Oscars

31 Days of Oscar: Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

What’s best about this film is that it essentially tells you what’s going to happen to these characters early on, then you see it happen and it still manages to be very riveting because it becomes about the characters and stays that way. It’s a brilliantly rendered character study. I was not surprised in my guessing game that I was close to picking how many nominations this film was up for. What shocked me is that Humphrey Bogart wasn’t nominated, when he’s virtually unrecognizable by the end of the film in appearance and demeanor. I saw this on Blu-Ray and selected the Warner Night at the Movies presentation which plays a newsreel and two shorts before the film. I recommend that treatment for all film geeks so you get a taste of moviegoing in 1948.

Score: 9/10
Oscar Nominations/Wins: 4/3

31 Days of Oscar: Citizen Kane (1941)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Citizen Kane (1941)

Now before you go into a tizzy, yes, I have seen Citizen Kane. I have an old review of it I may post, but that’s not what I’m going to do here. Since I’ve seen it, and just saw it for the first time on Blu, I wanted to address some common talking points about the film.

1. I love Citizen Kane. It’s one of my favorite films. I viewed it on my own before I studied film formally and no one “made me like it.” I connect to it. I can distinguish between what I like and important and or well-crafted works and grudgingly acknowledge some films as important, or milestones, though I personally dislike them. That is not the case with me and this film.

2. It is not shocking to dislike this film, you won’t get a rise out of me if you say so. Aside from the fact that everyone’s taste is their own business, I can see how this one may not impress you, but save it.

3. Don’t hold Citizen Kane against How Green Was My Valley because it won Best Picture not Kane. How Green Was My Valley is a very good movie indeed. It is not Citizen Kane, because it has not desire to be so. Please try to gauge that film in a vacuum and don’t hold its Oscar win “against it.” The fact of the matter is Welles made a lot of enemies, which made the rest of his career a struggle and I’m sure there are myriad Oscar stats that will show you films that only won for Screenplay and who got a boatload of nominations and are virtually shutout. And in conspiratorial terms, Hollywood wasn’t about to crown Welles “king of the world.” In other words, something was gonna beat Kane that year, and in the estimation of many it was a loaded field.

Those are probably the three biggest ones. With regards to 31 Days, since I saw it before adding it to the total is kind of cheating but I’m on good pace and hope to be well clear of 31 films and 100 nominations, and I hadn’t see the blu-ray transfer yet. P.S. If you are a fan buy it, it’s a great box.

Score: 10/10
Oscar Nominations/Wins: 9/1

31 Days of Oscar: Closely Watched Trains (1966)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Closely Watched Trains (1966)

This film is very much a New Wave film, this one coming from the Czech New Wave. The prior film I had seen from it can be found here. The story here is fairly straight-forward in narrative if not structural terms and combines a coming-of-age element with the backdrop of World War II. It’s a decent tale but not one that will likely stick with me for very long. Maybe it’s just not my cup of tea or the novelty of the Wave isn’t novel to me anymore, though I do like the approach.

Wins/Nominations: 1/1

31 Days of Oscar: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Posted on by bernardovillela

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Now, since I included Kane, which I’ve seen, I’ll include this too, since it’s a cheat and I barely consider this a re-screen as I napped, thus preserving myself for the new film screened. I include it, again, to provide a few more thoughts on Welles’s work here:

1. It’s sad that you can almost see the scarring on the film from RKO’s over-zealous and over-involved cutting of this film. My score below is the one I originally logged on the IMDb upon originally seeing it, and that may be a bit too harsh but it does reflect the fact that we’ve been robbed of a truly masterful work over the years.

2. In a sort of wish fulfillment, I hope that by saying this often enough it one day comes true: May Welles’ cut of this film, the now holy grail of lost versions, surface one day.

