Oscar Revisionism: 1944 (The "First" Year of Five BP Nominees & Final Post in the Series)

After over just two years and sixty-six or so posts, we've finally made it to the end of the Oscar Revisionism series at Cinesnatch.  I called this year the "first" years of five BP nominees.  While that's not true, it is the first year that was followed by decades of tradition that was finally broken in 2009.  Feel free to visit this handy reference guide to the ongoing posts which led up to the change in Academy rules.  This has been definitely a lot of fun, especially as we were working backwards in time and dealing with a vault of films that I was initially familiar with to feel confident enough to write about.  But, I'll be honest, it got really hard the further back in time we went!  So, it was easy to lose motivation and, in fact, undergo long absences (one almost the length of a year, I believe).  As soon as I got over that I could never present a "perfect" list and ranking and my best was all I should require of myself, the easier it got to get through.  I would like to also thank all of you who checked in here and there on this journey for your readership and participation, including Robert A, who responded to a great number of the posts and was a motivating force.  You support was much appreciated.  Thank you!  I made a page for posterity which organizes all the posts chronologically, which you can find here.  Feedback is always welcome, as I'm open to making modifications to the preexisting posts, now that they're all out there on the internet.

What's interesting is that once you get to 1943 and before, for a good part, the Best Picture field consisted of ten nominees or more (hence the whole idea of bridging 2008 to 1944), but rather than shedding light on what might have been nominated in the ensuing years, they only make matters murkier.

For example, there are seventeen Best Picture nominees whose only nomination was for the producers, but most of them are from the late 1920s/early 1930s, when there were few other categories to be nominated in.  It's not until you get into the late 1930s/early 1940s, does it become less prolific, but still happens, with Grand Illusion, One Foot in Heaven, and The Ox-Box Incident being the three prime examples.  (My guess is that it would have become less frequent as the decades wore on, with only a few here and there.  Presently, we haven't had one for 2009 - 2012, though, it would be interesting to see if it could happen (the closest we've come is The Blind Side, A Serious Man, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, each of which only managed one other nod, and they were all from major categories), and what type of film could manage the feet.  As well, there were other Best Picture nominees which only managed one other nod, but, again, they were mostly reserved for the initial years, with In Which We Serve (which happened to be the NBR and NYFC winner for the year it released) being the only example for a seven year span.  Best Picture nominees before 1944 with three to seven nods are just too many to list.

Additionally, you had films accrue a massive amount of nominations, with some key categories covered, only to be left out of the Best Picture race like: My Man Godfrey (6), The North Star (6), The Rains Came (6), Merrily We Live (5), North West Mounted Police (5), and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (5).  Many of these films were directed by men whose presence wasn't foreign to the BP race.  As well, they were of varying genres.  Though, with the exception of anomaly Godfrey (which landed in all four acting categories, as well as writing and direction), the aforementioned had little to no presence in the major categories (some only nabbing film editing).  But, let's not forget the endless list of films that managed three or four nods, but no Best Picture mention.

Also fun to note, there were some directors who had the magic touch with getting their movies into the Best Picture race.  William Wyler (7) was at the top of the heap, before the yearly competition was whittled down to five contenders.  Other notable names include: Sam Wood (6), Ernest Lubitsch (6), Mervyn LeRoy (6), John Ford (6), Frank Capra (6), Michael Curtiz (5), George Cukor (5), W.S. Van Dyke (4), Lewis Milestone (4), Henry King (4), Victor Fleming (4), and Frank Borzage (4).  Those who directed three Best Picture nominees pre-1944 which included films in the early 1940s were Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and George Stevens.

I wanted to do a comprehensive study of exactly which genres made it in and which ones didn't down to a science, when it came to "the cusp" of deciphering the nomination totals as they did or did not result in a BP nomination, but the time required is beyond what's available, and I'm not sure the cost/benefit quotient is tipped in our favor.

So, were there films left off of past posts or the OR series that may have been nominated for Best Picture in a Field of Ten?  Probably, yes.  And there's really no rhyme or reason as to what they may have been, particularly because there were so few other award bodies recognizing "the best" the further back in time you go, (accurate) box-office information is pretty much non-existent, and there isn't even a clear disparity in genres to express the aforementioned oddities.  I'm sure there is an expert(s) out there who could shed light on this matter and knows why more than I, and I defer to them if they would like to rear their head and add their acumen.  And, as a reminder, please excuse the IMDb/RT inclusions, as, of course, critical public reception changes over time, but it felt right to have them there as some kind of interesting benchmark.

Oscar Revisionism 1944
At any rate, moving on, to our final year, 1944, the musical comedy Going My Way [IMDb: 7.3; RT: 71%] was the first film in a long while to win Best Picture in a field of five.  It beat Wilson [IMDb: 6.7] and Since You Went Away [IMDb: 7.5].  But, it's Gaslight [IMDb: 7.8; 89%] that retained an audience over the years and classic Billy Wilder film noir Double Indemnity [IMDb: 8.5; RT: 96%] that is the most revered.  But, what if ten nominees had been chosen, what would the other five Best Picture nominees have been?  The following is a solid, yet likely incomplete list of possibilities.

Laura
This Otto Preminger film noir about an investigation into the death of the title character did well with critics, as well as at the box office.  Nominated for five awards including direction, adapted screenplay, and an acting nod, it won for black and white cinematography.  NBR.  [IMDb: 8.1; RT: 100%]

None But the Lonely Heart 
Domestic drama about a mother and son trying to make ends meet.  Clifford Odets (The Country Girl) directed this film to two acting nominations for its stars Cary Grant and Ethel Barrymore (which the latter won), as well as a couple of others, including film editing.  NBR winner.  [IMDb: 6.4]

Lifeboat 
After a ship and German U-boat sink, a varying group of survivors must contend with each other in this Alfred Hitchcock war thriller.  Nominated for three Oscars, including direction.  [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 95%]

Meet Me in St. Louis 
Vincent Minnelli directed his future bride Judy Garland in this musical romantic comedy, which made bank, as well as three AMPAS nods, including adapted screenplay.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.5; RT: 100%]

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Well-received historic war drama about a stunt pilot who devises a raid on Japan during World War II.
This Mervyn LeRoy film was one of the top grossers for the year.  It was nominated for two Oscars, and won for Visual Effects.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.4]

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
One of the top grossers for the year and nominated for Original Screenplay, this Preston Sturges rom-com concerned a woman knocked up by a soldier.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 86%]

Cover Girl
This Charles Vidor romantic comedy musical did very well at the box-office and got nominated for five Academy Awards, winning for Musical Score over Meet Me in St. Louis.  [IMDb: 6.8; RT: 94%]

Dragon Seed
Katharine Hepburn does yellow face in this drama set in 1930s China dealing with the Second Sino-Japanese War.  Nominated for two Oscars including an acting nod.  [IMDb: 6.1]

The Adventures of Mark Twain
Biographical drama nominated for three awards directed by Irving Rapper (The Corn Is Green).  [IMDb: 7.0]

