by Allan Fish
1958 already. Only 54 more weeks to go…
Best Picture Vertigo, US (16 votes)
Best Director Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo (13 votes)
Best Short Free Radicals, UK, Lenny Lye (5 votes)
Best Actor James Stewart, Vertigo (12 votes)
Best Actress Kim Novak, Vertigo (5 votes)
Best Supp Actor Dean Martin, Some Came Running (8 votes)
Best Supp Actress Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables (5 votes)
Best Cinematography Russell Metty, Touch of Evil (7 votes)
Best Score Bernard Herrmann, Vertigo (15 votes)
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and my choices…
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Best Picture VERTIGO, US
Best Short LE CHANT DU STYRÈNE, France, Alain Resnais
Best Director Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo
Best Actor Zbigniew Cybulski, Ashes and Diamonds
Best Actress Maria Schell, Une Vie
Best Supporting Actor Gunnar Björnstrand, The Magician
Best Supporting Actress Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables
Best Cinematography Gunnar Fischer, The Magician
Best Musical Score Bernard Herrmann, Vertigo
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so to…
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1959
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Best Picture/Director
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Á Double Tour (France…Claude Chabrol)
Al Capone (US…Richard Wilson)
Anatomy of a Murder (US…Otto Preminger)
Ballad of a Soldier (USSR…Grigori Chukhrai)
Ben Hur (US…William Wyler)
Black Orpheus (Brazil…Marcel Camus)
Blind Date (UK…Joseph Losey)
Blue Denim (US…Philip Dunne)
The Bridge (West Germany…Bernhard Wicki)
The Chasers (Norway…Erik Lochen)
Chikamatsu’s Love in Osaka (Japan…Tomu Uchida)
City of Fear (US…Irving Lerner)
Les Cousins (France…Claude Chabrol)
The Cow and I (France…Henri Verneuil)
Darby O’Gill and the Little People (US…Robert Stevenson)
The Day of the Outlaw (US…André de Toth)
Dejeuner sur l’Herbe (France…Jean Renoir)
Destiny of a Man (USSR…Sergei Bondarchuk)
The Diary of Anne Frank (US…George Stevens)
Fires on the Plain (Japan…Kon Ichikawa)
Floating Weeds (Japan…Yasujiro Ozu)
Il Generale Della Rovere (Italy…Roberto Rossellini)
The Ghost Story of Yotsuya (Japan…Nobuo Nakagawa)
Goodbye Hello (Japan…Kon Ichikawa)
The Great War (Italy…Mario Monicelli)
The Hanging Tree (US…Delmer Daves)
The Head (West Germany…Viktor Trivas)
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (France…Alain Resnais)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (UK…Terence Fisher)
The House on Haunted Hill (US…William Castle)
The Human Condition Part I: No Greater Love (Japan…Masaki Kobayashi)
The Human Condition Part II: The Road to Eternity (Japan…Masaki Kobayashi)
I’m All Right Jack (UK…John Boulting)
Imitation of Life (US…Douglas Sirk)
India (France/India 1959…Roberto Rossellini)
The Indian Tomb (West Germany…Fritz Lang)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (US…Henry Levin)
La Jument Verte (France…Claude Autant-Lara)
Kapò (Italy…Gillo Pontecorvo)
The Key (Japan…Kon Ichikawa)
Kiku and Isamu (Japan…Tadashi Imai)
The Kingdom and the Beauty (Hong Kong…Li Han-hsiang)
The Lady With the Little Dog (USSR…Josef Heifits)
Lazarillo (Spain…Cesar Ardovin)
Let Me Borrow Your Wife (Sweden…Arne Mattson)
Letter Never Sent (USSR…Mikhail Kalatozov)
Les Liaisons Dangereuses (France…Roger Vadim)
Look Back in Anger (UK…Tony Richardson)
The Most Valuable Wife (Japan…Yasuzo Masumura)
The Mouse That Roared (UK…Jack Arnold)
Nazarin (Mexico…Luis Buñuel)
Night Train (Poland…Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
No Name on the Bullet (US…Jack Arnold)
North by Northwest (US…Alfred Hitchcock)
The Nun’s Story (US…Fred Zinnemann)
Odds Against Tomorrow (US…Robert Wise)
Ohayo (Japan…Yasujiro Ozu)
On the Beach (US…Stanley Kramer)
The Overcoat (USSR…Alexei Batalov)
Paper Flowers (India…Guru Dutt)
Pickpocket (France…Robert Bresson)
