The Life Of Emile Zola - 10th Best Picture Winner

The Life Of Emile Zola - 10th Best Picture Winner
1937
#69

Starring:
Paul Muni
Gloria Holden
Gale Sondergaard
Joseph Schildkraut

Directed By:
William Dieterle

1937 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor
Best Adapted Screenplay

Other Nominated Films:
The Awful Truth
Captains Courageous
Dead End
The Good Earth
In Old Chicago
Lost Horizon
One Hundred Men And A Girl
Stage Door
A Star Is Born


So...this is another blog post I failed to publish back when I watched the film...ah the joys of being easily distracted. Guess that's why I write them on Evernote so I can then eventually post them here? LOL Anyways...

This is a rather political movie, with its rallies against social ills and antisemitism but that is the truth of what Zola was about.
Of course the establishment wants to stamp out any dissonance, to the point of destroying people's lives. 
How even indicative of today, people thinking someone who commits suicide is better off than someone poor and living.

Of course even scandal can sell, as the success of novel Nana can attest. People like scandal.

Aside from not finding a way to publish, the thought of censoring someone because they criticized you is ridiculous. 
However I will say the difference is that Zola's criticism is constructive, not meant to be destructive but critical to induce change.
Sad that only 23 min in and Cezanne is done...

But even more surprising is that this movie is from 1937, in the midst of WW2, with someone speaking against those with anti-Semitic leanings. This was obviously mean as a cry against what was happening in Europe but was it heeded?
And this was set in 1894! And it won Best Picture!
Even then, people are more than happy to turn a blind eye to social injustice. It doesn't affect me so it's not my problem. Never lifting a hand to help anyone in need, hiding in the bubble of a world they have. 
And to show a corrupt army and government! 
It's isn't until someone well known takes up and gives voice to the troubles does someone listen! It's a shame that at the making of this movie we were still oblivious to the horrors of Hitler's crimes.

And then railroad someone? This continues today, so the government can keep secrets. The same thing is currently playing out at the end of the 9th season of Bones - a cover up at the FBI, with someone in the Bureau is dirty, and Booth is trying to uncover it. When being questioned for a possible promotion, he is instead accused of killing an American, without order and a Delta Force team is sent to silence him. When survives, the claim they were simply coming to arrest him...in full tactical gear and blowing doors in...

What is it they say? Those that don't know their history are doomed to repeat it? Well those that ignore their history are doomed to repeat it too. 

Check out more about the 10th Academy Awards

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Shakespeare In Love - 71st Best Picture Winner

Shakespeare In Love - 71st Best Picture Winner
1998
#59

Starring:
Gwyneth Paltrow
Joseph Finnes

Directed By:
John Madden

1998 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actress
Best Art Direction
Best Costume Design
Best Original Musical or Comedy Score
Best Original Screenplay

Other Films Nominated:
Elizabeth
Life Is Beautiful
Saving Private Ryan
The Thin Red Line

This is one of the BP Winners that I'd seen before, more than a few times. So rare is it for a comedy to win Best Picture. To me, that is kind of strange, in a way, given the awards are a popularity contest after all. Comedies tend to reach wider audiences than drama so you'd think more would be nominated in general but they just aren't. And to that end, most of those nominated are more what currently people would call a dramedy - part drama, part comedy, and frankly, closer to what real life is like. Most people have times of drama and joy in their lives, the lucky ones having less drama and more joy. But when people think of rewarding something, proclaiming something has more merit than others, I guess things that seem bigger spectacles or that fall into a narrower genre are seen as more work and more deserving than something that reflects real life? Unless that real life was like 30+ years ago...

Films based in part or in whole on one of the works of Shakespeare (on in this case a work and his life) have a decent-ish track record for being nominated for Oscars, with at least 20 films in the history of the awards having been nominated, tho only a few have won their nominated titles, like West Side Story and Olivier's Hamlet (not to mention the number of Oscars Olivier himself was nominated for and won for various works of Shakespeare he was a part of).

This one isn't so much about a specific play, though Romeo and Juliet is the main feature, but about story of what went into writing such a play and performing it and the lives of those that create it. One reason why it was so notable is that through the comedy, it uses a very real point of historical issue - that of the rule that women were not to be seen on stage and therefore all the parts of every play, including the young Juliet Capulet, were played by men or boys. Such a prohibition still speaks to society today in the plight of those denied, well, anything because of their gender, race, age, sexual orientation, etc. Look into history - this was set in the late 1500s and yet today, more than some 400 years later, this is still an issue of today's society. you'd think we'd have all come a lot further in 400 years time...