Mr. Skeffington
Two children of privilege who lose everything must make do in this romantic drama.  Bette Davis, who apparently was going through a rough personal patch and was a supreme bitch on set, was one of two actors nominated for their work.  [IMDb: 7.5]

Mrs. Parkington
Romantic drama about a maid raised to the upper class by marriage to a financier.  Nominated for two acting Oscars.  [IMDb: 6.8]

Hail the Conquering Hero
The other Presten Sturges war rom-com has a soldier returning home with a fabricated story that brings him unearned, unwanted attention.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.7; RT: 95%]

Kismet
A poor man has big plans for him and his daughter in this adventure fantasy set in the Middle East directed by William Dieterle.  Nominated for four Oscars.  [IMDb: 5.9]

Janie
This Michael Curtiz war rom-com was nominated for Film Editing!  [IMDb: 6.2]

Hollywood Canteen
Rom-com musical about two soldiers before they go off to war.  The cast was chalk full of movie stars playing themselves and earned nods in the three major audio categories.  The Delmer Daves films was also one of the top earners of the year.  [IMDb: 7.0]

Casanova Brown
Academy favorite Sam Wood directed this romantic domestic comedy nominated for three Oscars.  [IMDb: 6.3]

Brazil
Rom-com musical nominated for the three main audio categories.  [IMDb: 6.1]

Lady in the Dark
Ginger Rogers stars in this musical romance as a professional who gets psychoanalyzed.  Nominated for three awards.  [IMDb: 6.1]

Conclusion
Again, thank you for your readership and participation.  I hope you enjoyed this series.  Best wishes.

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Oscar Revisionism: 1945

In 1945, Billy Wilder's drama about alcoholism, The Lost Weekend [IMDb: 8.1; RT: 100%], won Best Picture.  It would also take home the most wins for the night, including Adapted Screenplay, Wilder for director, and Ray Milland for Best Actor.  The other nominees included clerical drama The Bells of St. Mary's [IMDb: 7.3; 94%], Alfred Hitchcock film noir thriller Spellbound [IMDb: 7.6; 98%], Michael Curtiz domestic film noir Mildred Pierce [IMDb: 7.9; RT: 82%], and George Sidney musical Anchors Aweigh [IMDb: 7.0; RT: 67%].  But, what if there had been ten nominees?  What would the other five have been?  The year was especially hard to call, as the audio categories had at least ten nominees each, and some of the visual categories were split between black and white, and color.  There wasn't a great deal of consensus either with overlap.  MANY one-offs.  And, keep in mind that we're getting into, if we haven't already arrived, territory where sometimes one or even no nods wouldn't have excluded the infrequent, yet possible film from making it into the Best Picture race.  So, as it goes without saying, there are possibilities that may not be in this post and would have been perfectly viable.  But, most of the likely contenders could surely be culled from the following list.

National Velvet 
Clarence Brown family drama about a trainer, a girl, and her horse starring Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor.  Costar Anne Revere won for supporting actor, and film editing was another win for its five total nominations.  Box Office: $8.5M.  [IMDb 7.3; 100%]

The Southerner 
Commended by critics, Jean Renoir, who was nominated for his work here, directed this drama about the trials and tribulations of the cotton-farming Tucker family.  The movie scored two more nods.  [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 91%]

A Song to Remember 
Charles Vidor biography about famed composer Frederic Chopin.  Nominated for six awards, including Cornel Wilde's portrayal and film editing.  [IMDb: 6.7]

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 
Elia Kazan drama about a Brooklyn family dealing with poverty, alcoholism, and scandal.  Nominated for adapted screenplay, it won for supporting actor.  [IMDb: 7.9; RT: 100%]

The Story of G.I. Joe 
A war correspondent examines the lives of soldiers during battle in this biographical drama.  William A. Wellman's film got four nods, including one for acting, as well as its adapted screenplay.
[IMDb: 7.3; RT: 73%]

Leave Her to Heaven
Two people fall in love in the thriller about an obsessive woman with daddy issues.  Nominated for four awards including Best Actress and winning for color cinematography, John M. Stahl directed this film, along with The Keys of the Kingdom.  Box Office: $5.5M.  [IMDb: 7.6; RT: 100%]

The Keys of the Kingdom
Gregory Peck plays a priest in a decades long struggle to set up a Catholic church in China.  From a screenplay written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Nunnally Johnson, nominated for four Oscars, including black and white cinematography and lead actor.  [IMDb: 7.1]

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde's romance horror about that attractive young man who never seems to age ... with the mysterious portrait in his attic.  Nominated for three awards, including Angela Lansbury's supporting turn, it won for black and white cinematography.  [IMDb: 7.6]

The Valley of Decision
Class-based romance drama.  Nominated for two awards, including one for lead actress Greer Garson.  Box Office: $4.1M.  [IMDb: 7.2]

Love Letters
This tale told in the vein of Cyrano de Bergerac, except with a murderous twist, did not go over well with critics.  Yet, William Dieterle (The Life of Emile Zola) directed this to four Oscar nominations, including lead actress Jennifer Jones.  Box Office: $3.2M.  [IMDb: 7.0]

Pride of the Marines
Biographical war drama directed by Delmer Daves, nominated for Adapted Screenplay.  [IMDb: 7.1]

The Corn is Green
With the odds stacked against her, Bette Davis plays a woman who starts a school in a small mining town.  Nominated for two supporting acting nods.  [IMDb: 7.4]

Marie-Louise
The Swiss German drama was the winner of Original Screenplay.  [IMDb: 5.1]

Wonder Man
In this musical comedy, the ghost of a murder witness and his twin help the police solve a gangster's crimes.  Nominated for four awards, it won for visual effects.  [IMDb: 7.1]

Objective, Burma!
Soldier infiltrate a Japanese base located in Burma in this war film.  Nominated for three awards, including film editing.  [IMDb: 7.3]

A Medal for Benny [IMDb: 6.7]
Irving Pichel directed this drama to two award nominations, including supporting actor.

State Fair
Walter Lang musical romance, nominated for two Oscars, winner of Best Song.  Box Office: $3.8M.  [IMDb: 6.9]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1946

In 1946, William Wyler's family veteran drama The Best Years of Our Lives [IMDb: 8.2; RT: 97%] cleaned house on Oscar night.  The other nominees included Frank Capra's Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life [IMDb: 8.7; RT: 93%], Clarence Brown family drama The Yearling [IMDb: 7.2; RT: 100%], Shakespeare history Henry V [IMDb: 7.3; RT: 100%], and The Razor's Edge [IMDb: 7.4].  What five additional films would have been nominated had the field been expanded to ten?

