The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1946

The amazing reunion scene in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) between Myrna Loy and Frederic March

The 19th Academy Awards, for the film year 1946.  The nominations were announced on February 9, 1947 and the awards were held on March 13, 1947.

Best Picture:  The Best Years of Our Lives

• It’s a Wonderful Life
• Henry V
• The Yearling
• The Razor’s Edge

Most Surprising Omission:  Brief Encounter

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  Children of Paradise

Best Eligible English-Language Film Not Nominated:  The Big Sleep

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #41

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1939

It's just a hunch, but I'm gonna go ahead and guess that he doesn't give a damn.

The 12th Academy Awards, for the film year 1939.  The nominees were announced on February 11, 1940 and the awards were held on February 29, 1940.

Best Picture:  Gone with the Wind

• The Wizard of Oz
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• Wuthering Heights
• Stagecoach
• Of Mice and Men
• Ninotchka
• Goodbye Mr. Chips
• Dark Victory
• Love Affair

Most Surprising Omission:  Young Mr. Lincoln

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  The Lady Vanishes

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #47

 

The Best of the Nighthawk Awards: The 1930′s

The animated film that really started it all: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Before diving into the Best Pictures of 1939, I’ll cover the decade at a glance with my own awards.

1930 – 1939

Total Films I’ve Seen:  460

Films That Make the Top 5 in a Category:  35

Best Film Not to Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  Scarface

Film of the Decade:  The Wizard of Oz

Worst Film of the Decade:  Oliver Twist (1932)

Worst Best Picture Nominee of the Decade:  Cleopatra

Worst Film of the Decade made by a Top 100 Director:  Jamaica Inn

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1938

The whole ensemble from You Can't Take It With You (1938)

The 11th Academy Awards, for the film year 1938.  The nominations were announced on February 5, 1939 and the awards were held on February 23, 1939.

Best Picture:  You Can’t Take It With You

• The Grand Illusion
• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• Pygmalion
• The Citadel
• Jezebel
• Test Pilot
• Four Daughters
• Alexander’s Ragtime Band
• Boys Town

Most Surprising Omission:  Angels with Dirty Faces

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  Bringing Up Baby

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #70

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1937

Paul Muni didn't win a second Oscar, but The Life of Emile Zola did win Best Picture in 1937

The 10th Academy Awards for the year 1937.    The nominations were announced on February 6, 1938 and the awards were held on March 10, 1938.

Best Picture:  The Life of Emile Zola

• A Star is Born
• The Awful Truth
• Stage Door
• Lost Horizon
• Dead End
• 100 Men and a Girl
• The Good Earth
• Captains Courageous
• In Old Chicago

Most Surprising Omission:  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  You Only Live Once

Rank  (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #73

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1936

"I must have more steps" - the vision of Florenz Ziegfeld in The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

The 9th Academy Awards, for the year 1936.  The nominations were announced on February 7, 1937 and the awards were held on March 4, 1937.

Best Picture:  The Great Ziegfeld

• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
• A Tale of Two Cities
• Dodsworth
• Libeled Lady
• The Story of Louis Pasteur
• Romeo and Juliet
• Three Smart Girls
• Anthony Adverse
• San Francisco

Most Surprising Omission:  My Man Godfrey

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  Modern Times

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #74

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1934

The 7th Academy Awards, for the film year of 1934.  The nominations were announced on February 5, 1935 and the ceremony was held on February 27, 1935.

Gable and Colbert: both won Oscars for It Happened One Night (1934)

Best Picture:  It Happened One Night

• The Thin Man
• The Gay Divorcee
• The Barretts of Wimpole Street
• The House of Rothschild
• One Night of Love
• Here Comes the Navy
• Imitation of Life
• Flirtation Walk
• Cleopatra
• Viva Villa
• The White Parade

Most Surprising Omission:  Affairs of Cellini

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  Death Takes a Holiday

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #79

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1932-1933

A widely reviled Best Picture winner: Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook in Cavalcade (1933)

The 6th Academy Awards, for the period from August 1, 1932 to December 31, 1933.  The nominations were announced on February 26, 1934 and the awards ceremony was held on March 16, 1934.

Best Picture:  Cavalcade

• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• The Private Life of Henry VIII
  
• Little Women
• Lady for a Day
• State Fair
• A Farewell to Arms
• Smilin’ Through
• 42nd Street
• She Done Him Wrong

Most Surprising Omission:  Trouble in Paradise

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  M

Best Eligible U.S. Film Not Nominated:  King Kong

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #75

 

The Year in Film: 1938

My Top 10:

Grand Illusion - Renoir's brilliant masterpiece

1. Grand Illusion
2. The Adventures of Robin Hood
3. Bringing Up Baby
4. You Can’t Take It With You
5. Pygmalion
6. Angels with Dirty Faces
7. Merrily We Live
8. Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife
9. The Citadel
10. Of Human Hearts

 

The Year in Film: 1936

My Top 10:

The final shot of Modern Times (1936): Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard walking off into the future.

1. Modern Times
2. The Petrified Forest
3. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
4. A Tale of Two Cities
5. My Man Godfrey
6. The Secret Agent
7. Dodsworth
8. Fury
9. After the Thin Man
10. The Great Ziegfeld