bernardovillela

31 Days of Oscar: Blossoms in the Dust (1942)

Posted on February 18, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Whatever I do manage to see this year during 31 Days of Oscar will be covered in a wrap-up post. In the meantime, those films that previously got buried in conglomerated posts will get their own due here. In the wrap-up I will continue the tradition of attempting to see 31 new-to-me Films and accounting for 100+ nominations.

Blossoms in the Dust (1942)

This was actually I found in a drug story on Oscar Day in 2012, this was after my having missed this on a TCM broadcast. This film is part of Greer Garson’s legendary run of five consecutive Oscar Nominations for Best Actress and six in seven years. Yes, this film doesn’t get away with not having its stump-speeches and it does give a classical Hollywood whirlwind treatment to and elongated tale, but it is so tremendously moving and gorgeous to look at. Watch it for the the acting, watch for Karl Freund working in color and stay for the tale, which when it really has to, when it wants to hit home, holds up just enough. It took me a while to get this one off my to watch pile, but it certainly was a memorable viewing. There are plenty of jaw-dropping moments in the film. I also learned a few things so it has the righteous indignation angle working for it too.

Score: 10/10
Oscar Nominations/Wins: 4/1

31 Days of Oscar Blogathon: The Crafts – Cinematography in Black-and-White and Color

Posted on February 17, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

When I looked at the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon announcement for this year what came to mind as a good idea for crafts would be to examine Cinematographers who were at the Oscars for work in black-and-white and color cinematography. If I decided to just feature those who had won in both it’d have been a smaller club (60 cinematographers are in it by my count). However, as I say with my own awards: the process is more about what’s nominated.

Furthermore, as my motivation was for the last posts on actors and defunct categories I wanted to learn in the process of writing and chronicling all the cinematographers (most past but thankfully a few present) who have been honored for chromatic and monochromatic work alike.

The Cinematographers

One thing that was surprising to learn is that there are many cinematographers who have gotten tons of nominations. There are 10 who have each had more than 10 each. Granted in the more than quarter-century where color and black-and-white photography were honored separately that’s well in excess of 260 potential nominations (there have been loose limits on total number of nominees in the past), but if you look at actors only five (Streep, Hepburn, Nicholson, Davis and Olivier) have reached that mark.

It makes more sense when you also include that working behind the scenes more often a cinematographers images speak for themselves.

Below you will see those who have been nominated in both and the occasional notes about it.

Please note:

-Some titles appear multiple times because early Color cinematography was often a team endeavor.
-This list was assembled manually so if I am missing a name, or am incorrect about the color palette please let me know in the comments.

1. Ernest Haller

Color – Gone with the Wind, The Flame and the Arrow
Black and White – Jezebel; All this and Heaven, Too; Mildred Pierce, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Lillies of the Field

2. Freddie Francis

Color– Glory
Black and White– Sons and Lovers

3. Joseph A. Valentine

Black and White – Mad About Music, First Love, Spring Parade,
Color– Joan of Arc

4. Karl Freund

Black and White– The Good Earth, The Chocolate Soldier
Color– Blossoms in the Dust

5. Leon Shamroy

Black and White– The Young in Heart, Ten Gentlemen from West Point, Prince of Foxes
Color– Down Argentine Way, The Black Swan, Wilson, Leave Her to Heaven, David of Bathsheba, Snows of Kilamanjaro, The Robe, The Egyptian, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, The King and I, South Pacific, Porgy and Bess, Cleopatra, The Cardinal, The Agony and the Ecstasy

6. Joseph Ruttenberg

Black and White– The Great Waltz, Waterloo Bridge, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mrs. Miniver, Madame Curie, Gaslight, Julius Caesar, Somebody Up There Loves Me
Color– Gigi, BUtterfield 8

7. Robert Surtees

Black and White– Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, The Bad and the Beautiful
Color– King Solomon’s Mines, Quo Vadis?, Oklahoma!, Ben Hur, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Graduate, Dr. Doolittle, The Last Picture Show, Summer of ’42

Won in each medium.