Anna and the King of Siam
Cultures clash in this well known 19th-century romance which won two of its five Oscar nominations.  One of its nods including Adapted Screenplay.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.0]

The Jolson Story
Nominated for six awards, including film editing and two for acting, this biographical drama of the famed musician took home two statues.  Box Office: $8M.  [IMDb: 7.2]

Brief Encounter
David Lean's tragic romantic drama nominated for the director, its adapted screenplay, and lead actress.  NBR.  [IMDb: 8.1; RT: 88%]

The Killers
Director Robert Siodmak was nominated for his film noir, as well as four others, including its adapted screenplay and film editing.  Stars the dreamy Burt Lancaster.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.9; RT: 100%]

The Seventh Veil
A doctor helps a pianist examine how she was brought to suicide.  It won for Original Screenplay.  [IMDb: 6.9]

The Green Years
An orphaned Irish boy is taken in by relatives and, despite his struggles, goes on to greater success. Nominated for an acting award, it won for cinematography.  [IMDb: 6.9]

Rome, Open City
An Italian must escape the Nazis in the World War II drama, nominated for Adapted Screenplay.  [IMDb: 8.1; RT: 100%]

Notorious
After her father is convicted of treason, a young woman is enlisted as a spy in this romance thriller from Alfred Hitchcock written by Ben Hecht.  Nominated for screenplay and acting nods.  Box Office: $4.8M.  [IMDb: 8.2; RT: 94%]

Sister Kenny
Rosalind Russell plays a real life nurse who discovers a treatment for polio, but faces a long and uphill battle getting due credit thanks largely to sexist barriers.  Directed and cowritten by Dudley Nichols, Russell was nominated for lead actress.  [IMDb: 7.0]

To Each His Own
World War I romance drama nominated for two Oscars, winning for its lead actress Olivia de Havilland.  [IMDb: 7.6]

The Blue Dahlia
Film noir about infidelity and murder from the mind of Raymond Chandler.  Nominated for Original Screenplay.  [IMDb: 7.1]

The Harvey Girls
George Sidney musical starring Judy Garland.  Winner of Best Song.  Box Office: $4.4M.  [IMDb: 6.9]

Saratoga Trunk
Sordid romantic drama directed by thrice-nominated Sam Wood.  Box Office: $4.3M.  [IMDb: 6.4]

Duel in the Sun
Poor reviews plagued the oft-nominated King Vidor's western romance involving a half-breed.  Nominated for two acting awards.  Box Office: $11.3M.  [IMDb: 6.9; RT: 87%]

Children of Paradise
Romantic drama nominated for Original Screenplay.  [IMDb: 8.2; RT: 97%]

Road to Utopia
Musical adventure about a bunch of characters trying to get their hands on some gold.  Nominated for Original Screenplay.  Box Office: $4.5M.  [IMDb: 7.3]

The Spiral Staircase
A young mute woman is in peril during a string of murders.  [IMDb: 7.5; RT: 92%]

Blue Skies
Dance musical.  Nominated for two Oscars.  Box Office: $5.7M.  [IMDb: 6.4]

Centennial Summer
Romantic musical directed by Otto Preminger.  Nominated for two Oscars.  [IMDb: 6.4]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1947

In 1947, Henry Koster came out with The Bishop's Wife [IMDb: 7.5; RT: 80%], a fantastical rom-com starring Gary Grant and Loretta Young, about an angel providing his own brand of guidance on a man of cloth.  George Seaton brought us the first incarnation of Miracle on 34th Street [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 94%].  Charles Dickens' Great Expectations [IMDb: 8.0; RT: 100%] was brought to life yet again by David Lean.  And Edward Dmytryk directed Robert Young as a detective investigating a homicide in film noir Crossfire [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 79%].  But, it was Elia Kazan's drama about anti-Semitism Gentleman's Agreement [IMDb: 7.3; RT: 78%] that would take home three Oscars, including Best Picture.  But, what if the field that year was expanded to ten slots?  What other films would have made it in?

A Double Life
George Cukor film noir about an actor who gets a little too method.  Winner of an acting and score category, it was also nominated for directing and screenplay.  [IMDb: 7.1]

Body and Soul
John Garfield plays a boxer in this film noir directed by Robert Rossen.  Nominated for lead actor, screenplay and winner of film editing.  Box Office: $3.3M.  [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 100%]

Life with Father
Nominated for four awards including one for its handsome lead, William Powell plays a stockbroker in who runs his family with an iron fist in this Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) comedy.  Box Office: $5.1M.  [IMDb: 7.0; RT: 91%]

Green Dolphin Street
Winner of two of its four nominations including black and white cinematography and visual effects, this soap opera set in the 1840s starred Lana Turner, Donna Reed, and Van Heflin.  Box Office: $5M.  [IMDb: 6.7]

Mother Wore Tights
Nominated for three awards, this Walter Lang film won for Musical Score.  Box Office: $5.3M.  [IMDb: 6.5]

Boomerang!
The only non-Best Picture nominee to appear in the Adapted Screenplay category, Elia Kazan, warming up for a decade full of nominations, including a win for Gentleman's Agreement that same year, directed this courtroom film noir based on the true story of an innocent man put on trial for the murder of a priest.  Box Office: $2.3M.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.2; RT: 77%]

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
Rom-Com starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple.  Sidney Sheldon won for Original Screenplay and went on to create some of the most popular TV shows of all time.  Box Office: $5.5M.  [IMDb: 7.2]

Mourning Becomes Electra
Nominated for both of its leads, this sordid family drama based on Eugene O'Neill's famous play was inspired by a Greek mythological tale.  Writer-director Dudley Nichols had done well with The Academy in the past.  Box Office: $0.4M.  [IMDb: 6.4]

Black Narcissus
Nuns who set up a convent in the Himalayas begin to experience long-suppressed erotic feelings during their mission.  Winner of two Oscars including color Art Direction and Cinematography, the filmmakers would make The Red Shoes the next year.  [IMDb: 8.0; RT: 100%]

The Farmer's Daughter
A comedy about a Swedish-American who is forced to take a domestic position for a politician, which affects her personal and professional life in ways she never anticipated.  Loretta Young surprisingly won a lead Oscar for her work.  Box Office: $3.1M.  [IMDb: 7.3]

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
A young turn-of-the-century widow must reconcile her feelings between a ghost and a real life suitor in this romance thriller directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who was no stranger to the Oscar game at that point.  Philip Dunne (How Green Was My Valley) wrote the screenplay.  Box Office: $3.8M.  [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 100%]

Monsieur Verdoux
One of Charlie Chaplin's later films, and the first of which he lost his "Tramp" persona, he plays a black widower in this comedy-drama.  Box Office: $1.5M.  NBR winner.  [IMDb: 7.9; RT: 97%]

Smash-Up, The Story of a Woman
A plot in the vein of A Star Is Born, Susan Hayward stars as an alcoholic who loses control of her life.  Nominated for two awards, including Actress.  Box Office: $2.1M.  [IMDb: 6.5]

Kiss of Death
Henry Hathaway, nominated for The Lives of a Bengal Lancer years before, directed this film noir about a criminal who turned on vengeance-seeking partner.  Nominated for two Oscars.  Box Office: $1.7M.  [IMDb: 7.5; RT: 86%]