Score: 6/10
Oscar Nominations/Wins: 4/0

31 Days of Oscar: Indiscretion of the American Housewife (1953)

Posted on by bernardovillela

10. Indiscretion of an American Housewife (1953)

Motgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones in Indiscretion of an American Housewife (Coumbia)

This film illustrates some of the great things about this month of screenings. First, I’ve been able to discover more the marvelous work of Montgomery Clift. Second, aside from his early neorealist work I was none too familiar with De Sica and while this employs many of his production precepts it is a heightened and stylized forbidden romance. The tension and chemistry is absolutely electric and only suffers some pace issues somewhat towards the end. It’s a fascinating film that I may want to revisit on Criterion.

Oscar Nominations/Wins: 1/0
Score: 9/10

31 Days of Oscar: The Search (1948)

Posted on by bernardovillela

The Search (1948)

In mentioning my guessing game above I must say that upon checking the IMDb I was astonished by all the nominations this film got. I knew of this film because of the fact that it featured one of the rare Juvenile Award winners, a now defunct non-nominated category that was occasionally awarded to a deserving youth. However, Fred Zinneman, a talented director perhaps best known for High Noon the writing and Montgomery Clift were all also nominated. Now I do like the film but only by the skin of its teeth. I will grant that shooting in occupied Germany and dealing with displaced children so soon after the war is commendable and it does tell a good tale but not as tightly as it should and with truly intrusive narration. The flip-side of the equation (German children in post-war Germany is handled so much better in Germany Year Zero). The film means well and is enjoyable but some of its fumbling I can’t chalk up to merely being dated, there’s a fine line between simplistic storytelling and spoonfeeding information, between being direct and bad dialogue and this film crosses it on a few too many occasions.

Oscar Nominations/Wins: 4/0 (1 Win in a special non-nominated category)
Score: 6/10

31 Days of Oscar: The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)

Posted on by bernardovillela

The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)

This is a film that suffers somewhat from its preachiness which can be overlooked for the most part when you consider its release date both in a historical context and a film history context. The start is also a little slow considering the fact that you know where the story is going in a lot of cases. One other quibble aside most of it works quite well and is entertaining. Irene Dunne does wonderfully as do Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor in fleeting parts. It’s lengthy but moving in spite of some of its faults.

Oscar Nominations/Wins: 1/0
Score: 8/10

31 Days of Oscar: Three Smart Girls (1936)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Three Smart Girls (1936)

In watching films grouped together by the sole fact that they were nominated for Oscars you will inevitably watch a little differently. In many viewings I would try to start guessing (if not already told) what a film was nominated in. I say this because on the rare occasion you don’t really get it. With this film I didn’t at all. Save for the sound recording nomination. I refuse to merely attribute it to the film not aging well, because the dated argument is a substitute for thought. I’d have to research and watch more, but in an age with myriad musical romantic comedies this one, that I didn’t even care for, was a Best Picture nominee baffles me.

Nominations/Wins: 0/3

31 Days of Oscar: Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Posted on by bernardovillela

 Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

It was bound to happen at some point: I saw this film but just didn’t vote for it at the IMDb and didn’t recall having done so. Part of the reason was because I viewed it in a social studies class in grade school (Junior High or High) I forget which. Regardless, I watched again it anyway because that is not way to have watched this film and it is great enough to revisit. In Night and Fog one of the narrator’s asides discusses responsibility and that’s the crux of this film how far up or down the line does responsibility for the holocaust lie and it’s examined brilliantly with superlative acting. Those interested in film or history should watch this film.

Oscar Nominations/Wins: 11/2
Score: 10/10

31 Days of Oscar: Gate of Hell (1953)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction

This is a post that is a repurposing of an old-school 31 Days of Oscar post. As stated here I am essentially done with running multi-film review posts. Each film deserves its own review. Therefore I will repost, and at times add to, old reviews periodically. Enjoy!

Gate of Hell (1953)

As seems to be the case with a lot films set in feudal Japan, it did take a few minutes to get my footing and keep names and clans orderly in my mind. When I had my bearings it did become a very touching and involving film that is fairly universal and requires minimal existing knowledge of Japanese custom and history. Most of what you need is found within the story. It’s worth noting this film won the color costuming award and won a special award for foreign films and was one of the titles that lead the way to a full category being added.

Wins/Nominations: 2/2