by Allan Fish
straight to it again…
Best Picture Double Indemnity, US (9 votes)
Best Director Sergei M.Eisenstein, Ivan the Terrible Part One: Ivan Grozyni (8 votes)
Best Short Jammin the Blues, US, Gjon Mili (6 votes)
Best Actor Laurence Olivier, Henry V (11 votes)
Best Actress Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity (14 votes)
Best Supp Actor Clifton Webb, Laura (7 votes)
Best Supp Actress Margaret O’Brien, Meet Me in St Louis (9 votes)
Best Score Sergei Prokofiev, Ivan the Terrible Part One: Ivan Grozyni & David Raksin, Laura (4 votes each, TIE)
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and my own choices
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Best Picture HENRY V, UK, Laurence Olivier
Best Short MOUSE TROUBLE, US, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera
Best Director Sergei M.Eisenstein, Ivan the Terrible Part One: Ivan Grozyni
Best Actor Dick Powell, Farewell My Lovely
Best Actress Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity
Best Supporting Actor Edward G.Robinson, Double Indemnity
Best Supporting Actress Josephine Hull, Arsenic and Old Lace
Best Musical Score William Walton, Henry V
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and on to 1945…
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Best Picture/Director
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And Then There Were None (US…René Clair)
La Bataille du Rail (France…René Clément)
Berlin (USSR…Yuri Raizman)
Blithe Spirit (UK…David Lean)
The Body Snatcher (US…Robert Wise)
Boule de Suif (France…Christian-Jaque)
Brief Encounter (UK…David Lean)
Burma Victory (UK…Roy Boulting)
Caesar and Cleopatra (UK…Gabriel Pascal)
Christmas in Connecticut (US…Peter Godfrey)
The Clock (US…Vincente Minnelli)
Cornered (US…Edward Dmytryk)
La Dama Duende (Argentina…Luis Saslovsky)
Les Dames de Bois de Boulogne (France…Robert Bresson)
Dead of Night (UK…Robert Hamer, Alberto Cavalcanti, Basil Dearden, Charles Crichton)
Detour (US…Edgar G.Ulmer)
A Diary for Timothy (UK…Humphrey Jennings) (40 minutes long exactly, so just a feature)
Dillinger (US…Max Nosseck)
The Dolly Sisters (US…Irving Cummings)
Les Enfants du Paradis (France…Marcel Carné)
Falbalas (France…Jacques Becker)
La Ferme du Pendu (France…Jean Dréville)
The House on 92nd Street (US…Henry Hathaway)
I Know Where I’m Going (UK…Michael Powell)
Kitty (US…Mitchell Leisen)
Leave Her to Heaven (US…John M.Stahl)
The Lost Weekend (US…Billy Wilder)
Mildred Pierce (US…Michael Curtiz)
Murder He Says (US…George Marshall)
My Name is Julia Ross (US…Joseph H.Lewis)
Objective Burma! (US…Raoul Walsh)
Open City (Italy…Roberto Rossellini)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (US…Albert Lewin)
Pink String & Sealing Wax (UK…Robert Hamer)
The Rake’s Progress (UK…Sidney Gilliat)
The Red Earth (Denmark…Lau Lauritzen Jnr)
Scarlet Street (US…Fritz Lang)
The Seventh Veil (UK…Compton Bennett)
The Southerner (US…Jean Renoir)
Spellbound (US…Alfred Hitchcock)
The Story of G.I. Joe (US…William A.Wellman)
They Were Expendable (US…John Ford)
The Three Caballeros (US…Norman Ferguson)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (US…Elia Kazan)
The True Glory (UK/US…Carol Reed, Garson Kanin)
Under the Bridges (Germany…Helmut Käutner)
A Walk in the Sun (US…Lewis Milestone)
The Way to the Stars (UK…Anthony Asquith)
The Wicked Lady (UK…Leslie Arliss)
Ziegfeld Follies (US…Vincente Minnelli)
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Best Short
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The Battle of San Pietro (US…John Huston)
Micro-Phonies (US…Edward Bernds)
Quiet Please! (US…William Hanna, Joseph Barbera)
The Shooting of Dan McGoo (US…Tex Avery)
A Study in Choroegraphy for Camera (US…Maya Deren)
Swingshift Cinderella (US…Tex Avery)
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Best Actor
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Dana Andrews A Walk in the Sun
Jean-Louis Barrault Les Enfants du Paradis
Laird Cregar Hangover Square
Bing Crosby The Bells of St Mary’s
Henry Daniell The Body Snatcher
Aldo Fabrizi Open City
Errol Flynn Objective Burma!