The Paradine Case
Alfred Hitchcock courtroom thriller.  Box Office: $2.1M.  [IMDb: 6.5]

Odd Man Out
Irish police try to weed out a rebel in this Carol Reed film noir.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 100%]

Shoeshine
Singled out for a special Foreign Language Film category, Vittorio de Sica's story about two boys earning income as shoeshiners in post-War Italy also got nominated for screenplay.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.9]

Possessed
Joan Crawford got a nod for lead actress for playing a woman who falls hard for a player (the dashing Van Heflin), like, Alex Forrest hard.  She doesn't boil any bunnies, but she does go bat-shit crazy.  And the movie was a hit.  Box Office: $3.1M.  [IMDb: 7.1]



Ride the Pink Horse
Elizabeth Montgomery's father Rober was both an actor and director and made this film noir chock full of mysterious characters.  Ben Hecht cowrote the screenplay, as well as the one for The Paradine Case and Kiss of Death.  [IMDb: 7.2]

The Egg and I
A rom-com about a couple of newly weds on a chicken farm.  Box Office: $5.6M.  [IMDb: 7.0]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1948

In 1948, Laurence Olivier produced, adapted, directed, and starred as Hamlet, winning four Oscars for the year, including Best Picture and Actor.  John Huston's Western The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was also in the list of nominees for the top prize; as well as rape drama Johnny Belinda starring Jane Wyman; The Red Shoes from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and The Snake Pit with Olivia de Havilland as a woman who ends up in an insane asylum without any memory of getting there.  But, what if the field had been expanded to ten?  What other movies would have been nominated?

The Search
Montgomery Clift plays an American soldier who helps a young Czech concentration camp survivor find his mother.  Fred Zinnemann received his first nomination for directing, among the film's four nods.  Box Office: $3.2M.  NBR, DGA.  [IMDb: 7.8]

Joan of Arc
Victor Fleming directed Ingrid Bergman as the historic icon in his final feature film.  Nominated for seven awards, including Best Actress and Film Editing.  Box Office: $5.8M.  NBR.  [IMDb: 6.4]

I Remember Mama
George Stevens directed this drama about a Norwegian family in early 1900s San Francisco.  Nominated for cinematography, the movie also garnered four acting nods.  Box Office: $3.1M.  WGA (Drama, Comedy, Misc).  [IMDb: 7.9; RT: 100%]

Naked City
Film noir set in New York City about a search for a killer.  Winner of two Oscars, including black and white cinematography and film editing.  WGA (Drama, Misc).  [IMDb: 7.7; RT: 86%]

A Foreign Affair
Billy Wilder directed Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich in this rom-com nominated for two awards for its screenplay.  Box Office: $2.5M.  WGA (Comedy).  [IMDb: 7.4]

Red River
Howard Hawks cattle-driving Western starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift got two nods including film editing.  Strangely, Hawks had only been nominated for director once before and never again.  Box Office: $9.0M.  DGA, WGA (Western).  [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 100%]

Easter Parade
This Judy Garland and Fred Astaire romantic musical directed by Charles Walters was only nominated for one Oscar (musical score), but it beat out Smile and Waltz as winner.  Box Office: $4.5M.  WGA (Musical) winner.  [IMDb: 7.3; RT: 89%]

Portrait of Jennie
A struggling Depression-era artist find his muse in this William Dieterle fantasy.  Nominated for two awards, winning for Visual Effects.  Box Office: $1.5M.  [IMDb: 7.6; RT: 91%]

When My Baby Smiles at Me
Betty Grable and Dan Dailey were directed by Walter Lang in this musical nominated for two Oscars, including one for Dailey.  Box Office: $4.2M.  WGA (Musical).  [IMDb: 6.6]


Sorry, Wrong Number
Anatole Litvak directed Best Picture nominee The Snake Pit, as well as this film noir thriller with the Oscar-nominated Barbara Stanwyck as a woman who unwittingly becomes untangled in a murder plot.  Box Office: $2.2M.  WGA (Drama).  [IMDb: 7.5; RT: 86%]

Sitting Pretty
Clifton Webb was nominated for lead actor as Mr. Belvedere in this Walter Lang family comedy.  WGA (Comedy) winner.  [IMDb: 7.5]

The Emperor Waltz
Billy Wilder had his hand in the Oscar race with a couple of films this year, one of them being this romantic musical starring Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine.  It was nominated for two Oscars.  Box Office: $4M.  WGA (Musical).  [IMDb: 6.1]

Key Largo
Humphrey Bogart plays a man who must confront a gangster in this John Huston film noir.  Box Office: $8.1M.  WGA (Drama).  [IMDb: 7.9; RT: 96%]

Romance on the High Seas
Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) and Busby Berkeley directed this musical romantic comedy of errors involving impersonators, detectives, and the high seas.  Nominated for two awards.  [IMDb: 6.9]

The Luck of the Irish
A reporter is followed back to New York by a leprechaun after a sojourn in Ireland.  Henry Koster directed this film to one acting nomination.  [IMDb: 6.5]

The Three Musketeers
George Sidney directed this swashbuckling romantic adventure of the Renaissance-era swordsmen.  Box Office: $4.5M.  [IMDb: 7.1; RT: 71%]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1949

Well, we are now entering the final decade of our Oscar Revisionism series.  Only six more years left, though, the last two may be more time-intensive, as far as these preparations go.  We shall see.  But, the light is coming from the end of the tunnel!  So, proceeding, in 1949, All the King's Men took the Best Picture mantel.  The political drama beat two war dramas (Battleground, Twelve O'Clock High), and two romantic dramas (The Heiress, A Letter to Three Wives).  Every film nominated that year took home at least two awards, with The Heiress hauling in the most (four), and Joseph L. Mankiewicz winning for directing A Letter to Three Wives.  Quite the year that wealth was spread.  But, what if the Best Picture field had been expanded to ten nominees, which films would have benefited?

Come to the Stable
Two French nuns set out to build a children's hospital in New England.  The drama received a variety of nominations including three for acting.  Henry Koster (The Robe, Harvey) directed.  GG, WGA (Comedy).  [IMDb: 7.0]

Champion
Kirk Douglas plays a loathsome boxer whose private life stands in contrast to the public adulation he wins from his experiences in the ring in this film noir.  One of Mark Robson's first movies from a script that got Carl Foreman his first Oscar nod.  The film was showered with nominations, including one for Douglas, and winning for Film Editing.  WGA (Drama).  Box Office: $2.5M.  [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 92%]

The Fallen Idol

English film director Carol Reed was on his way up Hollywood's ladder when he came out with this mystery thriller about a butler who becomes the prime suspect in his wife's death.  Screenwriter Graham Greene would collaborate again with Reed the next year on The Third Man.  Both of them were nominated for their work.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.9; RT: 100%]

Sands of Iwo Jima
John Wayne plays a marine sergeant who must prepare his soldiers for war.  The script came from Harry Brown (A Place in the Sun) and James Edward Grant (The Sheepman).  Nominated for four Oscars, including lead actor and film editing.  Box Office: $3.9M.  [IMDb: 7.1; RT: 100%]

