1937 Oscar Shouldabeens

[Cinemanolis]

PICTURE
A Star Is Born
The Awful Truth
The Good Earth
Stage Door
*Make Way for Tomorrow

DIRECTOR
William Wellmann - A Star Is Born
Sidney Franklin - The Good Earth
*Leo McCarey - Make Way for Tomorrow
Frank Capra - The Lost Horizon
Gregory La Cava - Stage Door

ACTOR
*Fredric March - A Star Is Born
Cary Grant - The Awful Truth
Paul Muni - The Good Earth
Victor Moore - Make Way for Tomorrow
Robert Montgomery – Night Must Fall

ACTRESS
Janet Gaynor - A Star Is Born
*Greta Garbo - Camille
Irene Dunne - The Awful Truth
Louise Rainer - The Good Earth
Beulah Bondi - Make Way for Tomorrow
Barbara Stanwyck – Stella Dallas

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Adolphe Menjou - A Star Is Born
Ralph Bellamy - The Awful Truth
*Thomas Mitchell - Make Way for Tomorrow
Melville Cooper - Tovarich
Joseph Schieldkraut - The Life of Emile Zola

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Laura Hope Crews - Camille
May Robson - A Star Is Born
Flora Robson – Fire over England
Ginger Rogers - Stage Door
Constance Collier – Stage Door
*Dame May Whitty – Night Must Fall

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
*A Star Is Born
Nothing Sacred
In Old Chicago
A Day at the Races
History Is Made at Night

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Camille
The Awful Truth
Stage Door
*Make Way for Tomorrow
The Good Earth

[ksrymy]

BEST PICTURE
01. La Grande Illusion (dir. Jean Renoir)
02. The Awful Truth (dir. Leo McCarey)
03. Make Way for Tomorrow (dir. Leo McCarey)
04. Humanity and Paper Balloons (dir. Sadao Yamanaka)
05. Pépé le Moko (dir. Julien Duvivier)
06. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (dir. David Hand)
07. Children in the Wind (dir. Hiroshi Shimizu)
08. Easy Living (dir. Mitchell Leisen)
09. True Confession (dir. Wesley Ruggles)
10. History Is Made at Night (dir. Frank Borzage)

BEST DIRECTOR
01. Jean Renoir, La Grande Illusion
02. Leo McCarey, The Awful Truth
03. Leo McCarey, Make Way for Tomorrow
04. Sadao Yamanaka, Humanity and Paper Balloons
05. Julien Duvivier, Pépé le Moko

BEST ACTOR
01. Jean Gabin, Pépé le Moko
02. Leslie Howard, It's Love I'm After
03. Robert Montgomery, Night Must Fall
04. Fredric March, A Star Is Born
05. Cary Grant, The Awful Truth

BEST ACTRESS
01. Irene Dunne, The Awful Truth
02. Joan Crawford, Mannequin
03. Beulah Bondi, Make Way for Tomorrow
04. Carole Lombard, True Confession
05. Loretta Young, Love Is News

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
01. Ralph Bellamy, The Awful Truth
02. Kane'mon Nakamura, Humanity and Paper Balloons
03. Eric Blore, It's Love I'm After
04. Erich von Stroheim, La Grande Illusion
05. Edward Arnold, Easy Living

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
01. Dame May Whitty, Night Must Fall
02. Fay Bainter, Make Way for Tomorrow
03. Mary Astor, The Hurricane
04. Cecil Cunningham, The Awful Truth
05. Flora Robson, Five Over England

BEST SCREENPLAY
01. Easy Living (Preston Sturges, based on the story by Vera Caspary)
02. The Awful Truth (Viña Delmar, based on the play by Arthur Richman)
03. Make Way for Tomorrow (Viña Delmar, based on the play by Helen Leary & Noah Leary and the novel "The Years Are So Long" by Josephine Lawrence)
04. La Grande Illusion (Jean Renoir, Charles Spaak)
05. Pépé le Moko (Henri La Barthe, Julien Duvivier, Jacques Constant, Henri Jeanson, based on the novel by Henri La Barthe)