Rex Harrison Blithe Spirit
Hurd Hatfield The Picture of Dorian Gray
Trevor Howard Brief Encounter
Mervyn Johns Dead of Night
Boris Karloff The Body Snatcher
Fred MacMurray Murder He Says
James Mason The Seventh Veil
Ray Milland Kitty
Ray Milland The Lost Weekend
John Mills The Way to the Stars
Robert Montgomery They Were Expendable
Dick Powell Cornered
Claude Rains Caesar and Cleopatra
Edward G.Robinson Scarlet Street
Zachary Scott The Southerner
Lawrence Tierney Dillinger
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Best Actress
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Arletty Les Enfants du Paradis
Joan Bennett Scarlet Street
Ingrid Bergman The Bells of St Mary’s
Ingrid Bergman Spellbound
Maria Casares Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Joan Crawford Mildred Pierce
Constance Cummings Blithe Spirit
Betty Field The Southerner
Nina Foch My Name is Julia Ross
Joan Fontaine The Affairs of Susan
Judy Garland The Clock
Paulette Goddard Kitty
Wendy Hiller I Know Where I’m Going
Rosamund John The Way to the Stars
Celia Johnson Brief Encounter
Vivien Leigh Caesar and Cleopatra
Dorothy McGuire A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Ann Savage Detour
Hannelore Schroth Under the Bridges
Gene Tierney Leave Her to Heaven
Ann Todd The Seventh Veil
Googie Withers Pink String and Sealing Wax
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Best Supp Actor
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Walter Abel The Affairs of Susan
Pierre Brasseur Les Enfants du Paradis
Leo G.Carroll The House on 92nd Street
Leo G.Carroll Spellbound
Michael Chekhov Spellbound
Richard Conte A Walk in the Sun
Howard da Silva The Lost Weekend
James Dunn A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Frank Faylen The Lost Weekend
Barry Fitzgerald And Then There Were None
Richard Haydn And Then There Were None
Walter Huston And Then There Were None
John Ireland A Walk in the Sun
Mervyn Johns Pink String and Sealing Wax
Cecil Kellaway Kitty
Herbert Lom The Seventh Veil
Edmund Lowe Dillinger
George Macready My Name is Julia Ross
Robert Mitchum The Story of G.I Joe
Douglass Montgomery The Way to the Stars
J.Carrol Naish A Medal for Benny
Reginald Owen Kitty
Cyril Raymond Brief Encounter
Michael Redgrave Dead of Night
Michael Redgrave The Way to the Stars
Herbert Rudley Rhapsody in Blue
George Sanders The Picture of Dorian Gray
Frederick Valk Dead of Night
Charles Winninger State Fair
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Best Supp Actress
Eve Arden Mildred Pierce
Joan Blondell A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Ann Blyth Mildred Pierce
Beulah Bondi The Southerner
Pamela Brown I Know Where I’m Going
Maria Casarès Les Enfants du Paradis
Constance Collier Kitty
Peggy Ann Garner A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Kay Hammond Blithe Spirit
Signe Hasso The House on 92nd Street
Angela Lansbury The Picture of Dorian Gray
Anna Magnani Open City
Marjorie Main Murder He Says
Agnes Moorehead Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
Margaret Rutherford Blithe Spirit
May Whitty My Name is Julia Ross
Googie Withers Dead of Night
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Best Score
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Richard Addinsell A Diary for Timothy
William Alwyn The True Glory
Louis Applebaum, Ann Ronell The Story of GI Joe
Georges Auric Caesar and Cleopatra
Georges Auric Dead of Night
Nicholas Brodszky The Way to the Stars
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedosco, And Then There Were None
Robert Emmett Dolan The Bells of St Mary’s
Robert Emmett Dolan Murder, He Says
Allan Gray I Know Where I’m Going
Jean-Jacques Grunenwald Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Werner Janssen Captain Kidd
Werner Janssen The Southerner
Joseph Kosma, G.Mouque, Maurice Thiriet Les Enfants du Paradis
Alfred Newman A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Miklós Rózsa The Lost Weekend
Miklós Rózsa Spellbound
Hans Salter Scarlet Street
Max Steiner Mildred Pierce
Herbert Stothart The Picture of Dorian Gray
Franz Waxman Objective Burma!
