Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post Reply
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by Big Magilla »

A few pop out at me.

1927 - I think Jolson would have been snubbed just as he was in the 1927/28 nominations. They would have thought it unfair to have his singing voice in competition with silent performances.

1928 - I don't think Richard Barthelmess would have been nominated two years in a row.

1929 -Missing Louis Wolheim in Condemned.

1930 - Missing Wolheim again in All Quiet on the Western Front.

1931 - Gustav von Seyffertitiz, not Warner Oland in Dishonored.

1932 - Katharine Hepburn in A BIll of Divorcement should be there instead of Crawford or MacDonald.

1933 - Lorre and Dressler's performances might be considered supporting today, but not then.

1934 - Morgan should be in support. His lead nomination was only a result of there being no category for supporting performances.

1935 - Same as with Lorre and Dressler, his performance in David Copperfield was supporting, but he was a major star and would have been considered in the lead category.

1944 - Bracken, possibly, but more likely Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity, which was nominated for 7 Oscars to Hail the Conquering Hero's 1.
bizarre
Assistant
Posts: 566
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 9:35 am

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by bizarre »

I've spent a little bit of every day for the past two months or so poring through archives of film reviews, box office figures and contemporary appraisals of films of the 20s and 30s to try to do this game myself and see what I could come up with. The goal here was to envision, without letting personal bias cloud the process, how these races would have/could have ended up with the modern 4-acting category, 5-nominee rules, a functioning voting body and a ceremony for every separate year from 1927 to 1935 using modern release-date eligibility criteria. I've tried to do this while bearing in mind as much as possible contextual information regarding studio goings-on and the actors' careers and celebrity, the leading actor/character actor system employed by studios at the time and, of course, the constancy of the fact that Oscar will and always has been prepared to applaud and award shitty work.

I still haven't seen many of the films in contention for this period of time, so I've approached this mainly as an academic exercise.

Let me know what you think of these hypothetical sets of nominees - whether you can buy these as the official nominees in this alternate reality where Oscar operated under its current rules since its genesis:
1927

BEST ACTOR:
* Richard Barthelmess, in “The Patent Leather Kid”
Clive Brook, in “Underworld”
Lon Chaney, in “The Unknown”
Emil Jannings, in “The Way of All Flesh”
Al Jolson, in “The Jazz Singer”

BEST ACTRESS:
Clara Bow, in “It”
* Janet Gaynor, in “7th Heaven”
Phyllis Haver, in “Chicago”
Molly O’Day, in “The Patent Leather Kid”
Mary Pickford, in “My Best Girl”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
William Austin, in “It”
Albert Gran, in “7th Heaven”
Ian Keith, in “Two Arabian Knights”
Warner Oland, in “The Jazz Singer”
* Conrad Veidt, in “The Beloved Rogue”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Belle Bennett, in “The Way of All Flesh”
Eugenie Besserer, in “The Jazz Singer”
Gladys Brockwell, in “7th Heaven”
* Louise Dresser, in “Mr. Wu”
Margaret Livingston, in “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans”

---

1928

Best Actor:
Richard Barthelmess, in “The Noose”
Warner Baxter, in “In Old Arizona”
Charlie Chaplin, in “The Circus”
* Emil Jannings, in “The Last Command”
Lewis Stone, in “The Patriot”

Best Actress:
Betty Compson, in “The Barker”
Louise Dresser, in “A Ship Comes In”
* Janet Gaynor, in “Street Angel”
Dorothy Mackaill, in “The Barker”
Gloria Swanson, in “Sadie Thompson”

Best Supporting Actor:
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in “A Woman of Affairs”
George Fawcett, in “Tempest”
* Edmund Lowe, in “In Old Arizona”
William Powell, in “The Last Command”
Louis Wolheim, in “The Racket”

Best Supporting Actress:
Olga Baclanova, in “The Docks of New York”
Evelyn Brent, in “The Last Command”
* Dorothy Burgess, in “In Old Arizona”
Mary Duncan, in “4 Devils”
Anita Page, in “Our Dancing Daughters”

---

1929

Best Actor:
* George Arliss, in “Disraeli”
George Bancroft, in “Thunderbolt”
Maurice Chevalier, in “The Love Parade”
Ronald Colman, in “Bulldog Drummond”
Paul Muni, in “The Valiant”

Best Actress:
Ruth Chatterton, in “Madame X”
Jeanne Eagels, in “The Letter”
Corinne Griffith, in “The Divine Lady”
* Mary Pickford, in “Coquette”
Norma Shearer, in “Their Own Desire”

