The 1947 Oscars: Part 3
The Rest of the Nominees
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1947
Rating: BBBB
Cast: Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders, Edna Best, Vanessa Brown, Anna Lee, Natalie Wood, Robert Coote, Isobel Elsom, Victoria Horne
Gene Tierney decides to break free of her late husband’s dowdy family and informs her mother- and sister-in-law that, despite the difficult financial circumstances her husband’s death impressed upon her, she has decided to strike out on her own. She rents a beautiful seaside cottage with her little daughter (a nine year-old Natalie Wood) and makes the local housing agent very happy: the place is haunted by the ghost of the sea captain (Rex Harrison) who once lived there, and while all other tenants decamp after the first night in fear of the supernatural occurrence, Tierney finds it a delightful manner of company for herself. Getting to know this mean old spirit who stomps about the house constantly chiding her, Tierney helps Harrison write a book about his life on the sea and, in the process, falls madly in love with him. This becomes a challenge when a living man of flesh and blood (George Sanders) falls in love with her and threatens to sweep her off her feet. Beautiful photography and a gorgeously sentimental but unmanipulated sense of romance make for a solid classic whose age has only added to its charms; it was old-fashioned even when it was a new film, but in the best possible way, and Tierney gives one of her richest performances.
Nomination: Best Cinematography (Black and White)
Odd Man Out
Carol Reed, 1947
Rating: BBBB
Cast: James Mason, Kathleen Ryan, Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, F. J. McCormick, William Hartnell, Fay Compton, Denis O’Dea, WG Fay, Maureen Delaney, Elwyn Brook-Jones, Robert Beatty, Dan O’Herlihy, Kitty Kirwan, Beryl Measor, Roy Irving, Maureen Cusack, Maura Milligan, Joseph Tomelty, Ann Clery, Eddie Byrne
IRA man James Mason participates in a robbery that goes sour when he accidentally shoots and kills a man while trying to get away with the loot. While his friends make it back to their safe house, Mason wanders the streets of Belfast wounded and delirious, trying to hide from the authorities, hoping to make it back safely to his headquarters. Meanwhile, his lady love waits for him at home, terribly worried and being accosted by the English police who believe she is covering up for him. Reed’s scintillating direction makes a winner out of this highly absorbing, incredibly enjoyable drama, featuring thrilling performances and a wonderful plot that sees its protagonist going on a twisted odyssey of sorts through the city that puts him in contact with increasingly stranger personalities. It begins to sag a tiny bit under its own weight in the last third, but the effect overall is one of wonderful intensity, heightened by the beautiful black and white photography.
Nomination: Best Film Editing
Road To Rio
Norman Z. McLeod, 1947
Rating: BBBB
Cast: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Gale Sondergaard, Frank Faylen, Joseph Vitale, George Meeker, Frank Puglia, Nestor Paiva, Robert Barrat, Stanley Andrews, Harry Woods, The Wiere Brothers, The Andrews Sisters, Jerry Colonna, Marquita Rivera, Tor Johnson
One of the most enjoyable of the Road movies, featuring a marvelous musical score and a delightful supporting cast. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are on their way to Rio De Janeiro, on the cruiseliner getting to know gorgeous heiress Dorothy Lamour. Naturally they want to cozy up to the her, but her bossy aunt (Gale Sondergaard) is pushing her towards a previously arranged marriage. Excellent songs and lots of great laughs, one of the most enjoyable movies of its year.
Nomination: Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)
The Perils of Pauline
George Marshall, 1947
Rating: BBB
Cast: Betty Hutton, John Lund, Billy De Wolfe, William Demarest, Constance Collier, Frank Faylen, William Farnum, Chester Conklin, Paul Panzer, Snub Pollard, James Finlayson, Creighton Hale, Hank Mann, Francis McDonald, Bert Roach, Heinie Conklin, Ray Walker
Pearl White was a silent screen movie star who appeared in the cliffhanger film series “The Perils of Pauline”. This delightful comedy stars a wonderfully energetic Betty Hutton as White, a woman who moved up from textile sweat shops to a career on stage and eventually into her highly charged and extremely popular action films. Most of the screenplay is pure fiction, particularly when it involves her romance with a stage star-turned bit player (John Lund), but you don’t have to know the real story to figure that out (since White and Lund’s romance is as clichéd as any other in movies of the era). With a few lovely Frank Loesser songs thrown in, the film also purports to be a musical; the songs are so few and far between that it hardly qualifies, but the ballad “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So” is a standout.
Nomination: Best Music (Song) (”I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”)
Good News
Charles Walters, 1947
Rating: BBB.5
Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Patricia Marshall, Joan McCracken, Ray McDonald, Mel Tormé, Robert Strickland, Donald MacBride, Tom Dugan, Clinton Sundberg, Loren Tindall, Connie Gilchrist, Morris Ankrum, Georgia Lee, Jane Green
Campus comedies and musicals were a staple of the thirties and forties, and this meaningless little charmer is one of the best loved and remembered of them. It stars Peter Lawford as a college football star who can’t decide between a conniving social climber (Patricia Marshall) and a sweet and truehearted lass (June Allyson). You can pretty much figure it out from there, but along the way to the well-known finale, you’ll have fun watching the colourful costumes and listening to the tuneful collection of songs. Two numbers, “Pass That Peace Pipe” and the title song, also feature fantastic, though unbelievable choreography: fantastic because of how excellent in execution (particularly in the performance by Broadway star Joan McCracken) but unbelievable because, well, who would buy that this many college students would all know the same steps to a forty minute dance number in such perfect unison?