Roy Webb The Enchanted Cottage
Victor Young Kitty
Victor Young Love Letters
This is another year where the competition for the top spot is heated. Five masterpieces all rightfully deserve poll position (BRIEF ENCOUNTER, ROME OPEN CITY, LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS, THE TRUE GLORY and DEAD OF NIGHT) though the first three would rate among the greatest films ever made. Ultimately choosing between Lean and Carne is painful. There are several other excellent films from this year as well including AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, THE BODY SNATCHER, G.I. JOE, I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING and A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, and some very good ones as well. As BRIEF ENCOUNTER is one of my very favorite films of all-time, I cast this ballot with watery eyes.
Best Picture: Les Enfants du Paradis
Best Director: Marcel Carne (Les Enfants du Paradis)
Best Actor: Boris Karloff (The Body Snatcher)
Best Actress: Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter)
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Redgrave (Dead of Night)
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Magnani (Open City)
Best Short: Micro Phonies
Best Score: Miklos Rosza (Spellbound)
Beyond that…………..
Best Cinematography: Robert Krasker (Brief Encounter)
Best Editing: Jack Harris (Brief Encounter)
Best Screenplay: Jacques Prevert (Les Enfants du Paradis)
Best Art Direction: Leon Barsacq (Les Enfants du Paradis)
Best Costume Design: Mayo (Les Enfants du Paradis)
Best Song: “It Might As Well Be Spring” from State Fair (Rodgers and Hammerstein)
Best All-Time use of classical music in a film: Brief Encounter (even including Kubrick!)
Karloff and Jean-Louis Barrault are neck and neck for Best Actor, while there are a half dozen scores to rival Rosza’s and a Tex Avery short to match MICROPHONIES.
Best all time use of classical music in a film. That’s a poll in itself for another day. I don’t think I’d choose the Rach, though.,
I’d have to say that Sam might be pretty close with his statement there.
However I would have to give the edge to Kubrick all around and not just for 2001. His brilliant use of Rossini’s THE THIEVING MAGPIE and Beethoven with CLOCKWORK add a playfulness to sinsiter machinations, the Shubert Piano Trio in BARRY LYNDON is longing and despair exemplified and Bela Bartok and Giorgy Ligeti in THE SHINING punctuating the descent into insanity all help to propel him as the titan director fusing Classical into the fabric of his films.
I’m also a sucker for the use of the themes from Bizet’s CARMEN in Micheal Ritchie’s THE BAD NEWS BEARS. Call me crazy, but the use of Opera in that film really sends the comedic over the top…
Malick in his last few films is no slouch either…
Where to begin here. The Rach is a good choice to be in the top 10, no question, but best ever? I don’t think so. Of the Kubricks I think the reworking of Purcell by Carlos is the most unsettling in Clockwork, the Handel Sarabande from Barry Lyndon topping it. So many others, too. I think there are a few I’d put ahead of Brief Encounter.
Look, let me get something clear here. There is no other aspect of film that I care about nor am as animated in the service of than film scoring. I mentioned Kubrick to avert the obvious comeback. But really, why does there have to be a comeback at all? This is all personal opinion. Let’s rephrase this differently, lest it may be misconstrued as my saying that Sergei Rachmaninoff is a better composer than Purcell, Handel, Beethoven or anyone else.
