Certainly next in line would have been this death-row film noir powered by an Oscar-winning turn from Susan Hayward, who, at age forty, may have been one of the earlier examples of "going ugly" for an Academy Award--a practice which became all too common in the last twenty-five years, particularly in the late 90s/early 00s. The film, based on the letters of convicted murderer Barbara Graham, garnered great reviews and was a huge hit. Director Robert Wise got his second nomination (first for directing, he cut Citizen Kane), as well as the very telling film editing and screenplay categories, and cinematography and sound. GG, DGA, WGA (Drama). [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 100%]
Influential and well-regarded Vincent Minnelli (who won for directing Gigi) film based on an adaptation of a James Jones (who also wrote From Here to Eternity) novel starring Frank Sinatra as a budding writer returning home from the war. Also starring Dean Martin, the drama received strong reviews, but the ninth highest grossing movie of the year still lost its studio money. Nominated for Costume Design and Song, it also got three of its actors nods, including Shirley MacLaine in her first of several recognitions. [7.4; 78%]
The Young LionsThe World War II action-drama deals with separate stories about three men played by Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin, searching for the wherewithal within themselves while confronting fear and hatred. Edward Dmytryk directed the Edward Anhalt adaptation of the Irwin Shaw novel. Nominated for sound, score, and cinematography, the epic outgrossed its budget with a $4.5M haul, making it the eighth highest earner of the year. DGA. [IMDb: 7.2]
The Big Country
Chalked full of screen legends, including coproducer Gregory Peck, this William Wyler western concerned with a sea captain who gets caught up in a land war grossed $4M. Burl Ives, who played Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, won best supporting actor and the film was bolstered by a nod for score. In a year with so few competitive westerns, might this one have boasted the strongest chances at a BP nod? DGA. [IMDB: 7.8; RT: 100%]
Chalked full of screen legends, including coproducer Gregory Peck, this William Wyler western concerned with a sea captain who gets caught up in a land war grossed $4M. Burl Ives, who played Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, won best supporting actor and the film was bolstered by a nod for score. In a year with so few competitive westerns, might this one have boasted the strongest chances at a BP nod? DGA. [IMDB: 7.8; RT: 100%]
South PacificJoshua Logan, quite the Oscar fixture in the late 1950s, directed this extremely successful island romance musical from Rodgers & Hammerstein set against the backdrop of World War II. Losing score and cinematography categories to Gigi, it won for one of the only categories the BP winner wasn't nominated in: sound. However, having lost the battle, it may have won the war. In the longevity department, powered by songs like "Some Enchanted Evening," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair," and "Bali Ha'i," the movie has persisted in pop culture in ways that Gigi quite hasn't. It's also reported by some outlets as being the highest grossing film of 1958. Would the AMPAS have made room for another musical? GG, WGA (Musical). [IMDb: 6.7; RT: 89%]
The Old Man and the Sea
In this Ernest Hemingway adaptation, Spencer Tracy plays the title character--a Cuban (!) fisherman looking back on his life as he is pulled out to sea by a marlin. A precursor to pensive films like Castaway and Life of Pi, this John Sturges picture received mixed reviews. With small, but broad support, the movie got nominated for lead actor, and cinematography, winning for score. NBR winner. [IMDb: 6.9]
The Inn of the Sixth HappinessIngrid Bergman starred as Gladys Aylward, a British missionary who worked with Chinese children in the mid-20th century. The romantic drama received its share of criticism for its historic inaccuracies, artistic license, and yellow face. The 20th Century Fox film made well over its budget back. The screenplay was written by Isobel Lennart, who started out in the mailroom and made her way up, before she was called before the HUAC in the 1950s. Bergman failed to receive a nomination, but the film itself scored one nod for its director Mark Robson, who also got recognized by the DGA that year and whose Peyton Place did very well with Oscar the previous year. Movies that only get nominated for director are a strange breed, no? David Lynch's Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr. (the last occurrence), Robert Altman's Short Cuts, Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, and Federico Fellini's Satyricon (I have an aversion to that movie) to list the most recent examples. What can we really make of them, other than they're exceptionally revered auteurs? Does Robson fit the mold? Or would the film's altruistic spirit resonated with the AMPAS? [IMDb: 7.1]
VertigoOne of Alfred Hitchcock's most popular films, if not now the most revered film of all time, the color suspense drama is notoriously set in San Francisco and examines a detective's (Jimmy Stewart) obsession with a mysterious woman played by Kim Novak. However, this masterpiece was surprisingly (or no) only nominated for Art Direction and Sound. At the time, the box-office of the adaptation of a French novel was commendable (written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor), but fell short of many of Hitchcock's previous efforts and the reviews were mixed. Hindsight might falsely suggest AMPAS favor that may have not existed at the time, thanks to a resurgence of a passionate interest in the 1980s. For one, Bernard Herrmann's memorable score was overlooked for recognition as well as perennial nominee (especially for that time) Robert Burks' cinematography. DGA. [IMDb: 8.5; RT: 98%]