Pillow Talk (US…Michael Gordon)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (US…Edward D.Wood Jnr)
Poem of the Sea (USSR…Julia Solntseva)
Pork Chop Hill (US…Lewis Milestone)
The Purple Hairpin (Hong Kong…Li Tie)
Les Quatre Cents Coups (France…François Truffaut)
Ride Lonesome (US…Budd Boetticher)
Rio Bravo (US…Howard Hawks)
Romeo, Juliet & Darkness (Czechoslovakia…Jiri Weiss)
Room at the Top (UK…Jack Clayton)
Shadows (US…John Cassavetes)
The Sign of Leo (France…Eric Rohmer)
Une Simple Histoire (France…Marcel Hanoun)
Sleeping Beauty (US…Clyde Geronimi)
Some Like it Hot (US…Billy Wilder)
Stars (East Germany…Konrad Wolf)
A Stranger Knocks (Denmark…Johan Jacobson)
La Tête Contre les Murs (France…Georges Franju)
Their Own World (Japan…Tomu Uchida)
The Tiger of Eschnapur (West Germany…Fritz Lang)
Time Stood Still (Italy…Ermanno Olmi)
The Tingler (US…William Castle)
Train Without a Timetable (Yugoslavia…Velkjo Bulajic)
Ung Flukt (Norway…Edith Carlmar)
Vendetta of a Samurai (Japan…Kazuo Mori)
Verboten! (US…Samuel Fuller)
Violent Summer (Italy…Valerio Zurlini)
When a Woman Loves (Japan…Heinosuke Gosho)
The World of Apu (India…Satyajit Ray)
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Best Short
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Baton Bunny (US…Chuck Jones)
Cat’s Cradle (US…Stan Brakhage)
Mexicali Shmoes (US…Friz Freleng)
Moonbird (US…John Hubley, Faith Hubley)
Noah’s Ark (US…Bill Justice)
Pull My Daisy (US…Robert Frank)
Wedlock House: An Intercourse (US…Stan Brakhage)
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Best Actor
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Jean-Louis Barrault Le Testament du Dr Cordelier
Sergei Bondarchuk Destiny of a Man
Horst Buchholz Tiger Bay
Richard Burton Look Back in Anger
Soumitra Chatterjee The World of Apu
Tony Curtis Some Like it Hot
Peter Cushing The Hound of the Baskervilles
Vittorio de Sica Il Generale Della Rovere
Fernandel The Cow and I
Eiji Funakoshi Fires on the Plain
Vittorio Gassman The Great War
Cary Grant North by Northwest
Laurence Harvey Expresso Bongo
Laurence Harvey Room at the Top
Charlton Heston Ben Hur
Vladimir Ivashev Ballad of a Soldier
Jean-Pierre Léaud Les Quatre Cents Coups
Jack Lemmon Some Like it Hot
Preben Lerdoff Rye A Stranger Knocks
James Mason Journey to the Center of the Earth
Dick Miller A Bucket of Blood
Robert Morley Oscar Wilde
Paul Muni The Last Angry Man
Tatsuya Nakadai The Human Condition Part I
Ganjiro Nakamura Floating Weeds
Gérard Philipe Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Francisco Rabal Nazarin
Robert Ryan The Day of the Outlaw
Chishu Ryu Ohayo
Randolph Scott Ride Lonesome
Peter Sellers I’m All Right Jack
Peter Sellers The Mouse That Roared
Rod Steiger Al Capone
James Stewart Anatomy of a Murder
John Wayne Rio Bravo
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Best Actress
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Claire Bloom Look Back in Anger
Doris Day Pillow Talk
Brigitte Federspiel A Stranger Knocks
Audrey Hepburn The Nun’s Story
Katharine Hepburn Suddenly Last Summer
Machiko Kyo Floating Weeds
Machiko Kyo The Key
Carol Lynley Blue Denim
Marilyn Monroe Some Like it Hot
Jeanne Moreau Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Micheline Presle Blind Date
Waheeda Rehman Paper Flowers
Lee Remick Anatomy of a Murder
Emmanuelle Riva Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Madeleine Robinson A Double Tour
Eleanora Rossi Drago Violent Summer
Tatyana Samoilova Letter Never Sent
Iya Savvina The Lady With the Little Dog
Simone Signoret Room at the Top
Haruko Sugimura Floating Weeds
Elizabeth Taylor Suddenly Last Summer
Lana Turner Imitation of Life
Liv Ullmann Ung Flukt
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Best Supp Actor
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Stanley Baker Blind Date
Ed Begley Odds Against Tomorrow
Stephen Boyd Ben Hur
Joe.E.Brown Some Like it Hot
Noël Coward Our Man in Havana
Peter Finch The Nun’s Story
Hugh Griffith Ben Hur
Dean Martin Rio Bravo
