[NE] Nomination Elim Game ('79- OSCARGUY)

[Cinemanolis]

Group 1 - Henrietta Crosman in The Royal Family of Broadway replaces Norma Shearer.

Good choice!

[The Original BJ]

I am going to replace Richard Dix with Bela Lugosi for Dracula, still one of the creepiest film performances of all time.

Well, to be fair, I think Richard Dix fits that criteria pretty well too... :p

[FilmFan720]

Group 1: Assuming that someone else will get Edward G. Robinson, Cagney and Chaplin in these lineups, I am going to replace Richard Dix with Bela Lugosi for Dracula, still one of the creepiest film performances of all time.

Group 2: Preserve Little Caesar in Adaptation.

Group 3: Replace Svengali with Dracula in Art Direction.

By the way, has anyone here seen Just Imagine? Reading the plot summary, that movie sounds fascinating.

[Big Magilla]

Group 1 - Henrietta Crosman in The Royal Family of Broadway replaces Norma Shearer.

Group 2 - Preserve The Criminal Code in adapted screenplay.

Group3 - Add The Blue Angel to sound recording.

[Okri]

Pick One: Replacing Clarence Brown with Rene Clair for Le Million

Pick Two: Preserve Tabu in Best Cinematography

Pick Three: Replace Whoopee with Monte Carlo in best art direction.

[rain Bard]

Since Eric's championing one of this year's great masterpieces, I feel freed up to focus on another:

Group 1:

Replace Wesley Ruggles in Best Director with a far better Western director: Raoul Walsh for the Big Trail.

Group 2:

Replace Cimarron's cinematography with the widescreen photography of the Big Trail.

Group 3:

Add the Big Trail in Sound recording.

[flipp525]

rabid Skippy fans

::foaming at the mouth:: :p

[Eric]

Nope, I legitimately didn't realize there were rabid Skippy fans out there and didn't really know enough about the other two options (not that it's stopped me before).

[flipp525]

Group I: Well, Morocco obviously needs to be in the best picture category. I'll put it in at Skippy's expense.

You obviously just did that to piss me off, especially when there's creaky, tinny shit like The Front Page to knock out instead. Did you think we were getting along too well or something, thereby altering your previously held conception of the universe?



Edited By flipp525 on 1223565460

[Eric]

Group I: Well, Morocco obviously needs to be in the best picture category. I'll put it in at Skippy's expense.

Group II: Preserve Morocco in cinematography.

Group III: Hate to play this round a la "broken record," but not really knowing what goes where w/r/t years, I preserve Morocco in art direction.

[Big Magilla]

Well, yeah, the Oscar nominated screenplay, after all, was written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz which lends gravitas to a film taken from a comic strip and Jackie Cooper and Bobby Coogan are terrific as Skippy and Sooky, as is sad eyed Helen Jerome Eddy as Skippy's mom but I don't know, I've always thought of it as well made but slight. Maybe I do need to revisit it after I finish watching Trader Horn, which is in my DVD player right now.

Any way, it's safe with me, at least on the first round.

[flipp525]

Skippy, while a nice kid's picture is not really all that special.

I couldn't disagree with you more, Big Magilla. I think you need to revisit this film.

Skippy may start out as a cutesy kid's comic-strip-to-film adaptation. However, the film quickly belies its humble cartoonish beginnings to become an endearing piece of social commentary, a literal screen capture of Depression-era America. This film takes the plight of Depression-starved America and figures it into the backdrop and plot of the story. It puts a face on the poor and subscribes to the idea that every little kindness helps in the face of adversity, blurring the line between the "haves" and the "have-nots". And it manages to accomplish all of this without becoming treacly or overly-sentimental. The performances are completely top-notch all around. What a deserving Best Picture nominee (with wonderful art direction and cinematography to boot).



Edited By flipp525 on 1223556888

[rudeboy]

I'll have to pass this year, I'm afraid.

[Big Magilla]

W.S. Van Dyke filmed so much location footage for Trader Horn that unseen leftover footage was used for years in Tarzan films. It's odd that it wasn't nominated for cinematography.

Edwina Booth contracted "jungle fever" during the making of the film and was bedridden for nearly six years, never again acting in films, though four films she made prior to Trader Horn, including The Last of the Mohicans, also opposite Harry Carey, were released after Trader Horn. Though I haven't seen it in quite a while I do recall it as an exciting adventure film.

I think the argument most critics and film historians have with the 1930/31 best picture slate was not what was nominated, but what wasn't, most notably City Lights, The Blue Angel, Little Caesar and The Public Enemy although it should be noted that the version of The Blue Angel that was eligible is the inferior English language version.

The Front Page has long since been eclipsed by His Girl Friday and Skippy, while a nice kid's picture is not really all that special.

There are four nominated films from this year I haven't seen - East Lynne, The Right to Love, Just Imagine and Whoopee.

[The Original BJ]

I admit I haven't seen Trader Horn (or any of the other Best Picture nominees, save Cimarron.) But I don't recall this being a particularly touted line-up. (Don't most people cite The Front Page as being the best, almost by default, since His Girl Friday outdid the need for it almost completely less than a decade later?)

City Lights, though, is of course amazing. Something had to go to make room for The Tramp.