Pinky
After passing herself off as white, a light-skinned black woman returns to her home in the South after going through nursing school only to be treated altogether differently.  Elia Kazan directed a screenplay from Dudley Nichols and Philip Dunne and got three of his actresses nominations.  WGA (Misc).  Box Office: $3.6M.  [IMDb: 7.0]

The Bicycle Thief
A father and his son hunt down a stolen bicycle the boy uses for his job in this Vittorio De Sica film.  NBR winner.  Nominated for screenplay, it got special recognition for best foreign film.  [IMDb: 8.4; RT: 98%]

Jolson Sings Again
Biographical sequel dealing with Al Jolson.  Nominated for three Oscars.  WGA (Musical).  Box Office: $5M.  [IMDb: 6.7]

The Stratton Story
Jimmy Stewart plays baseball player Monty Stratton who makes a comeback after losing a limb in a hunting accident.  Won Best Story.  [IMDb: 7.0]

The Hasty Heart
War drama from a screenplay by Ranald MacDougall (Mildred Pierce) got Richard Todd a best actor nomination.  WGA (Drama).  [IMDb: 7.2]

Little Women
Louisa My Alcott's famous memoir recalling her childhood spent with her sisters during the 1860s.  Mervyn LeRoy (Random Harvest, The Bad Seed) directed.  Winner of color Art Direction and nominated for one other category.  Box Office: $3.5M.  [IMDb: 7.1]

Adventures of Don Juan
The dashing Errol Flynn plays the womanizer who, in this adventure, becomes a protector of Queen Margaret.  The screenwriters had both been recognized by the AMPAS in the past for The War Against Mrs. Hadley and What Next, Corporal Hargrove?  It got nominated for two technical awards, wining for color costume design.  Box Office: $5M.  [IMDb: 6.8]

My Foolish Heart
A reunion between old friends instigates feelings of regret and forlorn love.  Critically panned, it was directed by Mark Robson from a J.D. Salinger short story adapted by the Epstein brothers (Casablanca), but still got two nominations including Best Actress.  [IMDb: 6.8]

The Window
Film noir about a boy who cries wolf who witnesses a murder got a nod for film editing.  WGA (Drama).  Box Office: $0.2M.  [IMDb: 7.4]

Prince of Foxes
Italian Renaissance adventure directed by Henry King.  Nominated for two awards, it won for black and white costume design.  Box Office: $2.6M.  [IMDb: 6.9]

White Heat
Enduring film noir with James Cagney as a gang leader.  Nominated for Best Story.  [IMDb: 8.2; RT: 100%]

On the Town
Musical score winner with Gene Kelly and Fred Sinatra about three sailors with twenty-four hours to spend in New York City directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen.  WGA (Musical) winner.  Box Office: $2.9M.  [IMDb: 7.5]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1950

All Above Eve, one of the best films of all time, was released in 1950, and, consequently, Oscar actually got it right that year when it awarded the Joseph L. Mankiewicz (who had already won for directing the year before) film the top prize.  While Sunset Boulevard was a formidable contender, it's not like Eve had a great amount of competition in Born Yesterday, Father of the Bride, and King Solomon's Mines.  The Academy apparently cottoned to romantic comedies and Hollywood dramas more than film noir this particular year.  As a sidenote, the genre selection was surprisingly very distinctive.  If the voters had a larger nomination field, might others have risen to the top?  You should also note that the Art Direction and Costume Design categories, though split up by color and black and white mediums, were limited to three nominees each, which limited large nomination hauls somewhat.  Let's examine the competition.

The Asphalt Jungle

John Huston film noir influential on subsequent heist films was adapted by Ben Maddow and Huston from a W.R. Burnett  novel.  Both men were nominated along with the cinematographer and supporting actor Sam Jaffe.  NBR, WGA (Drama, Misc).  [IMDb: 7.9; RT: 96%]

The Third Man

Classic Carol Reed's (Oliver!, The Agony and the Ecstasy) film noir from Graham Greene about a man who travels to Vienna and finds himself involved in a mystery.  Costarring Orson Welles, who gets one of the most iconic introductory shots ever.  Nominated for directing, cinematography, and film editing.  [IMDb: 8.4; RT: 100%]

Annie Get Your Gun

The AMPAS showered the musical with nominations, including film editing, as well as a win for score.    George Sidney (Show Boat, Pepe, Pal Joey, Young Bess) directed Betty Hutton to do anything Howard Keel could do better.  WGA (Musical) winner.  Box Office: $4.9M.  [IMDb: 7.0; RT: 100%]

Samson and Delilah 

Cecil B. DeMille biblical epic starring Victor Mature, Angela Lansbury, George Sanders, and the seductive Hedy Lamarr.  The melodrama won two of its five nominations.  Box Office: $11.5M.  [IMDb: 6.7]

Broken Arrow

Delmer Daves (Dark Passage, Cowboy) western starring Jimmy Stewart as a veteran trying to make peace between settlers and Native Americans.  This was one of the first films to sympathetically portray the latter.  Got recognized for acting, screenplay, and cinematography, though Stewart was already nominated for Harvey.  WGA (Western, Misc) winner and nominee.  Box Office: $3.6M.  [IMDb: 7.2]

Caged

This campy film noir was set in a women's prison and still managed three Oscar nods, including actors Eleanor Parker and Hope Emerson, as well as Story/Screenplay.  One of the cowriters was Virginia Kellogg.  Also starring Agnes Moorhead who would, of course, go on to play Samantha's mother Endora on Bewitched.  [IMDb: 7.7]

Harvey

An acting nod and win went to this comedy-drama progenitor to Donnie Darko about a man who carries on a relationship with an imaginary six-foot rabbit.  Henry Koster (The Robe, My Cousin Rachel, Flower Drum Song) directed a script cowrote by Mary Chase from her play.  GG (Drama).  Box Office: $2.6M.  [IMDb: 8.1; RT: 83%]

Cyrano de Bergerac

José Ferrer won an Academy Award for his star-driven portrayal of the wordsmith with a big heart and a long nose.  GG (Drama).  Box Office: $1.9M.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 83%]

The Magnificent Yankee

Louis Calhern played Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in this biographical drama.  John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock) directed.  Emmet Lavery (The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell) wrote the script based on his play from a book by Francis Biddle.  Nominated for Art Direction in a limited field, as well as Calhern.  [IMDb: 6.8]

The Men
Fred Zinneman was well on his way to high acclaim when he released this drama starring Marlon Brando as a paraplegic veteran who must adjust to his new body.  Screenwriter Carl Foreman was on his second of numerous nominations.  NBR, WGA (Drama, Misc) nominee and winner.  [IMDb: 7.1;RT: 70%]

No Way Out
The already much awarded Joseph Mankiewicz not only directed All About Eve in 1950, but he also had this race relations film noir.  Sidney Poitier played a doctor who treats a couple of racist robbers, only to be grossly mistreated afterwards.  NBR, WGA (Misc).  [IMDb: 7.4]