CowboyThis western was set in the world of cattle drives and hotel management starred Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon. Director Delmer Daves was nominated for a DGA. Only nominated for film editing, it's a phenomenon that has become increasingly rare these days. It hasn't occurred now since Seven in 1995 (Hoop Dreams, The Commitments being the other two films of the 1990s). It wasn't that frequent in the 1980s (The Bear, Romancing the Stone, Blue Thunder) either, but more rampant in the 1970s (Smokey and the Bandit, Two-Minute Warning, Three Days of Condor, The Longest Yard, The Day of the Jackal, The Hot Rock), and not all that common in the 1960s (Wild in the Streets, Beach Red, The Great Escape). They should definitely remake this film with the cowboy from Mulholland Dr., for no other reason than the title, Cowboy. [IMDb: 6.6]
A Certain SmileJean Negulesco (Johnny Belinda) directed this romance set, like Gigi, in Paris, about a love triangle starring Rossano Brazzi (Emile in South Pacific). Produced by Henry Ephron (father of four female writers, including the recently passed Nora), the drama grossed $1.3M and scored three Oscar nods for Costume Design, Art Direction, and Song. [IMDb: 6.2]
The Horse's Mouth
Actor Alec Guinness wrote and starred (and was nominated for the former) in this comedy about a painter, featuring the works of John Bratby. Ronald Neame, who had been nominated for screenwriting and special effects in the past, directed this film which is reported to have grossed $1M. [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 93%]
The Brothers Karamazov
Richard Brooks, no stranger to the AMPAS (including his Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), directed this Dostoevsky drama about a dysfunctional family. Lee J. Cobb picked up a supporting actor nod. NBR, DGA. [IMDb: 6.7; RT: 9%]
The Goddess
John Cromwell directed Kim Stanley in a story about an actress dealing with fame, not unlike that of Marilyn Monroe's. Patty Duke played the younger version of the lead character, which also starred Lloyd Bridges. Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky was nominated for his original screenplay, the only nod (of four) which he lost. Pretty impressive. NBR. [IMDb: 6.7]
Actor Alec Guinness wrote and starred (and was nominated for the former) in this comedy about a painter, featuring the works of John Bratby. Ronald Neame, who had been nominated for screenwriting and special effects in the past, directed this film which is reported to have grossed $1M. [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 93%]
The Brothers Karamazov
Richard Brooks, no stranger to the AMPAS (including his Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), directed this Dostoevsky drama about a dysfunctional family. Lee J. Cobb picked up a supporting actor nod. NBR, DGA. [IMDb: 6.7; RT: 9%]
The GoddessJohn Cromwell directed Kim Stanley in a story about an actress dealing with fame, not unlike that of Marilyn Monroe's. Patty Duke played the younger version of the lead character, which also starred Lloyd Bridges. Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky was nominated for his original screenplay, the only nod (of four) which he lost. Pretty impressive. NBR. [IMDb: 6.7]
Teacher's Pet
George Seaton, an AMPAS darling, directed this battle of the sexes romantic comedy starring Doris Day and Clark Gable. Gig Young scored a supporting nod, as well as screenwriters Fay and Michael Kanin (Fay died last month at the age of 95). I will never be able to think of the term "teacher's pet" without Parker Posey coming to mind singing in Waiting for Guffman, but that's irrelevant. DGA, WGA (Comedy). [IMDb: 7.0]
George Seaton, an AMPAS darling, directed this battle of the sexes romantic comedy starring Doris Day and Clark Gable. Gig Young scored a supporting nod, as well as screenwriters Fay and Michael Kanin (Fay died last month at the age of 95). I will never be able to think of the term "teacher's pet" without Parker Posey coming to mind singing in Waiting for Guffman, but that's irrelevant. DGA, WGA (Comedy). [IMDb: 7.0]
Houseboat
Melville Shavelson directed this star-studded romantic comedy with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren (who had just broken up in real life before filming began), which received nominations for cowriters Shavelson and Jack Rose (original), as well as song. The scribes had been nominated together before for The Seven Little Foys. WGA (Comedy). [IMDb: 6.6; RT: 64%]
Melville Shavelson directed this star-studded romantic comedy with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren (who had just broken up in real life before filming began), which received nominations for cowriters Shavelson and Jack Rose (original), as well as song. The scribes had been nominated together before for The Seven Little Foys. WGA (Comedy). [IMDb: 6.6; RT: 64%]
Vertigo leads Stewart and Novak also headlined in a romantic comedy the same year, where the tables turned, and she pursued him playing a witch full of spells. The Richard Quine film based on the John Van Druten play also starred Jack Lemmon and grossed $2.5M and picked up nods for Costume Design, as well as Art Direction. GG (Comedy). [IMDb: 6.8; RT: 73%]
LonelyheartsFilm noir directed by Vincent J. Donehue about a writer (Montgomery Clift) torn between love and career while working for a sadistic editor. For her feature debut, Maureen Stapleton received her first Oscar nomination. [IMDb: 6.6]
White Wilderness
Having won for Best Documentary, the Walt Disney film was also nominated for its score. James Algar directed the movie which detailed Canadian aquatic life and gross $1.8M, subsequently courting controversy decades later for its misleading information and questionable tactics. [IMDb: 6.8]
George Marshall directed this western comedy starring Glenn Ford, Shirley MacLaine, and Leslie Nielson about a sheepherder who has something to prove, which was nominated for the original screenplay written by William Bowers and James Edward Grant. [IMDb: 6.7]
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