8. Conrad Hall

Black and White– Morituri, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Day of the Locust, Tequila Sunrise, Searching for Bobby Fisher, A Civil Action, American Beauty, Road to Perdition
Color– The Professionals, In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood nomination was after Black-and-White cinematography after category ended.

9. Arthur C. Miller

Black and White– The Rains Came, How Green Was My Valley, This Above All, The Song of Bernadette, The Keys of the Kingdom, Anna and the King of Siam
Color– The Blue Bird

10. Harry Stradling

Black and White– The Human Comedy, The Picture of Dorian Gray, A Streetcar Named Desire, Some Like it Hot, The Young Philadelphians
Color– She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Hans Christian Andersen, Guys and Dolls, The Eddie Duchin Story, Auntie Mame, A Majority of One, Gypsy, My Fair Lady, Funny Girl, Hello, Dolly!

11. James Wong Howe

Black and White– Algiers, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Kings Row, Air Force, The North Star, The Rose Tattoo, Hud, Seconds
Color– The Old Man and the Sea, Funny Lady

12. Charles Rosher

Black and White– Sunrise, The Affairs of Cellini
Color– Kismet, The Yearling, Annie Get Your Gun, Showboat

13. Burnett Guffey

Black and White– From Here to Eternity, The Harder They Fall, The Birdman of Alcatraz, King Rat
Color– Bonnie and Clyde

14. Haskell Wexler

Black and White – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Color– One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Bound for Glory, Matewan, Blaze

15. William C. Mellor

Black and White– A Place in the Sun, The Diary of Anne Frank
Color– Peyton Place, The Greatest Story Ever Told

16. Hal Mohr

Black and White– A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Four Poster
Color– Phantom of the Opera

Only write-in nomination for cinematography, back in the wild early days of the Awards.

17. Charles Lang

Black-and-White: The Right to Love; A Farewell to Arms; Arise, My Love; Sundown, So Proudly We Hail!; The Uninvited, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; A Foreign Affair; Sudden Fear; Sabrina; Queen Bee; Separate Tables; Some Like it Hot; The Facts of Life
Color:One-Eyed Jacks, How the West Was Won, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Butterflies are Free

After 14 nominations for black-and-white cinematography was nominated for color in the following years and for the following films: 1961 One-Eyed Jacks; 1963 How the West Was Won; 1969 Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice
1973 Butterflies Are Free

18. Victor Milner

Black-and-White– The Love Parade, Cleopatra, The Crusades, The General Died at Dawn, The Buccaneer, The Great Victor Herbert, The Furies
Color– North West Mounted Police, Reap the Wild Wind

Six black-and-white nominations before 1940.

19. George Barnes

Black-and-White– The Devil Dancer, The Magic Flame, Sadie Thompson, Our Dancing Daughters, Rebecca, Spellbound,
Color– The Spanish Main, Samson and Delilah

Four nominations in first ceremony; Six total before 1945 The Spanish Main.

20. Joseph LaShelle

Color– How the West Was Won, Irma La Douce
Black-and-White– Laura, Come to the Stable, My Cousin Rachel, Marty, Career, The Apartment, Fortune Cookie.

Six nominations before 1963 How The West Was Won.

21. Ernest Laszlo

Black-and-White– Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg, Ship of Fools,
Color– It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; Fantastic Voyage, Star, Airport, Logan’s Run

Third Nomination in 1963 It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was first in color.

22. Daniel L. Fapp

Black-and-White– Desire Under the Elms; One, Two, Three
Color– The Five Pennies, West Side Story, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Ice Station Zebra, Marooned.

23. Tony Gaudio

Black-and-White– Hell’s Angels, Anthony Adverse, Juarez, The Letter, Corvette K-225
Color– A Song to Remember

Final nomination of six in Color.