I believe the use of Rachmaninoff was as PERFECTLY EMPLOYED and woven into the thematic fabric of the film BRIEF ENCOUNTER as any other film ever made. It’s sparing use was piercing and beautiful, and Lean used it to convey fleeting romanticism seamlessly and without seemingly a single false note. There are a number of other great examples of excellent employment of classical music in film, and of course BARRY LYNDON and 2001 rank among the best. But as to utter perfection -the wedding of images and music to propel them- I do believe Lean has accomplished a miracle here.
Is it the absolute BEST? This is a a matter of opinion, but to ME it is, and that’s why I left this comment here.
In BRIEF ENCOUNTER, Rachmaninoff’s music not only sets the mood, but briilliantly forwards the very nature of the material it provides the aural accompaniment for.
Does this mean I like Rachmaninoff more than my beloved Handel or any other? Not all all. It just means there was artist unity here that stands today as a model.
BTW I have seen that you (Allan) have an upcoming post on the use of classical music in film up in wordpress. I welcome this.
I got exactly what you meant, I know it’s nothing to do with the excellence of the composer how ideal the music was in accompaniment.
I vote “The Body Snatcher” for best film in 1945.
I vote Robert Wise for best director (“The Body Snatcher”) in 1945.
I vote “Quiet Please!” for best short in 1945.
I vote Boris Karloff for best actor in “The Body Snatcher” in 1945.
I vote Mary Beth Hughes for best supporting actress in “The Great Flammarion” in 1945.
OMG
He’s only seen two films in 1945, Maurizio.
actually, 4. yeah, i’m a bit behind schedule. 40′s is not my strenght at this moment. In fact, in 1947 I’ll only be able to vote for short. If I don’t see anything by then.
Best Picture: They Were Expendable
Best Director: Ford
Best Actor: Aldo Fabrizi, Open City
Best Actress: Garland, The Clock
Supporting Actor: Mitchum, Story of G.I. Joe
Supporting Actress: Magnani, Open City
Score: Rosza, Spellbound
Short: Battle of San Pietro
Best Picture: Les Enfants Du Paradis
Best Director: Marcel Carne
Best Actor: Trevor Howard (Brief Encounter)
Best Actress: Joan Bennett (Scarlet Street)
Best Supp Actor: George Sanders (The Picture Of Dorian Grey)
Best Supp Actress: Anna Magnani (Open City)
Top Five: 1. Les Enfants Du Paradis 2. Brief Encounter 3. Scarlet Street 4. Open City 5. Dead Of Night
So glad to see Jammin made the cut!
Feature: Brief Encounter
Short: Study in Choreography for Camera
Director: Marcel Carne (Led Enfants)
Actor: Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend)
Actress: WOW this is a competitive year! I’ll go with Maria Casares (Les Dames du Bois)
Supp. Actor: Robert Mitchum (The Story of G.I. Joe)
Supp. Actress: Anna Magnani (Open City) – really surprised to see this as supporting though
Score: Spellbound
Screenplay: I Know Where I’m Going!
Cinematography: Mildred Pierce
Editing: The Story of G.I. Joe
Honorable mention: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Picture: Les Enfants du Paradis
Director: Michael Powell, I Know Where I’m Going
Actor: Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend
Actress: Anna Magnani, Open City (to me this is a lead performance, not a supporting one)
Sup. Actor: Michael Redgrave, Dead of Night
Sup. Actress: Margaret Rutherford, Blithe Spirit
Nah, she was killed halfway through, Finchy. Fabrizi was the one lead in the film, but because Magnani was a star, she got top billing round the world. She was no more a lead than Janet Leigh in Psycho, who also got top billing.
I actually agree. She is killed off too early to be lead.
OK, here goes…
PICTURE: LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS
Even with the competition sporting films like SPELLBOUND, SCARLETT STREET and, particularly, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, the Carne film, to me, towers above the rest. Personally, I don’t think this race is even close.
SHORT: MICRO-PHONIES (Three Stooges)-Along with A PLUMBIN’ WE WILL GO, this one could be the best the trio ever delivered. Achingly funny and beautifully executed by the performers, editors and director.
DIRECTOR: Marcel Carne (LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS)-Towering achievement.
ACTOR: Edward G. Robinson (SCARLETT STREET)
Sorry to the others, but this one just sang to me and it was one of the few times where I fell for Robinsons heart and not just his toughness. Robinson is underrated as a deeply emotional performer.
