Best Motion Picture Story 1951

[ITALIANO]

Teresa, while certainly naive, is actually a nice little movie, and not as obscure as some here think it is. Of course it's not Fred Zinnemann's most famous work, but it's a rather honest look at Italian and American life: Alfred Hayes, one of its two nominated writer, knew Italy and especially Rome very well and had co-written one of Rossellini's masterpieces, Paisan (neo-realism is also very evident in Teresa, especially the first part of the movie). And Pier Angeli, with her expressive, scared eyes, became an international star with this one and Tomorrow Is Too Late. She's quite affecting as Teresa.

[Reza]

Actually, Tee, the only one of these films not readily available is the much maligned Teresa which I've never seen. The others have long been available on DVD. A restored version of the badly butchered cult classic Bullfighter and the Lady came out on Blu-ray three years ago.

The Frogmen is a fairly routine actioner, which I forgot soon after seeing it some years ago.

Both The Frogmen and Teresa are on YouTube. The former is a standard war film while the latter has a charming performance by Pier Angeli.

[Reza]

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[Reza]

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[Precious Doll]

Aside from effective Seven Days to Noon which I saw about 6 years ago I really don't remember the others though I have seen them. Looking at the ratings I gave all the films and given I'm a big Fred Zinnemann fan I have voted for Teresa which played on TCM in Australia during the late 1990s on a regular basis.

[The Original BJ]

I'm not sure where to put this, but since I won't be voting this year (haven't seen a single one of these!) it's worth commenting on how disassociated this category seems to be from the main races, which is not generally something you could say for the writing categories overall throughout Oscar's history.

For instance, this year, three of the nominees were solo nods, and the other two had merely an additional below-the-line citation. Coming up next in 1950, all FIVE nominees earned their sole citation in this category. Backing up, 1952 had Best Picture winner The Greatest Show on Earth, but the other four earned their nominations solo. 1953 had across-the-board candidate Roman Holiday, but the rest were films with one and two nominations. 1954 had three solo nominees, and the other two had only three additional nominations between them. In 1955, Love Me or Leave Me and Rebel Without a Cause managed acting nominations...but the other three films were solo nominees. And 1956's slate was absent from the main races as well.

There are indeed years where the films chosen here were more dominant players -- 1942, 1937, and 1936 all had FOUR Best Picture nominees. And there are other years -- 1941 being the best example -- that FEEL like more representative slates, simply because all of those movies have endured as classics even if they weren't major Oscar contenders in their day.

But by and large, this category tends to feature fairly random movies, many of which are obscure and/or unavailable. I'm not sure what that MEANS -- but it's something at least worth pointing out.

[Big Magilla]

Actually, Tee, the only one of these films not readily available is the much maligned Teresa which I've never seen. The others have long been available on DVD. A restored version of the badly butchered cult classic Bullfighter and the Lady came out on Blu-ray three years ago.

The Frogmen is a fairly routine actioner, which I forgot soon after seeing it some years ago.

Here Comes the Groom is pure fluff. It's available on a double disc DVD with 1952's Just for You which is a much better Crosby-Wyman musical also starring Natalie Wood and Ethel Barrymore.

Bullfighter and the Lady is a worthy contender but the British suspense classic, Seven Days to Noon, which played incessantly on New York TV when I was growing up, was a deserving winner and gets my vote which is subject to change if I ever see Teresa and find myself going against the critical consensus and actually liking it.

[Mister Tee]

Again, Magilla, I'll suggest that you may be the only voter in history who thought out this category with such Socratic exactitude. I think most people just picked the movie they liked best.

And it's going to be a good long time before I can do any such thing from this group, as I've never come across the Bullfighter and the Lady, The Frogmen or Teresa (truthfully, till recently, I hadn't exactly been looking for them). Of the two I have seen: the only thing I remember from Here Comes the Groom is In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening, and Crosby with a bunch of kids. Seven Days to Noon, however, is a pretty cool, suspenseful thriller; it may get my vote if I'm ever eligible to choose.

[Big Magilla]

Here we go again with everyone's favorite category. Please remember that this award is for the story, whether just a concept or a full fledged treatment, not the actual screenplay. Witty repartee should not factor into your voting. That is something to consider in the screenplay categories, not this one.