24. Milton Krasner

Color– All About Eve, Three Coins in the Fountain, An Affair to Remember, How the West Was Won
Black-and-White– Arabian Nights, Love with a Proper Stranger, Fate is a Hunter

1950 Second nomination was in Black-and-White for All About Eve.

25. Harold Rosson

Color– The Garden of Allah, The Wizard of Oz
Black-and-White– Boom Town, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, The Asphalt Jungle, The Bad Seed

Third nomination was his first in black-and-white (Boom Town, 1940).

26. Janusz Kaminski

Black-and-White – Schindler’s List
Color – Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, War Horse, Lincoln

First nomination in black-and-white.

27. Joseph Valentine

Black-and-White– Wings Over Honolulu, Mad About Music, First Love, Spring Parade
Color– Joan of Arc

Fifth nomination was his first for color. (Joan of Arc, 1948).

28. Robert Burks

Black-and-White: Strangers on a Train, A Patch of Blue
Color: Rear Window, To Catch a Thief

Three of four nominations in Hitchcock films.

29. William H. Daniels

Black-and-White: Anna Christie, The Naked City,
Color: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, How the West Was Won

30. Lee Garmes

Black-and-white: Morocco, Shanghai Express, Since You Went Away
Color: The Big Fisherman

31. Loyal Griggs

Color: Shane, The Ten Commandments, The Greatest Story Ever Told,
Black-and-White: In Harm’s Way

32. Ernest Palmer

Black-and-White: Four Devils, Street Angel
Color: Blood and Sand, Broken Arrow

33. Karl Struss

Black-and-White: Sunrise, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Sign of the Cross
Color: Aloma of the South Seas

34. Sam Leavitt

Black-and-white: The Defiant Ones, Anatomy of a Murder
Color: Exodus

35. Lionel Lindon

Black-and-White: Going My Way, I Want to Live!
Color: Around the World in 80 Days

36. Arthur E. Arling

Color: The Yearling
Black-and-White: I’ll Cry Tomorrow

37. Joseph F. Biroc

Black-and-white: Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte B & W
Color: Towering Inferno

38. Robert Elswit

Black-and-White: Good Night, And Good Luck
Color: There Will Be Blood

39. Paul Vogel

Black-and-White: Battleground
Color: The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

40. George J. Folsey

Black-and-White: Reunion in Vienna, The Affairs of Cellini, The Gorgeous Hussy, The White Cliffs of Dover, Executive Suite, The Balcony
Color: Thousands Cheer, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Green Years, Green Dolphin Street, Million Dollar Mermaid, All the Brothers Were Valiant, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Four nominations before a color nomination; no wins.

41. Roger Deakins

Black-and-White: The Man Who Wasn’t There,
Color: The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, Kundun; O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men, The Reader, True Grit, Skyfall, Prisoners

42. Edward Cronjager

Black-and-White: Cimarron, Sun Valley Serenade, The Pied Piper
Color: To the Shores of Tripoli, Heaven Can Wait, Home in Indiana, Beneath the 12-Mile Reef

Fourth nomination was first in color.

43. Joseph F. Seitz

Black-and-white: The Divine Lady, Five Graves to Cairo, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Rogue Cop
Color: When Worlds Collide

Sixth nomination in color.

44. Russell Harlan

Black-and-White: The Big Sky, The Blackboard Jungle, To Kill a Mockingbird,
Color: Hatari!, The Great Race, Hawaii

Fourth nomination in color .

45. Ruldolph Maté

Black-and-White: Foreign Correspondent, That Hamilton Woman, The Pride of the Yankees, Sahara
Color: Cover Girl

Fifth and final nomination in color for Cover Girl. Shared.

46. Franz Planer

Black-and-White: Champion, Death of a Salesman, Roman Holiday, The Children’s Hour
Color: The Nun’s Story

Fourth nomination in color.