BEST FILM EDITING
01. Pépé le Moko (Marguerite Beaugé)
02. Oh, Mr. Porter! (R. E. Dearing)
03. La Grande Illusion (Marthe Huguet, Marguerite Renoir)
04. Lost Horizon (Gene Havlick, Gene Milford)
05. The Prisoner of Zenda (James E. Newcom)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
01. The Good Earth (Karl Freund)
02. Humanity and Paper Balloons (Akira Mimura)
03. La Grande Illusion (Christian Matras)
04. Pépé le Moko (Marc Fossard, Jules Kruger)
05. Children in the Wind (Masao Saito)

BEST ART DIRECTION
01. Lost Horizon (Stephen Goosson)
02. Conquest (Cedric Gibbons, William A. Horning)
03. The Prisoner of Zenda (Lyle R. Wheeler)
04. Dead End (Richard Day)
05. The Good Earth (Cedric Gibbons)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
01. The Prisoner of Zenda (Ernest Dryden)
02. Conquest (Adrian)
03. Fire Over England (René Hubert)
04. Knight without Armour (Georges K. Benda)
05. Stella Dallas (Omar Kiam)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
01. The Prisoner of Zenda (Alfred Newman)
02. Lost Horizon (Dimitri Tiomkin)
03. La Grande Illusion (Joseph Kosma)
04. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (original score by Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, original songs by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey)
05. Nothing Sacred (Oscar Levant)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
01. Shall We Dance ("They Can't Take That Away from Me," music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, performed by Fred Astaire)
02. The Bride Wore Red ("Who Wants Love?," music by Franz Waxman, lyrics by Gus Kahn, performed by Joan Crawford)
03. Artists & Models ("Whispers in the Dark," music and lyrics by Friedrich Holländer and Leo Robin, performed by Connie Boswell)
04. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ("Someday My Prince Will Come," music by Frank Churchill, lyrics by Larry Morey, performed by Adriana Caselotti)
05. Mannequin ("Always and Always," music by Edward Ward, lyrics by Bob Wright and Chet Forrest, performed by Joan Crawford)

BEST SOUND
01. Lost Horizon (Edward Bernds)
02. In Old Chicago (Eugene Grossman, Roger Heman)
03. The Hurricane (Jack Noyes)
04. The Good Earth (Douglas Shearer)
05. Oh, Mr. Porter! (Bill Salter)

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
01. Fire Over England (uncredited)
02. Madame X (uncredited)
03. The Life of Emile Zola (Perc Westmore)
04. In Old Chicago (Gale McGarry, Ben Nye)
05. The Toast of New York (Mel Berns)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
01. The Hurricane (James Basevi, Ray Binger, R. T. Layton)
02. In Old Chicago (Ralph B. Clark, Daniel Hammeras, H. Bruce Humberstone, Fred Sersen, Louis J. Witte)
03. Topper (Roy Seawright)
04. Lost Horizon (Ganahl Carson, Roy Davidson; Harry Redmond, Jr.)
05. Fire Over England (Ned Mann)

FINAL TALLY
7 nominations: The Awful Truth (2 wins), La Grande Illusion (2 wins)
6 nominations: Pépé le Moko (2 wins)
5 nominations: Lost Horizon (2 wins), Make Way for Tomorrow
4 nominations: Humanity and Paper Balloons, The Prisoner of Zenda (2 wins)
3 nominations: Easy Living (1 win), Fire Over England (1 win), The Good Earth (1 win), The Hurricane (1 win), In Old Chicago, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2 nominations: Children in the Wind, Conquest, It's Love I'm After, Mannequin, Night Must Fall (1 win); Oh, Mr Porter!; True Confession, You Only Live Once
1 nomination: Artists and Models, The Bride Wore Red, History Is Made at Night, Knight without Armor, The Life of Emile Zola, Love Is News, Madame X, Nothing Sacred, Shall We Dance (1 win), A Star Is Born, Stella Dallas, The Toast of New York, Topper

[Reza]

Best Actress

Ann Todd for Love from a Stranger

Ann Harding was in Love From a Stranger

[rain Bard]

I think I read that before. I'm surprised Thomson was unaware of it.