Panic in the Streets
While the reviews were mixed for this film and it failed to be profitable, Elia Kazan was hot off of Gentlemen's Agreement and Pinky.  The story concerned the hunt for a man infected with the pneumonic plague.  With so many in the field and having not reached the top five, being a film noir probably couldn't have worked in its favor this particular year.  NBR, WGA (Drama, Misc).  Box Office: $1.4M.  [IMDb: 7.3; RT: 95%]

Destination Moon

Science-fiction adventure about putting the first man on the moon.  Irving Pichel (Martin Luther) directed.  Nominated for two awards, it won for Visual Effects.  [IMDb: 6.3]

The Flame and the Arrow

Medieval adventure-romance from one of Waldo Salt's early scripts.  Box Office: $2.9M.  [IMDb: 6.9]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1951

A Vincent Minnelli musical (An American in Paris) beat dramas from both George Stevens (A Place in the Sun) and Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire) for Best Picture.  An ancient Rome drama (Quo Vadis) and war film (Decision Before Dawn) were also nominated.  But, what if there had been a Field of Ten in 1951?  What other films would have been nominated?

The African Queen
A sister (Katharine Hepburn) of a slain reverend tries to convince an alcoholic riverboat captain (Humphrey Bogart) to take out a German ship during the beginnings of World War I in Eastern Africa. John Huston's classic got all the major Oscar indicators except Best Picture.  Bogart also won.  Box Office: $10.8M.  [IMDb: 8.0; RT: 100%]

Detective Story
Kirk Douglas plays a vengeful detective in this film noir about finding justice for a murderous abortionist.  Director William Wyler got a nomination for himself, actors Eleanor Parker, Lee Grant, and the screenwriters.  NBR, GG (Drama), WGA, DGA.  Box Office: $2.8M.  [IMDb: 7.6]

Death of a Salesman
Fredric March took on the iconic role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's classic play, adapted by Stanley Roberts (The Caine Mutiny [1954]).  March, along with Kevin McCarthy and Mildred Dunnock were nominated for three of the film's five Oscar nods.  NBR, WGA (Drama and Misc), DGA.  Box Office: $1.2M.  [IMDb: 7.3]

David and Bathseba
This biblical epic was one of the highest grossing films of the year with $7.1M and was nominated for five awards.  Henry King (Wilson, The Song of Bernadette, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Twelve O'Clock High) directed the original screenplay by Philip Dunne (How Green Was My Valley, The Agony and the Ecstasy, The Robe).  DGA.  [IMDb: 5.9]

The Well
This film noir examines racial politics and mob mentality when a young girl goes missing.  From the team behind The Thief.  It was nominated for story/screenplay, as well as film editing.  WGA (Misc).  [IMDb: 7.0]

La Ronde
Max Ophüls' turn-of-the-century romantic drama set in Vienna watches as one affair leads to another on life's carousel.  Like Eyes Wide Shut years later, the source material originated from Arthur Schnitzler.  Nominated for screenplay and art direction.  [IMDb: 7.6; RT: 100%]

The Blue Veil
Jane Wyman heads the cast in this tearjerker about a young widow who becomes a kindernurse.  Curtis Bernhardt (Interrupted Melody, Possessed) directed.  Norman Corwin (Lust for Life) cowrote.  Wyman and Joan Blondell both picked up nominations.  Box Office: $3.6M.  [IMDb: 6.8]

The Great Caruso
The great tenor Mario Lanza played one of his Italian progenitors, Enrico Caruso.  Richard Thorpe directed William Ludwig's (Interrupted Melody, Oklahoma!) screenplay to major box office success ($4.5M).  It won for Sound Recording.  DGA, WGA (Musical).  [IMDb: 6.4]

Bright Victory
Arthur Kennedy, who was nominated for lead, played a blinded soldier in this World War II drama directed by Mark Robson (Peyton Place, Earthquake, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Valley of the Dolls) and adapted by Robert Buckner (Yankee Doodle Dandy).  GG (Drama), WGA (Misc) winner.   [IMDb: 7.2]

Show Boat
George Sidney (The Eddy Duchin Story, Young Bess, Pal Joey) directed this technicolor Oscar Hammerstein musical starring Ave Gardner, Kathryn Grayson, and Howard Keel, making $5.2M at the box office, one of the highest grosses of the year.  It lost two technical Oscars to An American in Paris.  DGA, WGA (Musical).  [IMDb: 6.8]

The Frogmen

A new commander must ingratiate himself to his specialized unit of navy men in this World War II film.  Box Office: $2.1M.  [IMDb: 6.6]

The Tales of Hoffman
The team behind One of Our Aircraft Is Missing was responsible for this staged opera ballet. Box Office: $1.3M.  [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 81%]

When Worlds Collide
Money and connections are the only things that will save you in this disaster film about a group of people trying to leave Earth on a rocket before their home is hit by an oncoming planet.  Winner of Special Effects, as well as nominated for one other award.  Box Office: $1.6M.  [IMDb: 6.7; RT: 77%]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1952

In 1952, a circus spectacle (The Greatest Show on Earth) beat a turn-of-the-century Paris drama (Moulin Rouge), a fish out of water comedy/drama set in Ireland (The Quiet Man), a western (High Noon), and a period English adventure (Ivanhoe).  But, what if there had been ten nominees that year for Best Picture.  Which other films would the AMPAS have included?

The Bad and the Beautiful
Melodrama set in Hollywood centering around a shameless studio head.  A non-Best Picture nominee that was a winner of an unprecedented five awards--the most of the evening--including Supporting Actress and Screenplay.  Director: Vincent Minnelli (An American in Paris, Gigi).  Stars: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Gloria Grahame.  Box Office: $8.5M (huge hit).  NBR, WGA, DGA.  [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 95%]

Viva Zapata!
Fictionalized biographical history of revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, which received mixed reviews.  John Steinbeck wrote the screenplay.  Director: Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront).  Stars: Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn.  Nominated for five awards, including Brando and Quinn, who won.  Box Office: $1.9M.  DGA.  [IMDb: 7.4; RT: 67%]

With a Song in My Heart
Musical based on the life of songwriter Jane Froman.  Director: Walter Lang (The King and I).  Screenplay: Lamar Trotti (Young Mr. Lincoln, Wilson).  Stars: Susan Hayward, Rory Calhoun, Thelma Ritter.  Hayward and Ritter were nominated, along with three technical categories, winning for Musical Score.  Box Office: $3.3M.  GG (Comedy/Musical) winner, WGA.  [IMDb: 6.8]

5 Fingers
Based on a true story, this thriller is about a valet during World War II who decides to sell information on his employer to the Nazis for a better life.  Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve).  Screenplay: Michael Wilson (A Place in the Sun, The Bridge on the River Kwai).  Both Mankiewicz and Wilson were nominated for their work.  Stars: James Mason, Danielle Darrieux.  Box Office: $1.4M.  NBR, DGA (quarterly winner), WGA.  [IMDb: 7.6]