47. Charles G. Clarke

Black-and-White: The Magnificent Ambersons
Color: Hello, Frisco, Hello, Green Grass of Wyoming, Sand

Second nomination in color, shared.

48. Joseph Walker

Black-and-White: You Can’t Take It With You, Only Angels Have Wings, Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Color: The Jolson Story

Fourth nomination color The Jolson Story.

49. Bert Glennon

Black-and-White: Stagecoach
Color: Drums Along the Mohawk

50. Ray June

Black-and-White: Arrowsmith, Barbary Coast
Color: Funny Face

Final nomination in color.

51. Joseph MacDonald

Black-and-White: The Young Lions, The Sand Pebbles
Color: Pepe

52. Ted D. McCord

Black-and-white: Johnny Belinda, Two for the Seesaw
Color: The Sound of Music

Final nomination was in color.

53. Sol Polito

Color: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Captains of the Clouds
Black-and-White: Sergeant York,

Sergeant York black-and-white second nod.

54. Michael Chapman

Black-and-White: Raging Bull
Color: The Fugitive

55. Edward Colman

Black-and-White: The Absent-Minded Professor
Color: Mary Poppins

Both Disney films, the second famously being a live-action/animation hybrid.

56. Philip H. Lathrop

Black-and-White: The Americanization of Emily
Color: Earthquake

57. J. Peverell Marley

Black-and-White: Suez
Color: Life with Father

Second nomination in color, shared.

58. Sidney Wagner

Color: Northwest Passage
Black-and-white: Dragon Seed

59. Gordon Willis

Black-and-White and Color: Zelig
Color: The Godfather Part III

60. Robert Richardson

Color – Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Snow Falling on Cedars, The Aviator, Hugo, Django Unchained
Partially Black and White– JFK, Inglourious Basterds

All-Color in the Split Era

Just a footnote that the following cinematographers earned ONLY color nominations in the Split Era.

Leonard Smith
Allen M. Davey
Joseph Planck
William V. Skall
W. Howard Greener

All 10 nominations in color cinematography

Oddities

Sven Nyqvist

No black and white nominations. WTF?

Gordon Willis wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for the Godfather, The Godfather Part II or Manhattan. What?

Conclusion

Clearly many cinematographers have proven themselves adept in both styles. Perhaps this will keep black and white occasionally kicking every so often when needed.

31 Days of Oscar: Ninotchka (1939)

Posted on February 16, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Whatever I do manage to see this year during 31 Days of Oscar will be covered in a wrap-up post. In the meantime, those films that previously got buried in conglomerated posts will get their own due here. In the wrap-up I will continue the tradition of attempting to see 31 new-to-me Films and accounting for 100+ nominations.

Ninotchka (1939)

This was a film a professor of mine suggested to me in school as the Garbo film he liked and also as a good intro to Lubitsch, I believe. I’m not sure why it took me so long to follow this advice, as he never steered me wrong, but I finally saw it and am very glad I did. It’s quite a charming story and a good time.

Wins/Nominations: 0/4

Review – The Third Side of the River

Posted on February 15, 2015 by bernardovillela

By way of a synopsis of this film the best encapsulation is found on Waterland’s (the Dutch Production company that helped bring this film to fruition) site:

‘The third side of the river’ is an intense father-son drama from director and writer Celina Murga. (‘A week alone,’ ‘Ana and the others’). The power of this beautiful Argentinian feature film is the way Murga moves the apparent calm surface. You feel the tension increase. You wait for the explosion.

American director and producer Martin Scorsese is involved as executive producer. About the script he said: “I was struck by the documentary reality, the feeling for everyday life, the sense of looming danger”. Scorsese previously worked with director Celina Murga on her film ‘A week alone’ and Celina Murga was on the set of ‘Shutter Island’. ‘The third side of the river’ was nominated for a golden bear at the international Film Festival of Berlin 2014. The film is produced by Argentinian producer Tresmilmundos Cine and coproduced by German producer Rommel Film and Dutch producer Waterland Film.