I'm not; for a guy who has made such a nice living off of his "voice of authority" he seems embarrassingly under-informed of many things. His comments in the Fox, Murnau & Borzage documentary are probably the most useless ones in the film. And I won't ever forget how, while interviewing Tippi Hedron in front of a packed Castro Theatre turnout for the Birds, he seemed incredibly surprised to hear that it was possible to view her screen test footage, which by then had been available on DVD for a number of years.

He's good at stringing sentences together eloquently, but I always have to read (or hear) them with a particularly skeptical eye (or ear).



Edited By OscarGuy on 1240725778

[Precious Doll]

Tamara Jenkins claimed Make Way For Tomorrow was an inspiration for The Savages. I don't quite get the connection myself, other than the general plot of children looking after their parents. McCarey, for instance, never would've ended his film with a scene of one of the children producing a play about his rotten childhood.

Make Way For Tomorrow had a region 2 DVD release in France recently. Picture quality isn't great, based on reviews, but it's better than nothing.

I recently bought the French region 2 disc and watched on Saturday night. My partner had never seen the film and I hadn't seen it since 1994 at the cinema. I can report that the picture quality is good enough that I would not consider updating to an English or American disc of the film if it was not for the forced French subtitles.



Edited By OscarGuy on 1240725785

[Big Magilla]

Did Ozu know this film?

From what I have read, Ozu had not seen the film before making Tokyo Story, but was familiar with it because it was a favorite of his frequent screenwriting partner Kogo Noda. The influence is unmistakable --- and as great a masterpiece as the 1953 film is, I think Make Way For Tomorrow is even greater.

I'm jealous of Chicagoans' chance to see it on the big screen (and relieved to learn that a print is available for touring, as I'd been led to believe the circulating print of the film had been lost in the Universal fire earlier this year, and that striking a new one would be unlikely given the film's still-low profile).

I think I read that before. I'm surprised Thomson was unaware of it.



Edited By OscarGuy on 1240725792

[FilmFan720]

There is a print, but it is not a very good one. It was real grainy, there were some abrupts bumps in the film and you could tell when a reel changed because the look of the film would alter slightly. Still, it was better than not seeing the film at all!

[rain Bard]

Did Ozu know this film?

From what I have read, Ozu had not seen the film before making Tokyo Story, but was familiar with it because it was a favorite of his frequent screenwriting partner Kogo Noda. The influence is unmistakable --- and as great a masterpiece as the 1953 film is, I think Make Way For Tomorrow is even greater.

I'm jealous of Chicagoans' chance to see it on the big screen (and relieved to learn that a print is available for touring, as I'd been led to believe the circulating print of the film had been lost in the Universal fire earlier this year, and that striking a new one would be unlikely given the film's still-low profile).

[Mister Tee]

Make Way for Tomorrow is the rare movie that turns one into a proselityzer (sp.?) -- maybe because, while its reputation is red-hot in certain circles like ours, in the grand picture it's not a terribly familiar title.

My own experience? I'd first read about it in Peter Bogdanovich's Pieces of Time, and searched for it over the next decade (which meant watching TV listings and revival houses, as the home video experience didn't yet exist).

The night it finally turned up as a post-midnight offerng on PBS, I was in a foul mood. I'd just come from seeing the Sean Connery sci-fi-er Outland -- a completely empty movie, the sort which I was just then beginning to perceive was the new Hollywood norm. This had put me in a completely cynical frame of mind about culture in general.