Come Back, Little Sheba
Domestic melodrama that deals with alcoholism, lust, and regret and got both Shirley Booth an Oscar and Terry Moore a nomination.  Director: Daniel Mann (directorial debut; BUtterfield 8, The Rose Tattoo).  Stars: Burt Lancaster, Booth, Moore.  Also nominated for Film Editing.  Box Office: $3.5M.  GG (Drama), WGA.  [IMDb: 7.6]

Hans Christian Andersen
A musical fantasia on the life of the children's author and his stories.  Director: Charles Vidor (Gilda, Love Me or Leave Me). Screenplay: Moss Hart (Broadway Melody of 1936, Gentleman's Agreement).  Stars: Danny Kaye.  Nominated for six awards.  Box Office: $4.1M.  GG (Comedy/Musical), WGA, DGA.  [IMDb: 6.7]

Sudden Fear
Film noir thriller, where an actor romances and marries a playwright as a plot to steal her money after she rejects him at an audition.  Director: David Miller.  Screenplay: Lenore J. Coffee (Four Daughters), Robert Smith.  Stars: Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame (won for The Bad and the Beautiful).  Crawford and Palance were nominated along with two black and white technical awards.  Box Office: $1.7M.  [IMDb: 7.5]

My Cousin Rachel
Romance mystery based on Daphne du Maurier novel, where a man falls in love with the widow he believes murdered his cousin.  Director: Henry Koster (The Bishop's Wife, Harvey, The Robe, Flower Drum Song).  Screenplay: Nunnally Johnson (The Grapes of Wrath, Holy Matrimony).  Stars: Richard Burton, Olivia de Havilland, Audrey Dalton.  Burton was nominated for supporting actor, along with three black and white technical awards.  Box Office; $1.3M.  [IMDb: 7.0]

The Man in the White Suit
In this sci-fi satirical comedy, an inventor who has created a super resilient fabric finds himself being squeezed out by the textile industry.  Its only nomination was in the screenplay category where it went up against the likes of The Quiet Man and High Noon.  Director: Alexander Mackendrick.  Screenplay: Mackendrick, John Dighton (Roman Holiday), and Roger MacDougall adapted the latter's play.  Stars: Alec Guinness (nominated for Lavender Hill), Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker.  [IMDb: 7.5; RT: 100%]

Singin' in the Rain
Not even nominated for its eponymous song, this legendary musical wasn't singled out for more than two categories, taking home nothing.  The AMPAS appeared more receptive to With a Song in My Heart and Hans Christian Andersen at the time.  Director: Gene Kelly (Hello, Dolly!/ Stanley Donen (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face).  Screenplay: Adolph Green & Betty Comden (The Band Wagon, It's Always Fair Weather).  Stars: Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen.  Box Office: $6M.  WGA winner, GG (Comedy/Musical), NBR, DGA.  [IMDb: 8.4; RT: 100%]

The Big Sky
Western about fur trading with Native Americans starring Kirk Douglas and Dewey Martin.  Director: Howard Hawks (Sergeant York).  Screenplay: Dudley Nichols (The Informer, The Long Voyage Home, The Tin Star).  Stars: Douglas (nominated for Bad and the Beautiful), Martin, Arthur Hunnicutt.  Box Office: $1.7M.  DGA.  [IMDb: 7.1]

The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Based on Ernest Hemingway short story, a man reflects on his life after incurring an infection while hiking one of the world's most famous peaks.  Director: Henry King (The Song of Bernadette (1943), Wilson).  Screenplay: Casey Robinson (Captain Blood).  Stars: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Susan Hayward.  Box Office: $6.7M.  NBR, DGA.  [IMDb: 6.2]

The Merry Widow
Musical about romance, class, and mistaken identities.  Director: Curtis Bernhardt.  Stars: Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas.  Box Office: $4.5M.  [IMDb: 6.0]

The Thief
A film noir without dialogue about a nuclear physicist spy working in Washington, DC.  
Director: Russell Rouse (The Well).  Screenplay: Rouse and Clarence Greene (Pillow Talk).  Stars: Ray Milland.  Box Office: $1M.  GG (Drama), NBR.  [IMDb: 6.7]

The Lavender Hill Mob
Crime caper about a bank clerk and his neighbor smuggling gold.  Director: Charles Crichton (A Fish Called Wanda).  Screenplay: T.E.B. Clarke (Passport to Pimlico, Sons and Lovers).  Stars: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway.  DGA (quarterly winner).  [IMDb: 7.8; RT: 100%]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1953

While 1954 appeared to be cut and dried as far as a Field of Ten might go, 1953 proved to be quite the opposite.  Part of the reason had to do with the disparity in high nomination count.  Save Lili, only Best Picture winner From Here to Eternity and nominees Roman Holiday, Shane, The Robe, and Julius Caesar received more than three nominations.  In the technical fields, there was a definitive split between the color and black and white submissions, with neither medium being dominated by the frontrunners and showing any kind of great competitiveness.  Additionally, the aforementioned films were the only ones to score multiple wins.  The genres in the existing nominees couldn't have been more different, however.  We had a war romance drama, western, biblical epic, greek tragedy, and rom-com.  Lili was another whimsical rom-com musical that probably would have gotten in, as well as the war film Stalag 17.  Both films were singled out by NBR, DGA (both quarterly winners), and WGA.  Billy Wilder's Stalag did very well at the box office and has held up over time.  Both films received their share of nominations, including major BP indicators.

But, what other films would have made the cut?

Mogambo
Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly were both nominated for their roles in this John Ford adventure romance set in Kenya which also starred Clark Gable and Donald Sinden.  Adapted from a play by John Lee Mahin (Captains Courageous, The Bad Seed, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison).  NBR.  Box Office: $5.2M (it was a hit).  [IMDb: 6.6; RT: 82%]

The Moon Is Blue
Nominated for Actress, Song, and Film Editing, this rom-com starring William Holden (who won for Stalag 17) and David Niven vying for the attention of Maggie McNamara would seem a safe bet were it not in the shadow of Roman Holiday and Lili.  F. Hugh Herbert adapted his own play for Otto Preminger to direct.  WGA.  Box Office: $3.5M.  [IMDb: 6.7]

The Cruel Sea
Screenwriter Eric Ambler received the war drama's only nod in what was a pretty competitive field for adapting Nicholas Monsarrat's novel.  Director Charles Frend had previously directed Goodbye, Mr. Chips.  [IMDb: 7.4]

The War of the Worlds
H.G. Well's sci-fi thriller certainly stands out as adding something different to the pot its year of release.  Director Byron Haskin had a history with being recognized for his special effects work by The Academy.  It won for visual effects here, as well as being nominated for sound recording and film editing.  Box Office: $2M.  [IMDb: 7.1; RT: 85%]

