Best Picture Winner

So Ends the second section of Best Pictures…

And...we're done. The first twenty-four films and twenty-three years have been covered, and things do seem to be improving from an artistic perspective. Do I always agree with the Academy's choices from an artistic point of view? Not really, but nothing is nearly as bad as Cimarron, and there does seem to be a consistent… Continue reading So Ends the second section of Best Pictures…

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1940s, 3/4, Best Picture Winner, Drama, Review, Robert Rossen

All the King’s Men

There's an interesting bit of behind the scenes information about Robert Rossen's All the King's Men, the adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Robert Penn Warren. After scripting, filming, and an initial cut, Rossen's movie was coming to 250 minutes in length. Harry Cohn, Columbia's studio head, was happy to release the film… Continue reading All the King’s Men

1.5/4, 1940s, Best Picture Winner, Drama, Elia Kazan, Review

Gentleman’s Agreement

This is not drama. It's really not. It's polemic with elements of drama inelegantly hanging over different parts here and there in an effort to make it look like drama, wearing a drama suit that doesn't fit. This is didacticism at its most forceful, obvious, one-sided, earnest, and well-meaning, taking a fight for a good… Continue reading Gentleman’s Agreement