Nomination: Best Music (Song) (”Pass That Peace Pipe”)
Monsieur Verdoux
Charles Chaplin, 1947
Rating: BBBB
Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Mady Correll, Allison Roddan, Robert Lewis, Audrey Betz, The LadiesMartha Raye, Ada-May, Isobel Elsom, Marjorie Bennett, Helene Heigh, Margaret Hoffman, Marilyn Nash, Irving Bacon, Edwin Mills, Virginia Brissac, Almira Sessions, Eula Morgan
An impoverished bank clerk’s only way to support his invalid wife and child during the Depression is to marry rich old women under an assumed name and then murder them for the cash. He goes from town to town in his native France in a complete moral haze until a chance encounter with a sensitive young woman makes him think twice about his lifestyle. It isn’t long before his actions catch up with him, which allows Chaplin the opportunity to make some very interesting observations about morality and murder. Expertly produced and written by Chaplin himself (from an idea by Orson Welles, according to the credits), it’s a delightful romp that features many of the maestro’s common themes (the curative love of a good woman, the moral soap box in the conclusion), but is pulled off with expert style and wit.
Nomination: Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Boomerang!
Elia Kazan, 1947
Rating: BBB.5
Cast: Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb, Cara Williams, Arthur Kennedy, Sam Levene, Taylor Holmes, Robert Keith, Ed Begley, Karl Malden, William Challee, Lewis Leverett
An elderly minister is about to cross the street in his quiet Connecticut town when he is gunned down by an unknown assailant who then flees. The case captures the attention of the entire state when Arthur Kennedy is fingered by a disparate group of witnesses who believe without a doubt that he is the culprit. When state prosecutor Dana Andrews is assigned to put Kennedy away, he finds there are confusing pieces in the evidence puzzle that don’t quite add up to an open-and-shut case. This early Kazan feature, based on a true story, features terrific performances from a sturdy cast; Kennedy is particularly effective as the man who insists he is a wronged victim of circumstance. The film claims to have been filmed in the real places where the story takes place–various sources differ as to the legitimacy of this claim–but either way it’s obvious from the grimy walls and messy streets that it was not shot in a studio or on a back lot, and the gritty realism of the locality adds much to the dramatic effect of the story. Lee J. Cobb, always a storm about to break, is memorable as the lead homicide detective whose methods of interrogation are almost as vicious as the crime itself.
Nomination: Best Writing (Screenplay)
The Foxes of Harrow
Nomination: Best Art Direction (Black and White)
Journey Into Medicine
Nomination: Best Documentary (Feature)
The World Is Rich
Nomination: Best Documentary (Feature)
First Steps
Winner: Best Documentary (Short Subject)
Passport to Nowhere
Nomination: Best Documentary (Short Subject)
School in the Mailbox
Nomination: Best Documentary (Short Subject)
Captain From Castile
Nomination: Best Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)
Forever Amber
Nomination: Best Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)
Fiesta
Nomination: Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)
My Wild Irish Rose
Nomination: Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture)
The Time, The Place, and the Girl
Nomination: Best Music (Song) (”A Gal In Calico”)
Chip An’ Dale
Nomination: Best Short Subject (Cartoon)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse
Nomination: Best Short Subject (Cartoon)
Pluto’s Blue Note
Nomination: Best Short Subject (Cartoon)
Tubby The Tuba
Nomination: Best Short Subject (Cartoon)
Tweetie Pie
Winner: Best Short Subject (Cartoon)
Brooklyn, USA
Nomination: Best Short Subject (One-Reel)
Good-bye Miss Turlock
Winner: Best Short Subject (One-Reel)
Moon Rockets
Nomination: Best Short Subject (One-Reel)
Now You See It
Nomination: Best Short Subject (One-Reel)
So You Want To Be In Pictures
Nomination: Best Short Subject (One-Reel)
Champagne For Two
Nomination: Best Short Subject (Two-Reel)
Climbing The Matterhorn
Winner: Best Short Subject (Two-Reel)
Fight of the Wild Stallions
Nomination: Best Short Subject (Two-Reel)
Give Us The Earth
Nomination: Best Short Subject (Two-Reel)
A Voice Is Born: The Story of Niklos Gafni
Nomination: Best Short Subject (Two-Reel)
T-Men
Nomination: Best Sound Recording
Unconquered
Nomination: Best Special Effects
A Cage of Nightingales
Nomination: Best Writing (Motion Picture Story)
It Happened On Fifth Avenue
Nomination: Best Writing (Motion Picture Story)
Shoe-Shine
Winner: Special Award (”the high quality of this motion picture, brought to eloquent life in a country scarred by war, is proof to the world that the creative spirit can triumph over adversity”); Nomination: Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Bill and Coo
Winner: Special Award (”in which artistry and patience blended in a novel and entertaining use of the medium of motion pictures”)