James Mason North by Northwest
John Mills Tiger Bay
André Morell The Hound of the Baskervilles
Jimmy O’Dea Darby O’Gill and the Little People
Laurence Olivier The Devil’s Disciple
Marco Paoletti Lazarillo
Tony Randall Pillow Talk
Gary Raymond Look Back in Anger
Ralph Richardson Our Man in Havana
Joseph Schildkraut The Diary of Anne Frank
George C.Scott Anatomy of a Murder
Alberto Sordi The Great War
Terry-Thomas I’m All Right Jack
Meier Tzelniker Expresso Bongo
Orson Welles Compulsion
Donald Wolfit Room at the Top
Ed Wynn The Diary of Anne Frank
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Best Supp Actress
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Anouk Aimée La Tête Contre les Murs
Eve Arden Anatomy of a Murder
Peggy Aschcroft The Nun’s Story
Arlene Dahl Journey to the Center of the Earth
Angie Dickinson Rio Bravo
Edith Evans Look Back in Anger
Edith Evans The Nun’s Story
Gloria Grahame Odds Against Tomorrow
Marika Green Pickpocket
Carolyn Jones Career
Tanie Kitabayashi The Key
Susan Kohner Imitation of Life
Marga Lopez Nazarin
Rita Macedo Nazarin
Silvana Mangano The Great War
Hayley Mills Tiger Bay
Juanita Moore Imitation of Life
Kim Novak Middle of the Night
Sharma Prokhorenko Ballad of a Soldier
Thelma Ritter Pillow Talk
Mary Ure Look Back in Anger
Ayako Wakao Floating Weeds
Shelley Winters The Diary of Anne Frank
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Best Cinematography
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Richard Angst The Tiger of Eschnapur/The Indian Tomb
Jack Asher The Mummy
Sverre Bergli Ung Flukt
Joseph C.Brun Odds Against Tomorrow
Leonce-Henri Burel Pickpocket
Robert Burks North by Northwest
Henri Decaë Les Quatre Cents Coups
Gabriel Figueroa Nazarin
Freddie Francis Room at the Top
Lee Garmes The Big Fisherman
Marcel Grignon Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Russell Harlan Rio Bravo
Jack Hildyard Suddenly Last Summer
Frank Lawton Jnr Ride Lonesome
Georges Leclerc Dejeuner sur l’Herbe
William C.Mellor The Diary of Anne Frank
Russell Metty Imitation of Life
Subrata Mitra The World of Apu
Kazuo Miyagawa Floating Weeds
Kazuo Miyagawa The Key
Zoshio Miyajima The Human Condition Part One/Two
Vladimir Nikolaev, Eva Saveleva Ballad of a Soldier
Tadashi Nishimoto The Ghost Story of Yotsuya
Franz Planer The Nun’s Story
Robert L.Surtees Ben Hur
Sergei Urusevsky Letter Never Sent
Sacha Vierny, Takahashi Michio Hiroshima Mon Amour
Jun Yang The Kingdom and the Beauty
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Best Score
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Bernard Herrmann Journey to the Center of the Earth
Bernard Herrmann North by Northwest
Thelonius Monk Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Mario Nascimbene Room at the Top
Miklós Rózsa Ben Hur
Ravi Shankar The World of Apu
Frank Skinner Imitation of Life
Dimitri Tiomkin Rio Bravo
Franz Waxman The Nun’s Story
Mikhail Ziv Ballad of a Soldier
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Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
Many great films in this year too. In addition to my Number 1 choice, I would add these to the Hall of Fame: PICKPOCKET, THE 400 BLOWS, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR, RIO BRAVO, THE WORLD OF APU, FIRES ON THE PLAIN, THE HUMAN CONDITION I & II, BALLAD OF A SOLDIER, NAZARIN, FLOATING WEEDS, LES COUSINS, SLEEPING BEAUTY, ANATOMY OF A MURDER, BLACK ORPHEUS, IMITATION OF LIFE, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL…
Best Picture: Ben-Hur
Best Director: Robert Bresson (Pickpocket)
Best Actor: Jean-Pierre Leaud (The 400 Blows)
Best Actress: Audrey Hepburn (The Nun’s Story)
Best Supporting Actor: Stephen Boyd (Ben-Hur)
Best Supporting Actress: Hayley Mills (Tiger Bay)
Best Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa (Floating Weeds)
Best Score: Miklos Rozsa (Ben-Hur)
Best Short: Noah’s Ark
For Lead Actor, Charleton Heston does match Leaud, but I was inclined to spread the wealth rather than declare a tie.