Also interesting to note that this beat 2 highly acclaimed WWII movies, both of whom many people expected to win Best Picture. While SiL wasn't a total surprise, it's just one of the many times the Academy has given that top prize to something unexpected.

Check out more about the 71st Academy Awards
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Gladiator - 73rd Best Picture Winner

Gladiator - 73rd Best Picture Winner
2000
#52

Starring:
Russell Crowe
Joaquin Phoenix

Directed By:
Ridley Scott

2000 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Actor
Best Visual Effects
Best Costume
Best Sound Mixing

Other Films Nominated:
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Erin Brockovich
Traffic

This is one of the films in the list that I've seen before, in fact, I've seen it in part or whole a number of times. The story itself is not all that complex - the life of a man, one who did not seek power, who was conspired against by those threatened by what he could possibly do. He eventually becomes something they could not predict - in more modern terms, a star - and the people grow to love him, even more than their ruler.

Maximus is a the leader of Roman legions who gains immense favor with the elderly emperor of Rome, so much that the emperor says he will be the one to inherent the throne. When the emperor's son Commodus learns of this, he murders his father, takes the throne, and asks for Maximus' loyalty, which he refuses. The new emperor then sends word to have Maximus' family killed, and after burying them, Maximus is taken captive and forced to become a Gladiator. He has superior skill, and with it, beats every opponent. When they are given the chance to fight at the Colosseum, he shocks Commodus by still being alive. This infuriates Commodus, who, after a series of events in which Maximus tries to escape to lead an army against the emperor, faces him in the arena. Even after severely wounding him, Maximus is still able to kill Commodus before dying of his wounds.

While the movie is a good and engaging story with plenty of action, I think much of the reason it won it's Oscar is due to the new level of effects used in the production. The filmmakers used actual footage of the Colosseum as it now stands, in ruins, for their epic shots of the arena. They combined them with new technology allowing for seamless integration of computer generated graphics and real images to give the viewer an overwhelmingly immense and accurate look at what the arena once was. It's interesting to note that one of the other nominated films that year, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, also used some revolutionary technology to create it's high flying, acrobatic sword fights, but even though that film also has an epic scale, it still feels as so much fantasy while Gladiator felt visceral and real. More than 14 years later though, both still are excellent films and represent some of the better works ever to receive nominations.

The Great Ziegfeld - 9th Best Picture Winner

The Great Ziegfeld - 9th Best Picture Winner
1936
#56

Starring:
William Powell
Myrna Loy
Luise Rainer

Directed By:
Robert Z. Leonard

1936 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Actress
Best Dance Direction

Other Films Nominated:
Anthony Adverse
Dodsworth
Libeled Lady
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
Romeo And Juliet
San Francisco
The Story Of Luis Pasteur
A Tale Of Two Cities
Three Smart Girls


So...

I've had this DVD for sometime now. So long, I'm surprised Netflix hasn't charged me for it. Something like oh...seven months...

Why haven't I watched it?

Life, I guess.

And the fact that it's three hours and six minutes long.

Yikes.

Yeah...this one will probably take at least an intermission for me to be able to watch.

weeks later, I'm finally watching, mainly because I need to return this dvd already!

Ugh. Im already bored. Falling asleep.

Opening credits were nice touch though with the letters in lights. Very much like what they did back then for signs, very much like what is still used today, including at the Ziegfeld in NYC.

Oh, and the Wizard is his rival...

the next night

So this is a biopic, but focuses more on his rise to the man we know rather than his success that we are familiar with. And honestly, I'm kinda bored.

This will pick up though. I guess I'm just more interested in the classic recreations of his Follies shows than in the details of his life. As it is, from what I've read about the film, half of it isn't even true. But considering that his wife, Billie Burke, sold the rights to his life story to pay of his debts after he'd died, does it matter how much is true?

Interesting that we have appearances from both Frank Morgan and Ray Bolger, both of whom are most known for their later film, The Wizard Of Oz.

It also seems I'm not alone in thinking it rather dull for the most part and way too long. Was it necessary to be 3 hours and 6 minutes?