Nicolas, a 16-year-old boy, lives in a small town in the Argentine province of Entre Ríos. Nicolas’ father, a much-respected local doctor, has fathered two families and lives two parallel lives. First, he has a socially acceptable marriage to a professional woman – also a doctor – with whom he has a 12 year-old son. Second is his relationship with a woman of humble origin who has born him four children. Nicolas is the eldest and the only one his father officially acknowledges. Only six blocks stand between the two houses, but Nicolas’ father does not allow the boy to walk those streets, and does not even allow him to call him “dad” in public, even though the boy carries his name.

 The two women in the doctor’s life know about each other, but their lives are asotto [sic] voce secret: the whole town is fully aware of the situation, but everyone pretends not to notice. Nicolas takes this situation for granted, as though it were completely normal, for it’s the only reality he knows. Yet, the tension of the situation must inevitably explode one way or another. Nicolas will have to make a decision.

Yes, all of the above is a mouthful but it does prepare you very well for the simmering nature of the narrative. In a way the subtextual approach of this Argentinian film bears a similarity to Two Shots Fired. The difference here being that the clarity of most of the intentions, sentiments and resentments brewing beneath the surface are far clearer. The story also does boil over and without pomp or circumstance leading up to it, but it does all make sense.

Furthermore, the button on the film is perfectly placed and rendered. It’s the kind of title that had me thinking on it for quite some time in terms of some of the nuance. With many of the recent titles I’ve reviewed I’ve stewed on them for some times for many different reasons. With this one I appreciated enough of the superfice to want to plumb the depths further for my own insights on smaller moments.

However, I won’t turn this review into a ‘reading’ where I parse it all and give it all away.

In what is becoming a more prevalent modern theme the title is not something commented upon by the film in a Family Guy kind of way. The title has a paradoxical component but also offers an allusion to the region in Argentina in which the story takes place (Entre Ríos), and also the yearning for escaping the provincial trappings therein, which is in all likelihood the most universal theme contained within the story.

Much of the story does focus on Nicolás’ (Alain Devetac) interactions and reactions to his family life. At times having a myopic POV can be a detriment to a story but here there are insights, and his vantage point does end up being a window rather than a portrait allowing us to see in further.

Should the film make its way over to the US it’s definitely one worth looking for.

7/10

Short Film Saturday: AnnaSophia Robb and Evan Peters in Sofia Coppola’s The Little Mermaid

Posted on February 14, 2015 by bernardovillela

If you’re familiar with Disney’s take on The Little Mermaid or AnnaSophia Robb or Evan Peters or Sofia Coppola this is funny. if you know all three this is very funny!

Free Movie Friday: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Posted on February 13, 2015 by bernardovillela

Last week I finally began a theme I meant to kick-off at the beginning of the year, which is to feature public domain films that you can find easily online. This week will continue a horror theme, the genre does have its fair share of public domain films that are newer than most. Today is the film that redefined the zombie genre forever, which you should have seen by now Night of the Living Dead.

31 Days of Oscar: Panic in the Streets (1950)

Posted on February 12, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Whatever I do manage to see this year during 31 Days of Oscar will be covered in a wrap-up post. In the meantime, those films that previously got buried in conglomerated posts will get their own due here. In the wrap-up I will continue the tradition of attempting to see 31 new-to-me Films and accounting for 100+ nominations.

Panic in the Streets (1950)

This is a very interesting film which can be categorized as Film Noir but also as an outbreak film. It’s that unusual combination which truly makes this film special and entertaining. Was it either but not both it likely isn’t that intriguing but the combination thereof makes it worthy.

Oscar Nominations/Wins: 1/1
Score: 7/10

Mini-Review: Two Shots Fired

Posted on February 11, 2015 by bernardovillela

In Two Shots Fired what you have is a film that will draw you in with a rather stunning inciting incident. It’s one that will instantly act as a litmus test. As a result of reading it you will either be repulsed or compelled to watch it.

