Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

The Richest Girl in the World has a premise that's pretty ridiculous, in which none of the characters behave like actual human beings, because if they did, then there would be no story. I also couldn't believe the movie relegated what should have been the climactic moment to an offscreen event recapped by minor characters -- even within a formulaic framework, this script can't even execute the rom com formula very well.

Hide-Out really just doesn't amount to much of anything. I have no idea if the premise came off as fresh in its time -- of course by now we've seen countless incarnations of this basic story (particularly Witness) -- but regardless, the plot just doesn't go anywhere. Pretty much what you expect will happen does happen, without any complication. Not painful, but not much fun either.

Manhattan Melodrama is clearly the best written film in the category, though it too has some story elements that stretch credulity. (I didn't buy for one second that Clark Gable would have such a cavalier attitude toward everything that was happening to him at the end of the film; and by having Gable act so resigned, the script glosses over a lot of the inner conflict in Powell's character it could have explored.) Still, this story of two friends on opposite sides of the law is easily the most solidly plotted and engaging narrative of the bunch, and deserved its prize.

Big Magilla wrote:It was there when I posted the reference.

Usually searching for a film by title and year of release will find it quickly. Sometimes, though, you have to search by actor or director. I think I found this one easily with just the title and year of release.

Just watched it and it is quite ordinary. Don't know what the Academy saw in it to nominate it.

It was there when I posted the reference.

Usually searching for a film by title and year of release will find it quickly. Sometimes, though, you have to search by actor or director. I think I found this one easily with just the title and year of release.

The Original BJ wrote:

Big Magilla wrote:

Reza wrote:
It's also on YouTube.

Didn't I say that in my original post?

Yes, but when I went to look for it then, it had disappeared from YouTube. I kept checking back, but couldn't find it. Then, when Reza posted, I was able to find it quickly, so it must have reappeared for some reason.

What's interesting, though, is that the YouTube version is 71 minutes, whereas the Warner Archive release is 76 minutes.

I must quickly watch it then before it disappears again. Films on YouTube have a nasty habit of being removed.

Big Magilla wrote:

Reza wrote:
It's also on YouTube.

Didn't I say that in my original post?

Yes, but when I went to look for it then, it had disappeared from YouTube. I kept checking back, but couldn't find it. Then, when Reza posted, I was able to find it quickly, so it must have reappeared for some reason.

What's interesting, though, is that the YouTube version is 71 minutes, whereas the Warner Archive release is 76 minutes.

Reza wrote:

The Original BJ wrote:

Big Magilla wrote:By the way, The Richest Girl in the World releases from Warner Archive next Tuesday.

Thanks for the heads-up -- this had been on my "unavailable" list, and now I see I can easily rent it from Classic Flix next week!

It's also on YouTube.

Didn't I say that in my original post?

The Original BJ wrote:

Big Magilla wrote:By the way, The Richest Girl in the World releases from Warner Archive next Tuesday.

Thanks for the heads-up -- this had been on my "unavailable" list, and now I see I can easily rent it from Classic Flix next week!

It's also on YouTube.

Big Magilla wrote:By the way, The Richest Girl in the World releases from Warner Archive next Tuesday.

Thanks for the heads-up -- this had been on my "unavailable" list, and now I see I can easily rent it from Classic Flix next week!

By the way, The Richest Girl in the World releases from Warner Archive next Tuesday.

Manhattan Melodrama, of course. For the other two slots, I'd nominate King Vidor's story for Our Daily Bread and Ben Hecht's story (if eligible) for Crime Without Passion. Hecht and MacArthur wrote the screenplay from a short story by Hecht (who also directed) but I'm unable to determine if the story had been previously published. I tend to think not.

Other contenders: Dames, Lady by Choice, Thirty Day Princess and if eligible, The Girl from Missouri.

1934 is either one of the worst early Oscar years or I'm simply unacquainted with the hidden gems (I've only seen about 30 or so movies from the year). I can't come up with an alternative to this flimsy list.

If I DID have an alternative, I'd quickly use it to jettison The Richest Girl in the World, which I saw quite recently and found wholly worthless. Much as I like the two co-stars, I find their banter unmemorable, and the plot lame even by the minor standards of rom-com.

It may mainly be a case of an actor elevating material, but I much preferred Hide Out. Robert Montgomery, like Cary Grant later, had a knack for making dialogue SOUND witty, whether it actually was on paper or not. The story isn't much -- an early version of "city slicker goes to the farm" -- but it plays well enough.

But I'll go with the victorious Manhattan Melodrama, which cobbles together various NY legends (starting with a version of the General Slocum disaster) into an entertainingly epic gangsters vs. DA story. None of this year's nominees is all-time memorable, but Manhattan Melodrama is the most fun of the bunch.

Welcome back. Picking up where we left off on 11/18/2016.

Manhattan Melodrama is available on DVD. Hide-Out and The Richest Girl in the World are currently available on YouTube.