Rozsa’s literally massive score to BEN-HUR, symphonic and dramatic, boisterous and serene, militarist and spiritual, and one which Rosza claimed was the ‘dearest to his heart’ abounds with multiple themes and variations and touches upon every facet of human behavior and emotion: profound religious belief, love and hate, fierce warfare, generally everything from epic spectacle to gentility and simplicity. It makes fair claim to the title of ‘Greatest Score Ever Written.”
Picture: India
Director: Howard Hawks (Rio Bravo)
Actor: Randolph Scott (Ride Lonesome)
Actress: Lee Remick (Anatomy of a Murder)
Supporting Actor: James Mason (North x Northwest)
Supporting Actress: Lelia Goldoni (Shadows)
Cinematography: William Clothier (The Horse Soldiers)
OK, so, sometimes I buck at spectacle and sometimes I relish in it. There are just a few, mind you few, Hollywood pageants that remind me of what that place to the west used to do so well. Epic in scope, grand in it’s presentation, some will buck at my choice for BEST PICTURE and, truthfully, I DON’T CARE…
Here’s getting to it…
BEST PICTURE: BEN HUR
(Although, I WILL fully admit that I LOVE the silent version even better)
SHORT: NOAH’S ARK
DIRECTOR: Francois TRUFFAUT (THE 400 BLOWS)
The film that starts it all for one of the most gentle of directors. His sentimental and emotional hand is all over this, his debut film. It showed promise that would not be denied.
LEAD ACTOR: Cary GRANT (NORTH BY NORTHWEST)
I don’t, for the life of me, understand why Allan didn’t have this one listed but I have to include him here on my ballot as it’s a shame to over-look this, Grants greatest performance. Debonaire, chic and wholly hilarious as he jabs dry one-liners whilst dodging bullets and assassin blows, explosions and crop-dusters and never looking anything other than perfect and sipping a martini. You ever wonder where Hollywood got inspiration for the style of James Bond? Look no further. This is Grant’s tour-de-force, the kind of performance that only Hollywood could command. No question, at the time Grant was the COOLEST of the cool!
LEAD ACTRESS: Audrey HEPBURN (THE NUNS STORY)
SUPP. ACTOR: James MASON (NORTH BY NORTHWEST)
SUPP. ACTRESS: Thelma RITTER (PILLOW TALK)
PHOTO: Katsuo MIYAGAWA (FLOATING WEEDS)
MUSIC: Miklos ROZSA (BEN HUR)
Best Picture: Ben-Hur
Best Director: William Wyler (Ben-Hur)
Best Actor: Tony Curtis (Some Like It Hot)
Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn (Suddenly Last Summer)
Best Supporting Actor: James Mason (North by Northwest)
Best Supporting Actress: Gloria Grahame (Odds Against Tomorrow)
Best Score: Miklos Rozsa (Ben-Hur)
Best Cinematography: Joseph C. Brun (Odds Against Tomorrow)
:
This is a very tough year for picks. It might lack the films at the very top (like Vertigo vs. A Touch of Evil, last year), but they just keep going.
PICTURE: Fires on the Plain
DIRECTOR: This one is painful – I am tempted to indulge myself in a tie, since I do not want to choose. Ozu at his most Tati-esque, playing all kinds of games with depth and space and sound and color? or Sirk at his most Sirkian, playing all kinds of games with color and space and set design… I will not choose.
LEAD ACTOR: Cary Grant, North by Northwest – though it pains me not to vote for Lemmon or Curtis, or Funekoshi, or Leaud, or Nakadai, or John Wayne….
LEAD ACTRESS: Marilyn Monroe, Some Like it Hot
SUPPORTING ACTOR: James Mason, North by Northwest
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Juanita Moore, Imitation of Life
SHORT: Pull My Daisy, almost by default.