Per the IMDb’s page on the film the synopsis is as follows:

17-year-old Mariano finds a gun in his house and, in a thoughtless impulse, shoots himself twice. But he survives.

Now you can clearly see that this is the kind of story that will instantly either steer people clear or arouse curiosity. For the curious I must instantly inform you that the melodrama or the deep, detailed exploration of a psyche that one may expect are not found here.

For better or worse, one of the most effective aspects of this film is its employment of “MacGuffinism.” What I mean by this is in the classic tradition, as termed by Hitchcock, “the two shots fired” are the pretense for telling the tale, but not the thrust of the tale itself. It’s the flashpoint around which the personal tension both intra-familial and among friends can be explored. What would have been further subsumed tensions and resentments are brought to the fore by the incident that almost immediately kicks off the proceedings here.

The aversion to bombast here is such that even the conflict is atypically conveyed. The film skirts about it as the characters do. They are scarcely discussed, at times they are enacted. When they are most present is in the film’s visuals as opposed to the films dialogue.

There is a palpable intangibility of the strain beneath the surface. It also does portray a dichotomy between the reactions the characters display. Whereas Mariano’s malaise is not broken, the same which caused him to act thoughtlessly, his parents struggle with how much added attention should be foisted upon him in light of recent incidents. How much supervision can atone for what happened and try to prevent its happening anew.

There have been many strong films coming out of Argentina lately, but sadly this isn’t really one of them. While the main objective of the film is understood and appreciated the film sometimes comes off as being as aimless as Mariano is throughout.

4/10

Mini-Review- Spud 2: The Madness Continues

Posted on February 10, 2015 by bernardovillela

Spud 2: The Madness Continues is a follow-up to the film Spud. Like the cinematic predecessor before it this one is also based on a novel by John van de Ruit which tells a coming-of-age tale at a boys boarding school in South Africa. While the first film takes place against the end of apartheid and is very much Spud’s tale, the sequel begins to tell the story in the immediate aftermath thereof and is more an ensemble piece than the prior film.

It is the nuclear subplot in the film that is the most effective. In John (“Spud” Troye Sivan’s) home where his mother (Julie Summers) is insisting she wants to move to England for she feels she cannot adapt to the new South African reality, whereas Spud and his father (Aaron McIlroy) are perfectly content where they are.

While the romantic storyline is followed up from the first film and some good growth is shown there the film essentially ends up being too sporadic. Again there is a schoolyear-long structure to the story. The major difference here is that the flow is not nearly as good. That and the other members of the Crazy Eight (Spud’s group of friends) get more screentime in less substantive and interwoven manners than in the first installment. Add that to the emergence of the Normal Seven (A group of first years who are singled out and hazed for their normality by the Crazy Eight). Then when you add the late-game re-emergence and lessening of The Guv (John Cleese) the attentions are divided and the plot spread thin.

There are some laughs and good times to be had but eventually the trudging narrative does wear a bit. A misstep in the follow-up in a series is not unusual. With a third film released in South Africa in November and hitting iTunes globally this year hopefully the series concludes on a better note.

4/10

31 Days of Oscar Blogathon: The Snubs – Defunct Categories

Posted on February 9, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Film is an ever-changing artform, so it stands to reason that the awards that Hollywood created to help celebrate the industry should evolve. It’s more apparent when you realize that the Oscars began when the industry was in flux as sound was in its infancy.

Film has twice adapted itself in competition with other media arts. Synchronized sound came on the heels of the popularity of radio and a shift in aspect ratio, away from 1:33 to widescreen formats was introduced to distance itself from television. The same competition with television helped push films away from black and white film and towards color. With just these technical changes its natural that some award categories would fall in an out of favor over time, some aren’t so obvious. Some, surprisingly, should have never left. I will discuss the categories that are no longer around.