I think this one honestly won it's Best Picture because of it's extravagance. It's seriously over the top. Yet there are at least two other films in that list of nominees that I would count as way better films - Romeo And Juliet and A Tale Of Two Cities. Heck, we used a copy of the '36 Tale in my high school English class! (Thanks to my father for that, and for later lending the class a copy of the '68 R&J) At least that was a story with meaning, not just extravagant froth...

And of course it includes a black face number...

The "wedding cake" scene is still a classic. Just gorgeous.

Dancers should take a lesson from Ray Bolger. The split he does...just makes my legs hurt to watch!

I think that had the film not spent such time on performances, it would've cut the time in half. Each of the productions (no matter how classic) contribute to the time bloat of the film.

It should be noted, however, that Ziegfeld is and was such a tremendous influence in the history of theater and shows here in the US. He was one of the greats, always looking to make things bigger and better. While the other shows he had all in production at the same time - Whoopee, Rio Rita, The Three Musketeers - are not truly known today, Show Boat is and will always be a classic, one that is still produced all these years later. Without Ziegfeld, would it even have happened?

Mutiny On The Bounty - 8th Best Picture Winner

Mutiny On The Bounty - 8th Best Picture Winner
1935
#146 (2013)

Starring:
Clark Gable
Charles Laughton
Franchot Tone

Directed By:
Frank Lloyd

1935 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture

Other Films Nominated:
Alice Adams
Broadway Melody of 1936
Captain Blood
David Copperfield
The Informer
The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Les Miserables
Naughty Marietta
Ruggles Of Red Gap
Top Hat

So apparently I never posted this back last year when I originally watched the film. Sorry about that, dear readers. I suppose it goes to this not being one of my more favorite movies to have seen. It took me forever to watch it initially so its no surprise that its more than 7 months later that I'm posting about it!

This is the 2nd of 3 Clark Gable movies on the list. Truth is, I honestly really don't  like him much. The only 2 performances I've ever seen I like are It Happened On Night and GWTW and those have a good deal to do with the story, not just Gable. 

And then this story. Not high on the list of any movie I'd ever normally willingly go see or watch. It's the kind of thing Ive had to sit through with my father. 

And I think that's been the real reason I never got around to watching this. Hell, I'm typing this while just listening. Its already background noise. I've been stuck on this for the last 2 months. I've sent the disc back once and then put it back on my dvd list. But I've got to move on.

And God help me this thing is more than 2 hours long...

(Seriously WTF? Flogging a dead guy?)

Thankfully this was one story that I never had to read in high school or college, and it was never something we studied in Social Studies. And somehow I never had to sit through any other version of this that I can remember, not even the Errol Flynn. (And my father likes his movies, even better if they are silent)

Frankly, given how the men were treated, it's not any wonder why they revolted. The word asshole isn't even good enough to describe Bligh. Even sadder that he remained that way for the rest of his life, even court martialling those men he eventually brought back to England. Those that mutinied had a good time for a while, but nothing was ever peaceful for them, and most died in violence. 

One wonders if the lives they'd had aboard the ship were really worse than what they faced in the years after. 

On the good side, it was a well done film. I can see why it won Best Picture. 

So...Cavalcade...

Cavalcade - 6th Best Picture Winner
1933
#10

Starring:
Diana Wynyard
Clive Brook
Una O'Connor
Herbert Mundin

Directed By:
Frank Lloyd

1932 - 1933 Academy Awards
Winner:
Outstanding Production
Best Director
Best Art Direction

Other Films Nominated:
A Farewell To Arms
42nd Street
I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang
Lady For A Day
Little Women
The Private Life Of Henry VIII
She Done Him Wrong
Smilin' Through
State Fair

So...if you read this blog, you might be wondering why I'm mentioning this movie again. I originally posted about skipping this film because it isn't currently available on DVD, and to my knowledge, more than a year after my original post, it still isn't.

But then something interesting happened.

Back in February, TCM aired it's yearly tribute to all those films that have won the Best Picture Oscar. The event is part of a month long celebration of all things Oscar, and they try to air as many BP winners as the can. It was a random night, and there, on my television, was Cavalcade. So, I, being a movie geek, stayed up fairly late and watched.

What follows is my general impressions and thoughts of the movie as I watched it. I've decided to leave them in their disjointed fashion.

February...

Seems like an original Downton Abbey
Upstairs/Downstairs

Set at the turn of the century. NYE 1899/1900

All the levels of society in one house, the servants and the society, the women wording about this husbands going off to fight in the Boer Wars.

