue given by Mr. Poitier that I think reveals a great truth about the generation gap.

Some of it's a little dated. But that includes LSD, my favorite character missing from the new version. I love the songs in the Broadway musical version, but by the time they made the new movie the show was tired. You have to go back to the original!

Call me naive, as naive as Voight's character through most of the movie. Man, he runs into some messed up people as a male prostitute in New York. Hoffman gives another impressive performance. And by the end I was surprised by how much I cared for the two friends. When the song "Everybody's talkin' at me" comes on and Hoffman's character appears too sick to make it to their dream destination, it was more powerful than I expected. It brought a whole new meaning to that song. It made me think of Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun, two plays I had read recently also about the disappointment of lost dreams.

Classic, iconic everything!