Best Picture, Production and Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production (1929)

The Academy Awards began with two different iterations of Best Picture. In 1929 the winners of these two respective categories were Wings (Production) and Sunrise (Unique and Artistic). My interpretation of these trophies is that one is more akin to a PGA (Producers Guild of America) award. Whereas, the logistics, accomplishments and merits of the production are highly impressive and well-executed even if the picture mat not be the best overall. Unique and artistic would then be a more narrative-award with special emphasis on creativity. This is a distinction that could’ve proved highly useful in later years. Imagine if it had been around in 1998 (the first year that jumps to mind) give Production to Titanic and Unique and Artistic to As Good as It Gets or L.A. Confidential or Good Will Hunting. Or earlier maybe How Green Was My Valley could get Production and Citizen Kane can get Unique and Artistic and everyone can leave the former alone already, and stop hating it for something that’s no fault of its own.

Ultimately, I understand how the two awards would forever cause confusion and why they needed merging, but it is interesting to consider.

Best Director, Comedy Picture and Dramatic Picture (1929)

The Golden Globes still have Comedy/Musical and Dramatic categories for Films and Actors, but not directors. The directing job is highly different in both aspects. Are comedies far too overlooked when it comes to award shows? Yes. Does each year really merit having both categories? Probably not, and surely enough it was not a category the following year.

Best Title Writing (1929)

To be quite honest considering that the industry was already in flux awkwardly transitioning from silent to talkie I’m a little surprised this was a category at the first awards. Granted some were trying to dismiss synchronized sound as a fad, but it was clear it was coming. Some categories held on longer, but silent films in the end virtually vanished quite quicker than black-and-white fare or 4:3 aspect ratio films.

Yes, titles were crucial in the silent era, and silents did win Oscars, but it’s slightly unusual that this was actually a category for one year.

Best Cinematography, Color and Best Cinematography, Black and White 1936-1939 (Special Achievement) 1940-1966

This split became a mainstay of the Academy for 27 editions of the Awards. This is quite a long time and indicates that despite the business-related impetus for color cinematography the necessity of occasionally going into more ethereal monochrome remained and undeniable siren’s call for filmmakers for many years to come.

As wide as the gap between color productions and black-and-white ones have become they are not extinct as recent films like Ida, The Artist and The White Ribbon indicate. Yet, color cinematography in unquestionably ubiquitous enough such that the split no longer makes sense. It most definitely did at one time: color and black-and-white are two different ways of seeing the world. The reason for splitting the two was due to that and the fact that they were fairly equally split. With little equality superlative black-and-white films do have to compete against chromatic ones be it fair or unfair; it’s just a reality.

Best Effects, Engineering Effects (1929)

The awards for Special Effects were ones that had many names an iterations before becoming a mainstay. A category for “Special Effects, Engineering Effects” existed at the first ceremonies. They returned in 1938 with and Honorary Award. From 1939 to 1962 Visual and Sound Effects shared an award titled Special Effects. In 1963 Special Visual Effects took over. From ’72-’77 it was awarded under Special Achievement Award. The current Special Visual Effects title debuted in 1995.

However, going back to the original trophy it puts me in a mind that perhaps the Academy does need to encourage and reward different kinds of effects work. Maybe split it between practical and computerized. It actually would encourage creativity and be fair. For example many of the most impressive feats in Inception (like the spinning hallway) were done practically. This could highlight those creative moments but still reward highly-creative, ever-evolving computerized effects work.

Best Writing, Achievement 1930

This was the category introduced for the 2nd Annual ceremonies and for that year only. It was an attempt to transition away from three categories (Original, Adaptation and Title Writing) to just one. The only other award I ever saw merge all screenplays into one category was my own for a while. However, adaptation and original screenplays are games with similar rules but different approaches and need different skills. They should be separately awarded and this change is one that was needed.