ACTRESS: Celia Johnson (BRIEF ENCOUNTER)
I couldn’t iimagine anyone else in this category even being mention in the same breath with Johnsons performance. Yeah, Crawford and others are really doing some of their best work in this year (and Wendy Hiller comes close), but there’s a reality to Johnsons turn in BE that is hypnotyzing.
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Micheal Redgrave (DEAD OF NIGHT)
Are you kidding? Hands down nobody better in this field.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anna Magnani (OPEN CITY)
Really a lead turn, but the buck down to Jr. status in this category makes her the landslide. She would have been the only run to give Celia Johnson a run for the gold had she been in the correct category-not too many Actresses out there that were as good as Magnani, career wise.
SCORE: Miklos Rosza (SPELLBOUND)
Any other choice proves you don’t know jack about music for film. I know that sounds cocky… But, there’s gotta be room for cocky. The best score hands down!
Yes Dennis, Wendy Hiller does come close. This is actually our last chance for Wendy Hiller for awhile and she has not won yet. That’s why I went with her although Johnson is tremendous.
JON-I feel ya, Dude. I tried as hard as I could to stress Hiller for PYGMAILION (my favorite performance of hers, and miles better than the musical version of the character made famous by Audrey Hepburn), but I guess she just wasn’t the winning card for most of the voters here.
An extraordinary talent and actor and one that just seems to fly under the radar all the time. I even love her in some of her smaller supporting work. I thought she was very effective in her few scenes opposite Paul Scofield (she played Thomas Moore’s wife Alice) in Zinnemanns film version of A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS and her turn as the Hospital Matriarch, Mrs. Mothershead, in Lynch’s THE ELEPHANT MAN was a show of strength even when the frailest of emotions are on display from the other characters in the film.
She’s like Ellen Burstyn when everyone is looking at Glenda Jackson, or like Jodie Foster when everyone is praising Julia Roberts. I kinda like it that way as Hiller is a little known secret that I like to spring on people when they ask for a suggestion of a great performance by an actress. Most of the people that I have turned on to PYGMALION usually come back singing her praises and asking: “What else was she in?”
Her starring performance in I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING could be, even with my favoritism for PYGMALION, her very BEST turn on screen.
I agree Dennis and I guess this is all further proof that she is not just one of the greatest of all screen actresses, but perhaps the most underrated. She just doesn’t have a large body of work on screen. I think I have counted maybe less than 5 votes for her in total on this blog. I also love her in Major Barbara.
The Spellbound score is the only one I could immediately call to mind (with this category every week I’m discovering just his little most 40s film music stays with me). Love that theremin!
Another year I’m a bit thin on, like most of the 40s… not enough Japanese films to fill out the lists, maybe…
PICTURE: Dead of the Night
DIRECTOR: Rosselini
LEAD ACTOR: Boris Karloff, Body Snatcher
LEAD ACTRESS: she’s not on the list, but I’m voting for Gene Tierney, in Leave her to Heaven
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Michael Redgrave, Dead of Night
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Ana Magnani, Open City
SHORT: Battle of San Pietro
SCORE: Spellbound
Plus bonus picks:
Cinematography: Leave Her to Heaven
Script: Dead of Night
Wow how did Tiernay slip off the radar (funny auto correct side note: my phone tried to change a misspelled ‘the’ into YHWH!). Gotta add her, Allan! Though I’m sticking with Casares for my vote.
Picture- Brief Encounter
Director- Lean (Brief Encounter)
Actor- Aldo Fabrizi (Open City)
Actress- Wendy Hiller (I Know Where I’m Going!)
Supp. Actor- Mitchum (The Story of G.I. Joe)
Supp. Actress- Anna Magnani (Open City)
Score- Rosza (Spellbound)
Rather difficult year for me.