Best Supporting Actor:
Claud Allister, in “Bulldog Drummond”
Joe E. Brown, in “Sally”
Dudley Digges, in “Condemned”
Lupino Lane, in “The Love Parade”
* Regis Toomey, in “Alibi”

Best Supporting Actress:
Florence Arliss, in “Disraeli”
* Belle Bennett, in “Their Own Desire”
Emily Fitzroy, in “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”
Kay Hammond, in “The Trespasser”
Raquel Torres, in “The Bridge of San Luis Rey”

---

1930

Best Actor:
George Arliss, in “The Green Goddess”
* Wallace Beery, in “The Big House”
Maurice Chevalier, in “The Big Pond”
Fredric March, in “The Royal Family of Broadway”
Lawrence Tibbett, in “The Rogue Song”

Best Actress:
Marlene Dietrich, in “Morocco”
Marie Dressler, in “Min and Bill”
Greta Garbo, in “Romance”
Ann Harding, in “Holiday”
* Norma Shearer, in “The Divorcee”

Best Supporting Actor:
James Cagney, in “The Doorway to Hell”
Raymond Griffith, in “All Quiet on the Western Front”
Edward Everett Horton, in “Holiday”
* Lucien Prival, in “Hell’s Angels”
Slim Summerville, in “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Best Supporting Actress:
Clara Blandick, in “Tom Sawyer”
Henrietta Crosman, in “The Royal Family of Broadway”
* Marie Dressler, in “Anna Christie”
Beryl Mercer, in “Outward Bound”
Marjorie Rambeau, in “Min and Bill”

---

1931

Best Actor:
* Lionel Barrymore, in “A Free Soul”
Wallace Beery, in “The Champ”
Jackie Cooper, in “Skippy”
Richard Dix, in “Cimarron”
Fredric March, in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

Best Actress:
Irene Dunne, in “Cimarron”
Sally Eilers, in “Bad Girl”
Lynn Fontanne, in “The Guardsman”
* Helen Hayes, in “The Sin of Madelon Claudet”
Norma Shearer, in “A Free Soul”

Best Supporting Actor:
Johnny Mack Brown, in “The Last Flight”
Clark Gable, in “A Free Soul”
Boris Karloff, in “The Criminal Code”
Warner Oland, in “Dishonored”
* Charles ‘Chic’ Sale, in “The Star Witness”

Best Supporting Actress:
Glenda Farrell, in “Little Caesar”
Minna Gombell, in “Bad Girl”
* Miriam Hopkins, in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
Edna May Oliver, in “Cimarron”
Estelle Taylor, in “Cimarron”

---

1932

Best Actor:
John Barrymore, in “A Bill of Divorcement”
Charles Laughton, in “The Sign of the Cross”
Herbert Marshall, in “Trouble in Paradise”
* Paul Muni, in “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang”
Edward G. Robinson, in “Two Seconds”

Best Actress:
Joan Crawford, in “Grand Hotel”
* Marlene Dietrich, in “Shanghai Express”
Marie Dressler, in “Emma”
Helen Hayes, in “A Farewell to Arms”
Jeanette MacDonald, in “One Hour with You”

Best Supporting Actor:
Jean Hersholt, in “Emma”
* Adolphe Menjou, in “A Farewell to Arms”
Warner Oland, in “Shanghai Express”
Eugene Pallette, in “Shanghai Express”
Gregory Ratoff, in “What Price Hollywood?”

Best Supporting Actress:
* Billie Burke, in “A Bill of Divorcement”
Miriam Hopkins, in “Trouble in Paradise”
Kay Johnson, in “Thirteen Women”
Genevieve Tobin, in “One Hour with You”
Anna May Wong, in “Shanghai Express”

---

1933

Best Actor:
John Barrymore, in “Counsellor at Law”
Warner Baxter, in “42nd Street”
Clive Brook, in “Cavalcade”
Leslie Howard, in “Berkeley Square”
* Charles Laughton, in “The Private Life of Henry VIII”

Best Actress:
Henrietta Crosman, in “Pilgrimage”
Janet Gaynor, in “State Fair”
* Katharine Hepburn, in “Morning Glory”
May Robson, in “Lady for a Day”
Diana Wynyard, in “Cavalcade”

Best Supporting Actor:
O.P. Heggie, in “Zoo in Budapest”
Guy Kibbee, in “Lady for a Day”
Peter Lorre, in “M”
* Herbert Mundin, in “Cavalcade”
C. Aubrey Smith, in “Morning Glory”