SCORE: I shall be a bit perverse and go off the nominations to Toshiro Mayazumi, for Good Morning – it’s a strange score on an Ozu film, but it works, contributing, I’d say, to that Tati-esque feel of the film… I should probably say, this is probably not Mayazumi’s last appearance on one of my ballots. We’re getting into Imamura territory now, and he’s integral to those films.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Metty, Imitation of Life
Plus bonus pick:
Script: Good Morning, Ozu and Noda – let’s face it, that “you call that a knife? this is a knife!” gag is a lot funnier with a Japanese granny than with Crocodile Dundee…
WS:
Your #1 choice is a masterpiece in my book if I may say so. As far as IMITATION OF LIFE, which I do love and now as a result of your strong regard, have added to my best of 1959 list above, I am too often derailed on it because I do prefer Stahl’s version. But I LOVE Sirk, and the three biggies that came fore this one are among my favorite films. But who came blame you at all for embracing IMITATION.
The Vertigo wins are welcome but unsurprising (although while I’ll defend Novak’s performance against its critics I would have rather seen Shirley MacLaine triumph for her absolutely delightful and ultimately poignant part in SCR, but oh well – I’m sure she’ll win next year). A special Hooray, then for the surprise and surprisingly solid showings of Free Radicals and (an initially write-in) Dean Martin.
And then here we are. Though its next year that REALLY begins to excite me there’s no question that with the release of 400 Blows and Hiroshima Mon Amour, and shooting of La Dolce Vita, L’Avventura, and Breathless, ’59 is definitely the year when cinema enters what, for me, is its most exciting period, one which will last all the way through 1976, with America eventually joining the European party (with Japan making a strong showing). OhboyIcan’twait! Ironically, then, my first Feature pick is not European, or American, or Japanese… But then this was also one of the first notable eras for Third World cinema as well…
Feature: The World of Apu
Short: Wedlock House – An Intercourse
Allan, you’re missing the Brakhage shorts including the above but also the very notable Cat’s Cradle! Add ‘me quick before too many people miss the opportunity to vote on ’em!
If anyone’s curious, I covered Cat’s Cradle for Wonders last year:
https://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/the-legends-at-land-scorpio-rising-cats-cradle-%25E2%2580%25A2-fixing-a-hole-avant-garde-month/
And the rest…
Director: Robert Bresson (Pickpocket)
Actor: Jean-Pierre Leaud (The 400 Blows)
Actress: Audrey Hepburn (The Nun’s Story) – esp since I know she won’t get my vote for my favorite performance of hers, as Holly Golightly; Harriet Andersson must win that year for Through a Glass Darkly
Supp. Actor: Stephen Boyd (Ben-Hur)
Supp. Actress: Angie Dickinson (Rio Bravo) – hope she wins
Cinematography: Hiroshima Mon Amour
Score: Ben-Hur
Screenplay: Some Like It Hot
Editing: Hiroshima Mon Amour – easiest award this year
honorable mention: from now on, I’m picking 5 each year because so many dererving films will not otherwise get a nod from me given the competition. The top runner up will have a star next to it.
Fires on the Plain
North by Northwest
*Ride Lonesome
Shadows
Sleeping Beauty
Oops, busted link. Here for Cat’s Cradle:
https://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/the-legends-at-land-scorpio-rising-cats-cradle-•-fixing-a-hole-avant-garde-month/
Picture: Floating Weeds
Director: Yasujiro Ozu, Floating Weeds
Actor: Cary Grant, North by Northwest
Actress: Audrey Hepburn, The Nun’s Story
Sup. Actor: James Mason, North by Northwest
Sup. Actress: Sharmila Tagore, The World of Apu (surprised not to see her listed)
Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa, Floating Weeds
She probably should be, Finchy. Needless to say she has nominations in 1960, 1966 and 1969.
This year really HURTS! I really, deeply love all of these movies. But I have to return to Truffaut out of loyalty, because his debut film captured my heart when I was very young, and still the film has not let go of it. Yet, the technical and storytelling achievements of SOME LIKE IT HOT, NORTH BY NORTHWEST and BEN HUR cannot be denied, so I tried to spread the love around. My only regret is that I could find no space for PORK CHOP HILL, one of the greatest of all war movies, and DAY OF THE OUTLAW, one of the great westerns.