Best Picture: Scarlet Street
Best Director: Marcel Carne (Les Enfants du Paradis)
Best Actor: Edward G.Robinson (Scarlet Street)
Best Actress: Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter)
Best Supporting Actor: George Sanders (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Magnani (Open City)
Best Score: Miklos Rosza (Spellbound)
In order of preference:
Film: ‘Children of Paradise’; ‘Open City’; ‘Brief Encounter’; ‘The Clock’
Director: Carne; Rossellini; Lean; Minnelli
Actress: Celia Johnson (‘Brief Encounter’); Arletty (‘Children of Paradise’); Maria Casares (‘Les Dames de Bois du Boulogne’); Judy Garland (‘The Clock’)
Actor: Trevor Howard (‘Brief Encounter’); Jean-Louis Barrault (‘Children of Paradise’); Lawrence Tierney (‘Dillinger’); Robert Walker (‘The Clock’)
S. Actress: Anna Magnani (‘Open City’); Angela Lansbury (‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’); Ann Blyth (‘Mildred Pierce’)
S. Actor: Robert Mitchum (‘The Story of G.I. Joe’); Michael Redgrave (‘Dead of Night’); Pierre Brasseur (‘Children of Paradise’)
Short: “The Battle of San Pietro’; ‘Micro-Phonies’; ‘The Shooting of Dan McGoo’
I’m relying very heavily on memory in a few of these categories, especially the Rossellini, the Bresson and the Huston short — and there isn’t a nickel’s worth of difference among the candidates in most cats.
Picture – Detour
Director – Joseph H. Lewis
Actor – Robert Montgomery
Actress – Ann Savage
Supporting Actor – Michael Redgrave
Supporting Actress – Magnani
Drew, I agree that DETOUR is a very great film, and deserves recognition, as do Lewis and that incomparable pair!!
Lewis? Surely you mean Edgar G.Ulmer, he directed Detour.
Best Picture: Les Enfants Du Paradis
Best Director: Robeto Rosselini (Open City)
Best Actor: Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend)
Best Actress: Arletty (Les Enfants du Paradis)
Best Supp Actor: Frank Faylen (The Lost Weekend)
Best Supp Actress: Anna Magnani (Open City)
Best Score: Max Steiner (Mildred Pierce)
Best Film: The Lost Weekend
Best Director: Billy Wilder
Best Actor: Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend)
Best Actress: Joan Crawford (Mildred Pierce)
Best Supporting Actor: James Dunn (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)
Best Supporting Actress: Ann Blyth (Mildred Pierce)
Best Score: Miklos Rosza (The Lost Weekend)
Best Pic: Children of Paradise
Runner-ups: Detour, Lost Weekend, Open City, Scarlet St, They Were Expendable
Best Dir: Carne
Best Actors: Barrault, Magnani–I never heard of an exception because the lead actor dies halfway thruough. Who receives top billing deserves to be designated lead actor. Janet Leigh in Psycho should be up for best actor. Orson Welles doesn’t die until the end of the Third Man but he’s only in half the movie. Does that mean he’s not nominated for best actor? Perhaps we the voters should decide when there’s a question of whether someone is eligible or not for best actor.
Best Scr: Prevert-Children of Paradise
Bes Cin: Roger Hubert-Children of Paradise
Best Art Dir: Trauner, Barsacq & Gabutti-Children of Paradise
My opinion has more to do with screen time than with superficial top billing.
If Magnani’s screen time in “Open City” were distributed throughout the picture rather than being concentrated in the first half, would there be this controversy over whether hers is a lead or supporting performance? In this poll, I’ve seen performances with less screen time nominated for lead and performances with as much or more nominated for supporting. When the performance is on the borderline, as Magnani’s is, the distinction becomes largely subjective.
R.D. you make a valid, indeed excellent point here.
In fact why was Arletty nominated for best actor? True, she doesn’t die, but she’s only in half the movie.