Young Bess
In this George Sidney historical romance, Jean Simmons played Queen Elizabeth I in her formative years.  Also starring Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, and Charles Laughton.  Arthur Wimperis, one of the screenwriters, received double nominations back in 1942.  Simmons was also in The Robe.  Box Office: $4.1M.  DGA.  [IMDb: 6.6]

Titanic
Before there was James "King of the World" Cameron, there was Jean Negulesco's (Johnny Belinda) domestic version of the doomed luxury liner starring Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyk.  Nominated for black and white Art Direction, it won for story/screenplay by writers Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch, and Richard L. Breen, who have a slew of awards/nominations between them.  DGA.  Box Office: $2.3M.  [IMDb: 7.0]

Martin Luther
Nominated for two black and white technical awards, Irving Pichel directed this historical biography of the Christian reformer who stood up against the Catholic Church.  NBR.  [IMDb: 6.7]

Above and Beyond
Action biography about Paul W. Tibbets, Jr, pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane which dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.  DGA, WGA.  Box Office: $2.5M.  NBR (1952).  [IMDb: 6.8]

Call Me Madam
Nominated for Color Costume Design and winning for Musical Score over The Band Wagon and Calamity Jane, would this Irving Berlin/Lindsay and Crouse musical starring Ethel Merman have been the most competitive musical for a Best Picture nomination, besides Lili?  Walter Lang, who would go on to direct The King and I, helmed this film.  DGA, WGA.  Box Office: $2.9M.  [IMDb: 6.7]

The Band Wagon
Out of the three strongest contenders for a musical Best Picture nominee, this MGM production starring Fred Astaire is collectively thought of to have aged the best.  It received the same amount of nominations as Madam and Jane, only not winning anything, but picking up a story/screenplay nod.  Vincent Minnelli directed, who had just received a nomination two years previously for An American in Paris.  WGA.  Box Office: $2.6M.  [IMDb: 7.5]

Calamity Jane
Perhaps Madam won for Score, but this western musical got nominated for Sound Recording and won for Song as well.  David Butler directed Doris Day and Howard Keel.  Was this just an Annie Get Your Gun knockoff?  Box Office: $2.5M.  [IMDb: 7.0]

The Knights of the Round Table

An unofficial sequel to Richard Thorpe's Best Picture nominee Ivanhoe from the previous year, this action drama focuses on the love triangle between Arthur (Mel Ferrer), Guinevere (Ava Gardner), and Lancelot (Robert Taylor).  Box Office: $4.4M.  [IMDb: 6.2]

Little Fugitive
This story about a young boy who runs away to Coney Island is considered a precursor to the French New Wave movement.  NBR, WGA.  [IMDB: 7.4; RT: 92%]

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Oscar Revisionism: 1954

Having mistakenly thought that 1955 was a fluke with oddities in major races, 1954 presented yet another year where the Best Picture contenders were not fixtures in the directing and screenplay categories.  On the Waterfront likely beat The Country Girl for the top honor.  However, what were the five likeliest films The Caine Mutiny, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Three Coins in the Fountain muscled out of Best Picture nominations?

Sabrina
Two brothers compete for the heart of the chauffeur's daughter.  Director: AMPAS favorite Billy Wilder.  Screenplay: Wilder, Ernest Lehman, and Samuel A. Taylor adapted the latter's play.  Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden.  Nominations: Director, Actress, Screenplay, Black and White Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design (winner).  Box Office: $4M.  NBR, WGA (winner), DGA (quarterly winner).  [IMDb: 7.7; RT: 65%]

A Star Is Born
Two performers fall in love, one on the rise, the other in decline.  Director: George Cukor (not nominated for this film, but recognized by the AMPAS in four separate decades).  Screenplay: Moss Hart adapted the 1937 screenplay.  Stars: Judy Garland, James Mason.  Nominations: Actor, Actress, Musical Score, Song, Color Art Direction, Costume Design.  Box Office: $6.9M.  NBR, WGA, DGA.  [IMDb: 7.7; RT: 96%]

The High and the Mighty
This disaster ensemble set aboard a plane was a box office hit.  At the time, the movie received mostly positive reviews.  Director: William A. Wellman (A Star Is Born (1937), Battleground).  Screenplay: Ernest K. Gann adapted his own novel.  Stars: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Robert Stack, Jan Sterling.  Nominations: Director, two Supporting Actress nods, Non-musical Score (winner), Song, Film Editing.  Box Office: $6.9.  DGA (quarterly winner).  [IMDb: 6.8; RT: 25%]

Rear Window
In one of Alfred Hitchcock's best, most famous, and enduring thrillers, a physically impaired Jimmy Stewart watches a mystery unfold outside his window with a set of binoculars.  Director: Hitchcock.  Screenplay: John Michael Hayes adapted Cornell Woolrich's short story.  Stars: Stewart, Grace Kelly.  Nominations: Director, Screenplay, Sound Recording, Color Cinematography.  Box Office: $9.9M.  WGA, DGA (quarterly winner).  [IMDb: 8.7; RT: 100%]

Executive Suite
Boardroom romance drama.  Director: the one and only Robert Wise hadn't been nominated for director yet.  Screenplay: Ernest Lehman (first nomination) adapted Cameron Hawley's novel.  Stars: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March.  Nominations: Supporting Actress, Black and White Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design.  Box Office: $2.8M.  NBR, WGA, DGA.  [IMDb: 7.3]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Action-adventure about a sea crew investigating the mysterious sinking of an assortment of ships.  Director: Richard Fleischer.  Screenplay: Earl Felton adapted the Jules Verne novel.  Stars: Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre.  Nominations: Film Editing, Color Art Direction (winner), Visual Effects (winner).  Box Office: $12M.  NBR.  [IMDb: 7.2; RT: 89%]

The Glenn Miller Story
Biography of the famous bandleader.  Director: Anthony Mann (El Cid, Men in War).  Screenplay: Valentine Davies (Miracle on 34th Street, It Happens Every Spring) and Oscar Brodney.  Stars: James Stewart, June Allyson.  Nominations: Story/Screenplay, Musical Score, Sound Recording (winner).  Box Office: $7M.  WGA, DGA.  [IMDb: 7.1]


Carmen Jones
Musical romance about a woman between jobs who seduces a taken man.  The film features an African-American cast, directed by Otto Preminger, who would go on to make the film version of Porgy & Bess.  Director: Preminger.  Screenplay: Harry Kleiner used the Hammerstein and Bizet musical based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée.  Stars: Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey.  Nominations: Actress, Musical Score.  Box Office: $9.8M.  WGA, GG Comedy/Musical (winner).  [IMDb: 6.8; RT: 72%]

The Barefoot Contessa
Real-life sex symbol Maria Vargas lures the hearts of men while becoming the center of a film production.  Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (directed Julius Caesar the year before, and Guys and Dolls the year after).  Screenplay: Mankiewicz.  Stars: Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart, Warren Stevens.  Nominations: Supporting Actor (winner), Story/Screenplay.  Box Office: $7.3M.  WGA.  [IMDb: 7.0]

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