Best Supporting Actress:
Laura Hope Crews, in “The Silver Cord”
Marie Dressler, in “Dinner at Eight”
Aline MacMahon, in “Gold Diggers of 1933”
* Una O’Connor, in “Cavalcade”
Jean Parker, in “Little Women”

---

1934

Best Actor:
George Arliss, in “The House of Rothschild”
* Clark Gable, in “It Happened One Night”
Charles Laughton, in “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”
Frank Morgan, in “The Affairs of Cellini”
William Powell, in “The Thin Man”

Best Actress:
* Claudette Colbert, in “It Happened One Night”
Bette Davis, in “Of Human Bondage”
Myrna Loy, in “The Thin Man”
Grace Moore, in “One Night of Love”
Norma Shearer, in “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”

Best Supporting Actor:
Walter Connolly, in “It Happened One Night”
Boris Karloff, in “The Lost Patrol”
Erik Rhodes, in “The Gay Divorcee”
C. Aubrey Smith, in “Cleopatra”
* Henry B. Walthall, in “Viva Villa!”

Best Supporting Actress:
Louise Beavers, in “Imitation of Life”
* Alice Brady, in “The Gay Divorcee”
Kay Johnson, in “Of Human Bondage”
Una O’Connor, in “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”
Helen Westley, in “The House of Rothschild”

---

1935

Best Actor:
Clark Gable, in “Mutiny on the Bounty”
Charles Laughton, in “Mutiny on the Bounty”
* Victor McLaglen, in “The Informer”
Paul Muni, in “Black Fury”
Franchot Tone, in “Mutiny on the Bounty”

Best Actress:
Elisabeth Bergner, in “Escape Me Never”
Claudette Colbert, in “Private Worlds”
* Bette Davis, in “Dangerous”
Katharine Hepburn, in “Alice Adams”
Miriam Hopkins, in “Becky Sharp”

Best Supporting Actor:
* W.C. Fields, in “David Copperfield”
Charlie Ruggles, in “Ruggles of Red Gap”
Guy Standing, in “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer”
Fred Stone, in “Alice Adams”
Chief Thunderbird, in “Annie Oakley”

Best Supporting Actress:
Mary Boland, in “Ruggles of Red Gap”
Una O’Connor, in “The Informer”
* Edna May Oliver, in “David Copperfield”
ZaSu Pitts, in “Ruggles of Red Gap”
Helen Vinson, in “Private Worlds”
In this assessment, poor Chester Morris, Alfred Lunt, Bessie Love, Nancy Carroll and Merle Oberon go without career Oscar nominations entirely.

Keeping with the tradition of 'normalising' past Oscar races, I thought I'd branch out once more and readjudicate the nomination process for 1944, when Barry Fitzgerald was nominated in both Actor categories but won in Supporting. I've left him in Supporting and have filled the gap left by his disqualification from the Leading race:
1944

Best Actor:
Charles Boyer, in "Gaslight"
Eddie Bracken, in "Hail the Conquering Hero"
* Bing Crosby, in "Going My Way"
Cary Grant, in "None But the Lonely Heart"
Alexander Knox, in "Wilson"
Feedback always appreciated. I'd still be interested in using my notes to do this project over together with the rest of the forum once the Screenplay discussions are completed.
bizarre
Assistant
Posts: 566
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 9:35 am

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by bizarre »

Big Magilla wrote:Let's not forget that Chaplin's multiple nominations for The Circus which were invalidated when they decided to give him an honorary Oscar instead.
Noted!
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by Big Magilla »

Let's not forget that Chaplin's multiple nominations for The Circus which were invalidated when they decided to give him an honorary Oscar instead.
bizarre
Assistant
Posts: 566
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 9:35 am

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by bizarre »

Big Magilla wrote:One more thing. If we're going to do this, we should do it after we finish the screenplay discussions which will continue shortly. People need time to brush up on the potential nominees.
Absolutely - just putting it forward as a suggestion and happy to proceed with it whenever it's convenient for the forum. I haven't seen many of the lower-profile films nominated in these years but reading the archived reviews from the NYTimes et al is illuminating as to the general conversation at the time (especially for the silent years when supporting roles weren't "featured" in the way they were later in the 30s).

Happy to leave all nominations as is in cases like Morgan and Tone's - but happy to, in line with the "contemporisation" of the categories, ignore the star system to a reasonable extent (such as for the debut roles of what were at the time ingénue actresses such as Joan Crawford or actors that bridged the star-character divide such as Marie Dressler) when it comes to theorising the recipients of the 'missing' nominations.