PICTURE: The 400 Blows (followed by Some Like It Hot, North by Northwest, Pork Chop Hill, Rio Bravo, Anatomy of a Murder, Sleeping Beauty, Day of the Outlaw, Floating Weeds, The Diary of Anne Frank, Shadows, Ride Lonesome, Tiger Bay, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Black Orpheus, Imitation of Life, The Nun’s Story, The Mouse That Roared, Ben-Hur, Odds Against Tomorrow, Pillow Talk, The House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler)
DIRECTOR: Francois Truffaut, The 400 Blows (2nd: Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot)
ACTOR: Jean-Pierre Leaud, The 400 Blows (2nd: Cary Grant, North by Northwest, followed by Jack Lemmon, Some Like It Hot; Tony Curtis, Some Like It Hot; James Stewart, Anatomy of a Murder; John Wayne, Rio Bravo)
ACTRESS: Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot (2nd: Audrey Hepburn, The Nun’s Story, followed by Lee Remick, Anatomy of a Murder; Simone Signoret, Room at the Top; Millie Perkins, The Diary of Anne Frank; Doris Day, Pillow Talk)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Joe E. Brown, Some Like It Hot (2nd: George C. Scott, Anatomy of a Murder, followed by James Mason, North by Northwest; Dean Martin, Rio Bravo; John Mills, Tiger Bay; Tony Randall, Pillow Talk)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Juanita Moore, Imitation of Life (2nd: Jessie Royce Landis, North by Northwest, followed by Shelley Winters, The Diary of Anne Frank; Susan Kohner, Imitation of Life; Hayley Mills, Tiger Bay; Angie Dickenson, Rio Bravo)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Katsuo Miyagawa, Floating Weeds (2nd (Color): Robert Burks, North by Northwest)
ORIGINAL SCORE: Bernard Herrmann, North by Northwest (2nd: Miklos Rosza, Ben-Hur)
SHORT: Moonbird (John and Faith Hubley) (2nd: Pull My Daisy, Robert Frank)
FURTHER:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Ernest Lehman, North by Northwest (2nd: Francois Truffaut and Marcel Moussy, The 400 Blows)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, Some Like It Hot (2nd: Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman, Rio Bravo)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: David Wolper, The Race for Space
B&W CINEMATOGRAPHY: Joseph C. Brun, Odds Against Tomorrow (2nd: William C. Mellor, The Diary of Anne Frank)
B&W ART DIRECTION: Some Like It Hot
COLOR ART DIRECTION: Ben-Hur
B&W COSTUME DESIGN: Some Like It Hot
COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: Ben-Hur
FILM EDITING: North by Northwest
SOUND: Ben-Hur
SCORING FOR A MUSICAL: Adolph Deutsch, Some Like It Hot
ORIGINAL SONG: “My Rifle, My Pony and Me,” from Rio Bravo, music by Dimitri Tiomkin, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster (2nd: “High Hopes” from A Hole in the Head, music by James Van Heusen, lyrics by Sammy Cahn)
SPECIAL EFFECTS: Ben-Hur
MAKEUP: Some Like It Hot
ANIMATED FEATURE: Sleeping Beauty
Film: ‘Darby O’Gill Likes A Hot Room At the Top’
Difficult year, many fine films, performances, etc.
Film: ‘Some Like It Hot’
Runners-Up: ‘The 400 Blows’, ‘Shadows’, ‘Fires On the Plain’, ‘Room At the Top’, ‘North By Northwest’, ‘The World of Apu’, ‘Expresso Bongo’
Director: Francois Truffaut (‘The 400 Blows’)
Actor: Jack Lemmon (‘Some Like It Hot’) neck-and-neck with Laurence Harvey (‘Room at the Top’; Expresso Bongo’) and Jean-Pierre Leaud (‘The 400 Blows’)
Actress: Simone Signoret (‘Room At the Top’)
S. Actor: James Mason (‘North By Northwest’)
S. Actress: Lelia Goldoni (‘Shadows’) Painful to leave out Dame Edith, but only one can win.
Photography: Henri Decae (‘The 400 Blows’)
Short: ‘Pull My Daisy’
OMG, just noticed that Dick Miller is on the Best Actor list for ‘Bucket of Blood’, one of my favorite ‘good-bad’ movies ever. Ed Wood eat your angora out.
Yay for Vertigo getting best picture, director, actor and score for 1958.
Yay for “Free Radicals” winning best short in 1958.
I vote “North by Northwest” for best film in 1959.
I vote Alain Resnais for best director (“Hiroshima, mon amour”) in 1959.