Mourning for Queen Victoria.

Servant husband comes back and buys pub.

The servants move up in class, with owning the pub, even after the husband dies.

Edward and Edith, kids in the beginning, their mothers friends, get together. A scene has them on a boat talking the future, boat revealed to be the Titanic.

Joey child of society family, Fanny child of servants, meet many years later when she's a dancer and he in WW1.

He has to leave for the War, wants to marry Fanny, she says his mother wouldn't approve. She gives him a locket to remember her.

Mother sees him off, decides to be a nurse.

Joey on a stop sees dad

Servant mother goes to society mom about them though she doesn't know. Says they aught get married. Mom says how do you know and why. Servant mom says oh guess you don't think she's good enough 
Mom says wait till he get a home, asks her to leave.
Gets telegram - Joey is dead. She faints
[Note Servant tried to not call the Society mother by formal title but when she faints, she does)

Fanny is a singer
Her 20th Century Blues song - still poignant today.

Society mothers on NYE 1933, mother father reflect on life

Let us drink to our sons 

Seemed a bit like a Downton Abbey, Upstairs/Downstairs type story. Or I should say they are much like Cavalcade. But that was truly how part of society lived in the times. And at the time this movie was made, it was how many people still lived. Just a slice of life. 

This is one film, though, that I'm not sure why it won. Beating A Farewell To Arms, 42nd Street, The Private Life Of Henry VIII? Those are some pretty well known and loved films, considered part of movie history if you're a real cinephile.  While I don't dislike this film as much as Cimarron, I highly doubt I will ever watch it again. One experience was enough. 

Crash - 78th Best Picture Winner

Crash - 78th Best Picture Winner

2004

#152

Starring:

Sandra Bullock

Don Cheadle
Matt Dillon
Jennifer Esposito
William Fichtner
Brendan Fraser
Terrence Howard
Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
Thandie Newton
Ryan Phillippe
Larenz Tate

Directed By:

Paul Haggis

2005 Academy Award Winner:

Best Picture

Best Original Screenplay

Best Film Editing

Other Films Nominated:

Brokeback Mountain

Capote

Good Night, And Good Luck

Munich

I find myself watching another Best Picture winner on our movie calendar. This one I don't know much about although I know that it in some way owes itself to another Best Picture Winner - Grand Hotel - as it is along the same lines of multiple characters' lives intersecting. 

The difference? 

This time it's about race. 

How we all treat each other 

How each race views what is happening.

This though, like Cloud Atlas, all wraps back on itself. 

An honest take on how we all see those that aren't like us. 

And how those in power abuse that power when they stop treating people as people and only see the color of their skin. 

Race is a topic that is a sensitive one. While most of us never admit it, we all have a skewed perspective on how our race is treated. We all, in some way, buy into the stereotypes. 

In some way we even live them - though we don't realize it. There are those that perpetuate the stereotype and don't know it - in what they say, what they do. They don't know they've bought into what the world says and thinks. 

Some live the stereotype almost on purpose. To the point where they seem to revel in it. They glorify and perpetuate it. Others see hate and injustice and persecution where there isn't any, out of a sense of what? Entitlement? So bent on expecting it to occur because of the color of their skin that they take any small thing as a sign of racial divide.

And when we are met with someone that doesn't fit into that stereotype, that goes against the perceived societal norm, we don't know what to do. We don't know how to act, to think. Worse yet when we are the one that doesn't fit into what others expect. We only see our life as it is, and don't understand why others have issue with us.

But we all have, at some point, used race as the excuse to hide the real issues. 

Hate. Intolerance. Anger. Fear. Powerlessness.

We deflect what is really happening, what we are really feeling, and instead use slight difference as the blame for our actions and our thoughts. 

But if we removed skin color from the equation? If we all looked the same? 

The film also speaks to the consequences of our actions. What we do to others, what we say, will have meaning. It is not pointless. Every action will cause something to happen to someone else. Every word will cause a feeling or another action which will in turn affect someone else. We joke about what would happen if someone went back 4 million years into Earth's past and killed a butterfly - maybe we'd all have two heads and purple skin. Some call it karma - what you give, what you put out into the world, you will get back. If you make the world a better place, it will be a better place for you. But if you choose to make negative choices, they will eventually come back to you. 

Its only when we do to make things right, to atone for what we did or should've done but did not, that life balances out. 

"Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." - Desmond Tutu