As it stands, this is what we would be working towards:

1927

BEST ACTOR:
Automatic Nomination - Emil Jannings (The Way of All Flesh)
Automatic Nomination - Richard Barthelmess (The Patent Leather Kid)
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee

BEST ACTRESS:
DECIDE UPON Automatic Nomination - Janet Gaynor in either "7th Heaven" or "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans"
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY

* from films with a 1927 release date only

1928

BEST ACTOR:
NO DETERMINATION PROCESS - VOTING FOR WINNER FROM THIS SELECTION:
Automatic Nomination - Emil Jannings (The Last Command)
Automatic Nomination - Richard Barthelmess (The Noose)
Automatic Nomination - Warner Baxter (In Old Arizona)
Automatic Nomination - Lewis Stone (The Patriot)
Automatic Nomination - Charlie Chaplin (The Circus)


BEST ACTRESS:
Automatic Nomination - Janet Gaynor (Street Angel)
Automatic Nomination - Louise Dresser (A Ship Comes In)
Automatic Nomination - Gloria Swanson (Sadie Thompson)
Automatic Nomination - Betty Compson (The Barker)
+ TBD nominee

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY

* from films with a 1928 release date only

1929

BEST ACTOR:
DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES FROM THIS SELECTION:
George Bancroft (Thunderbolt)
Chester Morris (Alibi)
Paul Muni (The Valiant)
Ronald Colman (Condemned)*
Ronald Colman (Bulldog Drummond)*
George Arliss (Disraeli)
Maurice Chevalier (The Love Parade)
* only one of these Colman performances may ultimately be nominated if either or both are determined to be likely nominees

BEST ACTRESS:
DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES FROM THIS SELECTION:
Mary Pickford (Coquette)
Ruth Chatterton (Madame X)
Jeanne Eagels (The Letter)
Corinne Griffith (The Divine Lady)
Bessie Love (The Broadway Melody)
Norma Shearer (Their Own Desire)
Gloria Swanson (The Trespasser)

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY

* from films with a 1929 release date only

1930

BEST ACTOR:
NO DETERMINATION PROCESS - VOTING FOR WINNER FROM THIS SELECTION:
Automatic Nomination - Fredric March (The Royal Family of Broadway)
Automatic Nomination - George Arliss (The Green Goddess)
Automatic Nomination - Lawrence Tibbett (The Rogue Song)
Automatic Nomination - Maurice Chevalier (The Big Pond)
Automatic Nomination - Wallace Beery (The Big House)

BEST ACTRESS:
DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES FROM THIS SELECTION:
Ann Harding (Holiday)
Greta Garbo (Anna Christie)
Greta Garbo (Romance)
Marie Dressler (Min and Bill)
Marlene Dietrich (Morocco)
Nancy Carroll (The Devil's Holiday)
Norma Shearer (The Divorcee)
Ruth Chatterton (Sarah and Son)

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY

* from films with a 1930 release date only

1931

BEST ACTOR:
DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES FROM THIS SELECTION:
Adolphe Menjou (The Front Page)
Alfred Lunt (The Guardsman)
Fredric March (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Jackie Cooper (Skippy)
Lionel Barrymore (A Free Soul)
Richard Dix (Cimarron)
Wallace Beery (The Champ)

BEST ACTRESS:
Automatic Nomination - Helen Hayes (The Sin of Madelon Claudet)
Automatic Nomination - Irene Dunne (Cimarron)
Automatic Nomination - Lynn Fontanne (The Guardsman)
Automatic Nomination - Norma Shearer (A Free Soul)
+ TBD nominee

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY

* from films with a 1931 release date only

1932

BEST ACTOR:
Automatic Nomination - Paul Muni (I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang)
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee

BEST ACTRESS:
Automatic Nomination - Marie Dressler (Emma)
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY

* from films with a 1932 release date only

1933

BEST ACTOR:
Automatic Nomination - Charles Laughton (The Private Life of Henry VIII)
Automatic Nomination - Leslie Howard (Berkeley Square)
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee

BEST ACTRESS:
Automatic Nomination - Diana Wynyard (Cavalcade)
Automatic Nomination - Katharine Hepburn (Morning Glory)
Automatic Nomination - May Robson (Lady for a Day)
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY

* from films with a 1933 release date only

1934

BEST ACTOR:
Automatic Nomination - Clark Gable (It Happened One Night)
Automatic Nomination - Frank Morgan (The Affairs of Cellini)
Automatic Nomination - William Powell (The Thin Man)
+ TBD nominee
+ TBD nominee