I vote “Batton Bunny” for best short in 1959.
I vote Tatsuya Nakadai for best actor in “The Human Condition I” in 1959.
I vote Emmanuelle Riva for best actress in “Hiroshima, mon amour” in 1959.
I vote James Mason for best supporting actor in “North by Northwest” in 1959
I vote Ayako Wakao for best supporting actress in “Floating Weeds” in 1959
I vote “Floating Weeds” for best cinematography in 1959.
I vote “Ben Hur” for best score in 1959.
Hoo boy, it just gets tougher and tougher from here on. I boned up on a couple I hadn’t seen before but this year’s riches are still overwhelming, and we probably aint seen nothing yet. So…
Best Picture: Odds Against Tomorrow. I’ve advocated it a lot here so I may as well stick with it.
Best Director: Kobayashi, The Human Condition I & II
Best Actor: de Sica, Generale della Rovere
(Hon. mention: Belafonte/Ryan, Odds)
Best Actress: Riva, Hiroshima Mon Amour
Supporting Actor: Begley, Odds
Supporting Actress: Grahame, Odds
Cinematography: Urusevsky, Letter Never Sent
Score: Herrmann, North by Northwest.
Best Song: “All Men are Evil,” Odds — Harry Belafonte and Milton Okun
Underrated: Warlock (Edward Dmytryk), They Came to Cordura (Robert Rossen).
Best Picture: Shadows
Top Five: 1. Shadows 2. Pickpocket 3. Rio Bravo 4. Odds Against Tomorrow 5. Nazarin
Interesting, Maurizio, didn’t know you were this keen on Shadows. Are you a Cassavetes enthusiast in general?
Well I’m a fan of Shadows and The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (shorter director’s cut) mainly. Find Gloria and Woman Under The Influence to be quite good as well. Will admit some of his other heralded films are like watching paint dry.
My top five for 1959 are Some Like It Hot, Hiroshima mon amour, Pickpocket, The 400 Blows, and The World of Apu.
Best Picture: Some Like It Hot
Best Director: Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot)
Best Actor: Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot)
Best Actress: Marilyn Monroe (Some Like It Hot)
Best Supporting Actor: Dean Martin (Rio Bravo)
Best Supporting Actress: Angie Dickenson (Rio Bravo)
Best Cinematography: Sacha Vierny, Takahashi Michio (Hiroshima mon amour)
Best Score: Bernard Herrmann (North by Northwest)
Hiroshima is one of my all time favourites.
Best Picture: Hiroshima, Mon Amour (Alain Resnais)
Best Director: Alain Resnais (Hiroshima, Mon Amour)
Best Actor: Jean-Pierre Leaud (The 400 Blows)
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima, Mon Amour)
Best Supporting Actor: James Mason (North by Northwest)
Best Supporting Actress: Angie Dickinson (Rio Bravo)
Best Cinematography: Sacha Vierny, Takahashi Michio (Hiroshima mon amour)
Best Score: Georges Delerue, Giovanni Fusco (Hiroshima, Mon Amour)
A fabulous year to end the decade. Anyway, here are my choices for 1959.
Best Picture: Apur Sansar
Best Director: Satyajit Ray (Apur Sansar)
Best Actor: Soumitra Chatterjee (Apur Sansar)
Best Actress: Eleanora Rossi Drago (Estate Violenta)
Best Supporting Actor: George C. Scott (Anatomy of a Murder)
Best Supporting Actress: Sharmila Tagore (Apur Sansar)
Best Cinematography: Sacha Vierny & Takahashi Michio (Hiroshima Mon Amour)
Best Score: Mario Nascimbene (Estate Violenta)
p.s. I’m surprised there have been no takers for the score of Estate Violenta. I’d found it hauntingly beautiful.
Top 5:
1. Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)
2. Estate Violenta (Violent Summer)
3. The 400 Blows
4. Anatomy of a Murder
5. Hiroshima Mon Amour
Just Missed: Some Like It Hot, Ben-Hur, Les Cousins, Pickpocket
OK Sam, I got your back, lol.