The Juvenile Award (Awarded intermittently from 1935-1961)

This is an award I’ve already written about at length here. In that post I chronicled those young people who were honored by the Academy. I also followed-up on that by listing who since 1961 would have earned the honor, or could have, if it was still something awarded. Since my personal BAM Awards have started offering parity (meaning the same categories for mature and young performers) I have become convinced the Academy could fill a roster of five nominees a year for a category with this same concept. The term juvenile may be dated, and have poor connotations now, but the idea is one worth revisiting.

Best Short Subject, Cartoons (1932-1957) Short Subject, Comedy (1932-1937), Short Subject Novelty (1932-1937), Short Subject Color (1937-38) Short Subject One-Reel (1937-1957) and Short Subject Two-Reel (1937-1957)

You can almost always look to the Academy for some kind of indication as to what the state of the art at least in terms of trends. One thing that would be apparent to someone looking solely at the Oscars with no other film knowledge would be that short films used to be a much more integral part of Hollywood films than they are now. For six years Live Action films were split into Comedies and Novelties, which featured, as the name implies varied subjects and approaches. Starting in 1937 animated films (then referred to as Cartoons by the Academy) were split off and Live Action films were bifurcated by length either one-reel (about 10 minutes or less) or two-reel (about 20 minutes or less). In 1958 Live Action was introduced as the only short subject category for live action, Cartoons still the term used, and the category changed to Best Short Subject, Animated Films in 1972. It is notable that serials never had a category somehow. Maybe because Poverty Row and “lesser” majors specialized in them.

Best Assistant Director (1933-1937)

Assistant Directors back at the beginning of the film industry had a far different role than they do as the industry and art evolved. There used to be far more directing for assistant directors. First ADs now are far more administrative and keep the production running, most of their direction geared at background performers. Therefore, its interesting that the Academy once underscored the greater level of responsibility this job had with an award.

Best Dance Direction (1936-1938)

There are a few instances of the Oscars highlighting the elevated place that the film musical once held. This category specifically aimed at choreography on film is one.

Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration Black-And-White and Color 1940-1966

This is the second of three categories that for year offered two prizes owing to the unique challenges and distinct differences in working in black-and-white and color. In simplest terms in color there are temperature, palette and tone considerations but in monochrome there is a transliteration of actual colors to gray tones for desired effect that must be considered and calculated by all department heads.

Best Music, Scoring of a Drama or Comedy (1946-1957) Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture (1942-1945) and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture (1942-1957)

Here’s one more testament to the potency the musical once hand in the cinematic landscape of Hollywood’s output. In 1958 the distinction in scoring ended. For 16 ceremonies musicals were a category apart. They were so prevalent, significant, and thought to be so different that it had its own category for scoring.

The issue with genre-splitting is: where does it end? Comedy was excluded for three years, and then added. If musicals had stayed at their zenith would further scoring splits have occurred? Unlikely, but it may have been clamored for. Clearly, the loss of a category did not shut the door on the musical winning Best Score, The Sound of Music jumps immediately to mind, but it’s fascinating that it was a class apart for years.

Costume Design Black and White and Costume Design Color (1948-1966)

If there’s one thing that you can laud the Academy for it’s that there was uniformity in when categories stopped being subdivided by color and black-and-white. In all cases when there was such a division, either from the inception of a category like costume design, or later in the game like with cinematography, that split ceased after the 1966 Awards.

Similar to Cinematography and Art Direction costuming for both media is a different game. Black-and-white requires a more abstract understanding of colors and textures and how they’ll read when exposed. Thus, its a bit more intuitive, at times counterintuitive, and far less literal than working in color. Again the time had surely come for the category to merge due to ubiquity but the task is by no means an easy one in monochrome.

Conclusion

In most of the these cases it is just interesting and important to note how far the artform and industry have come. It’s important in aesthetic appreciation to note some things that used to be taken for granted and to acknowledge different trends and forms of the past. However, in some of these cases these categories could still be highly useful and be brought back today.

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