And then this extraordinary movie unfolded in front of me. Like everyone, I was pulled in by its crushing emotional power. But more than that: by its unflinching honesty. As much as I was carried along by the strenth of the story and the perfect performances, part of me was also playing historical analyst, thinking, How was something so truthful produced under the studio system? Few Hollywood movies, then or now, have managed as clear-eyed a look at the delicate relationship between parents and children as old age hits. (As dws points out, The Savages -- made free from studio interference -- tries but doesn't come near) It's a bit akin to watching Hamlet, and wondering at how Shakespeare understood so much of complex human behavior three centuries before Freud. It's truly a miracle movie.

And its reach is wide. My wife told me she'd come home one night when she was in college to find her mother weeping over it. And I recommended it to a good friend -- a semi-macho guy who was at the time a Nixon/Reagan voter (don't worry: he's since come all the way over to the side of light). He still speaks of it as one of the best movies he's ever seen, and has since sought out every Beulah Bondi movie because he was so moved by her performance.

[Big Magilla]

I got a copy from 5 Minutes to Live that was pretty awful, but I later replaced it with a better but far from pristine copy from Only Classic Movies.

It's also carried by Timeless Theater.

Go here:

http://www.onlyclassicmovies.com/OnlyClassicFavoritesMNO.html

or

http://www.timelesstheater.com/1930Drama.html

[dws1982]

Tamara Jenkins claimed Make Way For Tomorrow was an inspiration for The Savages. I don't quite get the connection myself, other than the general plot of children looking after their parents. McCarey, for instance, never would've ended his film with a scene of one of the children producing a play about his rotten childhood.

Make Way For Tomorrow had a region 2 DVD release in France recently. Picture quality isn't great, based on reviews, but it's better than nothing.

[Big Magilla]

It's funny, but just before seeing these comments I was leafing through David Thomson's new book, Have You Seen...? and had just read his comments on Make Way for Tomorrow in which he has a few thoughts on why the film is rarely seen.

"A time will come when George (Thomas Mitchell) has to advise his mother that he has a rest home in mind for her. Watch that scene and remind yourself that McCarey is known for "comedy", for this is one of the unkindest and yet understandable scenes in American film. McCarey films it as such and yet he makes it ordinary and natural, too, and he lets the mother recover the son's shattered dignity. It is one of the great moments in American film, and it is dazzling and confounding to know that Mitchell won the Supporting Actor Oscar in Stagecoach and was not nominated for his George Cooper. Why not? Because some acting is too truthful to be endured.

Did Ozu know this film?

I think it is the best American film about family betrayal, yet it is so good it does not content itself with blaming the young. It is about life, and if it is seldom seen it is because we are not strong enough."

[FilmFan720]

The Siskel Center here in Chicago has three screenings of it this week as part of a series of 1930s and 1940s films. It is a film that I never would have noticed had it not been for this board, and I am so glad I did.

Damien, after I posted that I found your essay on the film, which is wonderful. I think you put into words what I couldn't after seeing the film. There is one point I noticed in it, though, which I think you missed (and perhaps having the film so fresh in my mind helped). SPOILER, KIND OF: When Bark goes into the store during their NY trip, there is a sign in the window "Man Wanted." He never goes into buy something, but to find a job, and when he gets turned down (again) he comes out and lies to her about not having his size. She has seen the sign, and plays along, just as she does with George earlier. I know it is a small point, but I found that moment so moving and poignant, I figured I would point it out. Thank, you, though, for the essay...it is wonderful.

[The Original BJ]

If there is one film and one film above all that the members of this board alone helped me discover, it is Make Way for Tomorrow. I consider it one of the greatest of all films, and I am SO jealous, FilmFan, that you were able to see it on the big screen. I can imagine the emotional power must have been overwhelming.

Damien, I cannot wait to read your article on the film, and will do so as soon as I have a minute in my crazy schedule.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1241832724

[Damien]

FilmFan, I'm thrilled that you loved Make Way For Tomorrow (and also that you were actually able to see it -- where was the screening?).

It's my second favorite movie (after Breakfast At Tiffany's). Here's a piece I wrote about it, and my third favorite movie, McCarey's The Awful Truth.
Make Way For Tomorrow and The Awful Truth