Best Film: Ben-Hur
Best Director: William Wyler, Ben-Hur
Best Actor: Jean-Pierre Leaud, The 400 Blows
Best Actress: Emanuelle Riva, Hiroshima Mon Amour
Best Sup. Actor: James Mason, North by Northwest
Best Sup. Actress: Gloria Grahame, Odds Against Tomorrow
Best Score: M. Rozsa, Ben-Hur
Best Cinematography: Sacha Vierney, Hiroshima Mon Amour
One of my all-time favourites:
Picture: The 400 Blows
Director: Francois Truffaut
Actor: Jean-Pierre Leaud
When I submitted my top 25 for the 50’s polling back in 2009, I was surprised to find that my highest film for 1959 was at Number 20. I will stick with that film for this vote. My runner-up was Ben-Hur at Number 21.
Best Picture: Anatomy of a Murder
Best Director: Otto Preminger (Anatomy of a Murder)
Best Actor: Cary Grant (North by Northwest)
Best Actress: Audrey Hepburn (A Nun’s Story)
Best Supporting Actor: George C. Scott (Anatomy of a Murder)
Best Supporting Actress: Edith Evans (The Nun’s Story)
Best Cinematography: Henri Decae (The 400 Blows)
Best Score: Miklos Rozsa (Ben-Hur) can’t argue this.
Best Short: Pull My Daisy
Film: North by Northwest
Director: Hitchcock
Actor: Grant
Actress: Monroe
Supporting Actor: Scott
Supporting Actress: Tagore
Score: Rozsa
Cinematography: Burks
Best Picture: Pickpocket
Best Director: Robert Bresson (Pickpocket)
Best Actor: Jean-Pierre Leaud (The 400 Blows)
Best Actress: Simone Signoret (Room at the Top)
Supporting Actor: Ed Begley (Odds Against Tomorrow)
Supporting Actress: Susan Kohner (Imitation of Life)
Cinematography: Kazuo Miyagawa (Floating Weeds)
Score: Frank Skinner (Imitation of Life)
Short: no choice
Seems like a lost cause at this point but here are the Brakhages for readers to sample:
Best Picture: Ben-Hur
Best Director: William Wyler, Ben-Hur
Best Actor: Charlton Heston, Ben-Hur
Best Actress: Audrey Hepburn, The Nun’s Story
Best Supporting Actor: Stephen Boyd, Ben-Hur
Best Supporting Actress: Juanita Moore, Imitation of Life
Best Cinematography: Robert Surtees, Ben-Hur
Best Score: Miklos Rozsa, Ben-Hur
Yes, I love “Ben-Hur.” What Sam wrote about the Rozsa score could be the most truthful writing posted on the Internet this week.
Kevin, thanks very much for that! Much appreciated. Your ballot is so thrilling, I must say in every sense!
Pic- Hiroshima, Mon Amour
Dir- Resnais
Actor- Jean Pierre Leaud – The 400 Blows
Actress- Machiko Kyo – Floating Weeds
Supp. Actor- Ed Begley – Odds Against Tomorrow
Supp. Actress- Emmanuelle Riva – Kapo
Score- Rosza – Ben Hur
Cinematography – Miyagawa – Floating Weeds
Pic: Some Like it Hot (US…Billy Wilder)
Director: The World of Apu (India…Satyajit Ray)
Actor: James Stewart Anatomy of a Murder
Actress: Marilyn Monroe Some Like it Hot
Sup Actor: George C.Scott Anatomy of a Murder
Sup Actress: Marika Green Pickpocket
Score: Miklós Rózsa Ben Hur
For this year I simply must vote for one of my all time favorites comedy (do I love Hichcock and think North by Northwest is one of his bests).
Best Picture: Some Like it Hot (US…Billy Wilder)
Best Director: Alfred Hitchcock North by Northwest
Best Actor: Jack Lemmon Some Like it Hot
Best Actress: Marilyn Monroe Some Like it Hot
Best Supp Actor: Joe.E.Brown Some Like it Hot
Best Supp Actress: Thelma Ritter Pillow Talk
Best Cinematography: Robert Burks North by Northwest
Best Score: Dimitri Tiomkin Rio Bravo
Best Film: Ben-Hur
Best Director: William Wyler (Ben-Hur)
Best Actor: Tony Curtis (Some Like It Hot)
Best Actress: Lee Remick (Anatomy of a Murder)
Best Short: Pull My Daisy
Best Supporting Actor: Hugh Griffith (Ben-Hur)
Best Supporting Actress: Angie Dickinson (Rio Bravo)
Best Cinematography: Robert Surtees (Ben-Hur)
Best Score: Miklos Rozsa (Ben-Hur)
This would be my top five:
Ben-Hur
Anatomy of a Murder
The 400 Blows
Some Like It Hot
Rio Bravo