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What the Nominees Were: From Here to Eternity, Julius Caesar, The Robe, Roman Holiday, Shane
Other Movies That Should Have Been Considered: America was still producing great noirs like The Big Heat and Pick-Up on South Street, but the Academy wasn’t noticing. Overseas, Fredrico Fellini turned out his first masterpiece with I Vitteloni, but it’s not the sort of movie that would have caught Hollywood’s fancy.
What Did Win: From Here to Eternity
How It’s Aged: Montgomery Clift is good as always, and Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr making out in crashing waves is a lot of fun, but ultimately this is a little too soapy for my taste. I rewatched it just to be sure and wasn’t very impressed. The overwrought deaths just got an eye-roll from me.
How It’s Aged: Montgomery Clift is good as always, and Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr making out in crashing waves is a lot of fun, but ultimately this is a little too soapy for my taste. I rewatched it just to be sure and wasn’t very impressed. The overwrought deaths just got an eye-roll from me.
What Should’ve Won: Roman Holiday
How Hard Was the Decision: I’m always somewhat reluctant to take it away from a serious movie in favor of a more frivolous picture, but this is a shockingly good piece of fluff, so it wasn’t that hard.
How Hard Was the Decision: I’m always somewhat reluctant to take it away from a serious movie in favor of a more frivolous picture, but this is a shockingly good piece of fluff, so it wasn’t that hard.
Director: William Wyler
Writers: Dalton Trumbo and John Dighton. Story by Dalton Trumbo. Originally, credit onscreen was given to Ian McLellan Hunter who was acting as a “front” for the blacklisted Trumbo. McLellan’s Oscar was finally handed over to Trumbo’s widow in 1993.
Stars: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn and Eddie Albert
Writers: Dalton Trumbo and John Dighton. Story by Dalton Trumbo. Originally, credit onscreen was given to Ian McLellan Hunter who was acting as a “front” for the blacklisted Trumbo. McLellan’s Oscar was finally handed over to Trumbo’s widow in 1993.
Stars: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn and Eddie Albert
The Story: A princess visiting Rome decides to run away and explore the city, not realizing that she’s been given a sleeping draught by her doctor. Passing out, she is taken in by a reporter, who soon realizes who she is and takes her around the city for adventures with his photographer pal, planning to sell the story for a fortune. When she realizes she must return home, he decides to kill the story and return the photos.
Any Nominations or Wins: It lost Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography and Editing. It won Actress, Story, and Costume Design for Edith Head’s gorgeous gowns.
Why It Didn’t Win: This is my third pick in a row with a newly-blacklisted screenwriter! I guess I just like commies. Yet, again, that hurt this movie’s chances, but it was more likely that this was a light romance, which the academy has never approved of very much.
Why It Didn’t Win: This is my third pick in a row with a newly-blacklisted screenwriter! I guess I just like commies. Yet, again, that hurt this movie’s chances, but it was more likely that this was a light romance, which the academy has never approved of very much.
Why It Should Have Won:
- The studio, of course, wanted to shoot it all on the backlot (“What, that was good enough for Casablanca, so why is it not good enough for you??” they probably asked), but Wyler fought to shoot in Rome, which accounts for a huge amount of the movie’s appeal. It’s hard to tell what’s more charming, Hepburn or the city itself.
- Peck’s agent insisted on his client being the only one billed above the title, as you would expect any agent to do, but Peck told him to lay off. When asked why, Peck responded “Because she’s going to win Best Actress for her first movie.” He was right and it is to his enormous credit that he realized it ahead of time, and let Hepburn be the star she was destined to be. What makes her performance so great is her mixture of lovely vulnerability with just enough willpower to get herself into trouble (and out of it).
- The best scene in the movie is when Peck encourages Hepburn to stick her hand in the Mouth of Truth, and it’s all down to Hepburn’s performance. When you’re living a lie, you become irrational in fear of exposure, and Peck is having a fun time teasing her about that. When Peck reveals his hand hasn’t been bit off, Hepburn and the audience both explode with delight.
- Over the course of this project, I’ll be taking away all three of Wyler’s Best Picture wins (Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Ben-Hur), but I’m more than happy to give him this one to make up for it. This film is not as capital-I important as those three, but his famous perfectionism was just as valuable in service of this airier fare. He proves to be equally adept at a light touch as he was with a heavy hand.
- Every single book published in the “romance” genre ends with the couple happily united, but almost every movie we think of when we hear the word “romance movie” ends with the lovers separated, permanently or not (Casablanca, Love Story, Titanic). Why did the screen decide it was more romantic to separate lovers but the print genre exclusively decree that lovers must end up together? (The fact that the lovers do not end up together in this one, I would say, puts it more in the “romance” than “romantic comedy” genre, where the lovers do end up together.)
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