Best Picture: Open City
Best Director: Rossellini
Best Actor: Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend)
Best Actress: Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter)
Best Sup. Actor: Frank Faylen (The Lost Weekend)
Best Sup. Actress: Anna Magnani (Open City)
Best Score: Spellbound
Best Short: Microphonies
One of the biggest holes in my years of movie watching is I’ve never seen “Children of Paradise.” It was one of my dad’s favorite films and we had similar tastes. In the meantime, my heavily British choices are:
Picture: I Know Where I’m Going
Director: Michael Powell, I Know Where I;m Going
Short: Micro-Phonies
Actor: Trevor Howard, Brief Encounter
Actress: Wendy Hiller, I Know Where I’m Going
Supporting Actor: Michael Redgrave, Dead of Night
Supporting Actress: Margaret Rutherford, Blithe Spirit
Score: Spellbound (Miklos Rozsa)
Please find below my choices for 1945:
Best Picture: Scarlet Street
Best Director: Fritz Lang (Scarlet Street)
Best Actor: Edward G. Robinson (Scarlet Street)
Best Actress: Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter)
Best Supporting Actor: Barry Fitzgerald (And Then There Were None)
Best Cinematography: Brief Encounter & Detour
My viewing of films released in 1945 in on the lesser side, so I’m skipping Sup. Actress & Score.
Best Picture: Children of Paradise
Best Director: Rossellini for Open City
Best Actor: Ray Milland for The Lost Weekend
Best Actress: Celia Johnson for Brief Encounter
Best Supp Actor: None of those I’ve seen, seams exceptional and I haven’t seen those that the others voted for, so I’m not voting here.
Best Supp Actress: Anna Magnani in Open City
This is the first year that, for me, non English Language films really come into their own. I think this is because the war was winding down to a close and finally people in Europe (and around the world) could move about more freely. Anyway…
PICTURE: Children of Paradise (Other nominees: Brief Encounter, Rome — Open City, They Were Expendable, Detour, I Know Where I’m Going, And Then There Were None, Scarlet Street, Leave Her To Heaven, Mildred Pierce, The Lost Weekend)
DIRECTOR: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger, I Know Where I’m Going (2nd: David Lean, Brief Encounter)
ACTOR: Jean Louis Barrault, Children of Paradise (2nd: Boris Karloff, The Body Snatcher)
ACTRESS: Celia Johnson, Brief Encounter (2nd: Wendy Hiller, I Know Where I’m Going)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Michael Redgrave, Dead of Night (2nd: Walter Huston, And Then There Were None)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Angela Lansbury, The Picture of Dorian Gray (2nd: Eve Arden, Mildred Pierce
SCORE: Miklos Rosza, Spellbound (2nd: Miklos Rosza, The Lost Weekend)
SHORT: Quiet Please! (2nd: Micro-Phonies)
FURTHER:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger, I Know Where I’m Going (2nd: Sergio Amedei and Federico Fellini, Rome — Open City)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Dudley Nichols, And Then There Were None (2nd: Ranald McDougall, Mildred Pierce)
B&W CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Seitz, The Lost Weekend
COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Leon Shamroy, Leave Her To Heaven
B&W ART DIRECTION: The Picture of Dorian Grey
COLOR ART DIRECTION: Leave Her To Heaven
B&W COSTUME DESIGN: Children of Paradise
COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: A Song to Remember
FILM EDITING: Brief Encounter
SOUND: They Were Expendable
SPECIAL EFFECTS: Wonder Man
MAKEUP: Children of Paradise
SCORE OF A MUSICAL: Alfred Newman, Charles Henderson, State Fair
SONG: “Ac-cen-tu-ate The Positive” from Here Comes The Waves
ANIMATED FEATURE: The Three Cabelleros
Picture: Brief Encounter (I also like They Were Expendable and Open City, but Brief Encounter is one of my all-time favourites)
Director: David Lean
Actor: Edward G Robinson (Scarlet Street) (my second year running voting for Eddie G… and he was also great in ‘Our Vines Have Tender Grapes’ this year)
Actress: Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter)
Supporting actor: Robert Mitchum (The Story of G.I. Joe) (Also like George Sanders, and Dan Duryea in ‘Scarlet Street’)
Supporting actress: Agnes Moorehead (Our Vines Have Tender Grapes)
Pic – Brief Encounter (UK…David Lean)
Dir – Brief Encounter (UK…David Lean)
Actor – Ray Milland The Lost Weekend
Actress – Ingrid Bergman Spellbound
Sup Actor – Cyril Raymond Brief Encounter
Sup Actress – Anna Magnani Open City