BEST ACTRESS:
Automatic Nomination - Bette Davis (Of Human Bondage)
Automatic Nomination - Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night)
Automatic Nomination - Grace Moore (One Night of Love)
Automatic Nomination - Norma Shearer (The Barretts of Wimpole Street)
+ TBD nominee

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH CATEGORY

* from films with a 1934 release date only

1935

BEST ACTOR:
NO CHANGE TO RESULTS
Automatic Nominee - Charles Laughton (Mutiny on the Bounty)
Automatic Nominee - Clark Gable (Mutiny on the Bounty)
Automatic Nominee - Franchot Tone (Mutiny on the Bounty)
Automatic Nominee - Paul Muni (Black Fury)
Automatic Winner - Victor McLaglen (The Informer)

BEST ACTRESS:
Automatic Winner - Bette Davis (Dangerous)
REMOVE NOMINEE MOST LIKELY TO HAVE BEEN 6TH PLACE IN VOTING FROM THIS SELECTION:
Claudette Colbert (Private Worlds)
Elisabeth Bergner (Escape Me Never)
Katharine Hepburn (Alice Adams)
Merle Oberon (The Dark Angel)
Miriam Hopkins (Becky Sharp)

DETERMINE 5 MOST LIKELY NOMINEES IN:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress

DETERMINE WINNERS IN EACH SUPPORTING CATEGORY

* from films with a 1935 release date only

Will continue updating this post later on as a clarification for release dates of the films nominated for Oscars spanning two years.
Last edited by bizarre on Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by Big Magilla »

One more thing. If we're going to do this, we should do it after we finish the screenplay discussions which will continue shortly. People need time to brush up on the potential nominees.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by Big Magilla »

If you're going to go by rules of the early days of the supporting awards - big names considered in Best Actor/Best Actress categories regardless of the size of their roles and character actors and actresses in Support regardless of the side of their roles.

Frank Morgan and Franchot Tone, for example, were stars in 1934 and 1935 so their nominations in lead should stand if that's what you're advocating.
bizarre
Assistant
Posts: 566
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 9:35 am

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by bizarre »

Oh, in those cases we'd try to reach a consensus on what the extra nominations would be, so every category would have 5 nominees for 9 separate iterations - nominees that wouldn't be points of contention (such as the Garbo example) would be left as is even if the roles were small prior to the introduction of Supporting categories, although we could put the Actor nominations for 1935 to a vote as to which of them would be moved to Supporting as this seems to be a special case.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by Big Magilla »

Yes, it could be fun, but what about the lead categories with fewer than five nominations in those years?
bizarre
Assistant
Posts: 566
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 9:35 am

Gauging Interest - 1927-1935 Acting Nominees Project

Post by bizarre »

I've been doing this for fun on my own, but in a community so well-versed in Oscar history I thought this might be a fun forum project if there were enough interest.

This is an alternate reality game where the goal is to 'normalise' the 1927-1935 (pre-Supporting categories/concrete field-of-five rules) acting categories as if they were voted on under current rules. This would mean creating separate Oscar years for each ceremony that honoured films from a date range that spanned two (for instance, a set of 1927 nominees and then a set of 1928 nominees based on the films' release dates), adding Supporting categories, restricting the number of nominees to five in each category and implementing the rule that actors can only be nominated for one performance in a given category (and not for the same performance in two different categories) - the challenge here is to not pick favourites but rather hypothesise what the lineups would have been with the voting body of the time operating under post-1936 rules. What would the voting body/committee have picked as the five nominated Supporting Actress performances of 1927, say? Which of the 6 Best Actress nominees of 1935 would have ultimately missed out on the nomination? In a 1930-specific ceremony would Garbo have been nominated for Anna Christie or Romance? And, in the Supporting Categories for years 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935, who would have ultimately won?

For one thing, it's probably safe to say that Una O'Connor would have been at least a four-time nominee. :lol:

I guess the process would be for forum members to debate the acting categories in each year by theorising who would have been in the pool of contenders for each category and then perhaps polls to decide - with forum members voting not as themselves but as a contemporaneous Oscar voter with contemporaneous tastes - who would have been nominated (or in some cases, snubbed to restrict the field to five) and then who would have won from the lineup we chose. Creating an imaginary historical canon, if you will. It's quite a ride to research the films in contention, separate them by release date and read the reviews written at the time to gauge an idea of what would have happened.

Could be fun, what do you think?
Post Reply

Return to “Other Oscar Discussions”