Winners indicated (*). I still need to see films like The Band Wagon, The Desert Rats, The Moon is Blue, Miss Sadie Thompson, Lili, Hondo, Titanic, This is Cinerama, El, 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T., The Blue Gardenia, White Mane, Call Me Madam, I Vinti, The Sun Shines Bright, Houdini, It Came from Outer Space, The Hitch-Hiker, The Caddy, Inferno, The Lady Without Camelias, A Geisha, and Love in the City.
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| The Wages of Fear |
BEST PICTURE:
The Naked Spur
Pickup on South Street
Tokyo Story
Ugetsu
The Wages of Fear*
BEST DIRECTOR:
Henri-Georges Clouzot, The Wages of Fear
Samuel Fuller, Pickup on South Street
Anthony Mann, The Naked Spur
Kenji Mizoguchi, Ugetsu
Yasujirô Ozu, Tokyo Story*
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| From Here to Eternity |
BEST ACTOR:
Montgomery Clift, From Here to Eternity*
William Holden, Stalag 17
Yves Montand, The Wages of Fear
James Stewart, The Naked Spur
Richard Widmark, Pickup on South Street
BEST ACTRESS:
Harriet Andersson, Summer with Monika
Danielle Darrieux, The Earrings of Madame de…
Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday*
Jean Peters, Pickup on South Street
Jean Simmons, The Actress
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| Tokyo Story |
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Marlon Brando, Julius Caesar
Karl Malden, I Confess
Robert Ryan, The Naked Spur
Frank Sinatra, From Here to Eternity*
Charles Vanel, The Wages of Fear
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Gloria Grahame, The Big Heat*
Janet Leigh, The Naked Spur
Mitsuko Mito, Ugetsu
Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity
Thelma Ritter, Pickup on South Street
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| Pickup on South Street |
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
The Big Heat
From Here to Eternity
Stalag 17
Ugetsu
The Wages of Fear*
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Little Fugitive
The Naked Spur
Pickup on South Street*
Roman Holiday
Tokyo Story
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| Ugetsu |
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Little Fugitive
Niagara
Sawdust and Tinsel
Tokyo Story
Ugetsu*
BEST FILM EDITING:
The Naked Spur*
Pickup on South Street
Stalag 17
Ugetsu
The Wages of Fear
 |
| The Naked Spur |
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
House of Wax
Julius Caesar*
Pickup on South Street
Shane
Tokyo Story
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
"Ain't There Anyone Here for Love", Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
"Re-enlistment Blues", From Here to Eternity
"The Second Star to the Right", Peter Pan
"When Love Goes Wrong, Nothing Goes Right", Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
"You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!", Peter Pan*
Additional Categories
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| Stalag 17 |
BEST ART DIRECTION:
The Earrings of Madame de…
House of Wax
Julius Caesar
The Robe
Stalag 17*
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
The Earrings of Madame de…
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
How to Marry a Millionaire*
The Robe
Ugetsu
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| The War of the Worlds |
BEST MAKEUP:
House of Wax
The Robe
Sawdust and Tinsel*
BEST SOUND (MIXING AND EDITING):
House of Wax
Mogambo
Shane
The Wages of Fear
The War of the Worlds*
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Niagara
The Robe
The War of the Worlds*
Love Wages of Fear for best pic, and nominations for Naked Spur.
ReplyDeleteA pity the Anthony Mann/James Stewart westerns tend to get overlooked, because they really are classics of the genre, especially "The Naked Spur" "Winchester 73" and "The Man from Laramie ".
Glad you love those picks! The Naked Spur is the first Mann western I've seen, so I've got some catching up to do. :)
DeleteHeh, another year I missed out on as I haven't seen a single film here. I didn't even know Sinatra was in From Here to Eternity! That's one on my still-to-watch list :D
ReplyDeleteThat just means you have even MORE great films to watch! :D Sinatra won a deserved Oscar for that film. Hope you get to check it out.
DeleteWow really? Now I've got to see FHTE just for that! Thanks Josh.
DeleteYay! It was my pick for Best Picture until I saw more releases from '53, so I hope you enjoy it.
DeleteAs I've been working through these years it strikes me how much stronger one year can be versus the preceding or the following one as opposed to just looking at the decade as a whole as I usually do. Of course that's always been so and remains the case but going year by year it stands out. This is a good year especially compared to '52.
ReplyDeletePicture:
From Here to Eternity-Winner
The Hitch-Hiker
Kiss Me, Kate
Pick-up on South Street
Wages of Fear
Wages, Pick-up and Hitch-Hiker all tell their tense streamlined stories well and Kate is a peak in musical precision but Eternity runs many story threads simultaneously and keeps each compelling.
Director:
Henri-Georges Clouzet-Wages of Fear-Winner
Sam Fuller-Pick-up on South Street
Ida Lupino-The Hitch-Hiker
George Sidney-Kiss Me, Kate
Fred Zinneman-From Here to Eternity
Five great pieces of work. Zinneman juggles many stories expertly. Pick-up and Hitch-Hiker are Fuller and Lupino's most adroit directorial efforts while Sidney pulls together all the skills and resources at his disposal to make a near perfect version of the stage hit but Clouzet created a relentlessly nerve jangling pulse pounder that never lets up until it finale. That's nearly impossible to do so while I think the scope of Eternity is greater the direction of Wages is tighter.
Actor:
Montgomery Clift-From Here to Eternity-Winner
Alec Guinness-The Captain's Paradise
Edmond O'Brien-The Hitch-Hiker
Spencer Tracy-The Actress
Richard Widmark-Pick-up on South Street
In a film filled with assured performances Clift blows them all away and everyone else in his field. Only Widmark is close to his degree of skill.
Actress:
Gloria Grahame-The Big Heat-Winner
Susan Hayward-The President's Lady
Audrey Hepburn-Roman Holiday
Marilyn Monroe-Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Jean Simmons-The Actress
Hepburn is a gossamer pixie surely scoring points for being the new kid on the block but she was better elsewhere. MM is a comic genius in Blondes and Simmons a charmer in her gentle tale. The President's Lady is my favorite Hayward performance. Famed as the inheriter of the Davis/Crawford go big or go home style roles her subdued, tender work as Rachel Jackson shows that her talents were more varied than her reputation suggests, she's my runner up. I saw you had Grahame in supporting but to me that position is held by Jocelyn Brando & Jeannette Nolan in Big Heat and Grahame's work is the best by any actress this year.
Supporting Actor:
Brandon de Wilde-Shane
Frank Lovejoy-The Hitch-Hiker
Tommy Noonan-Gentleman Prefer Blondes
Robert Ryan-The Naked Spur-Winner
Frank Sinatra-From Here to Eternity
Sinatra is excellent in Eternity but I don't know if anybody can best Ryan at his most manipulative, it's a close call but I chose Ryan. The performance I find the most enjoyable and one that's usually ignored in favor of the dymanic duo in the leads is Noonan's clever reading of the snook in Blondes. Rather than playing him like an idiot but instead with a lovelorn naivete he seems more ardent suitor than foolish pigeon.
Supporting Actress:
Kay Kendall-Genevieve
Jeanette Nolan-The Big Heat
Donna Reed-From Here to Eternity-Winner
Thelma Ritter-Pick-up on South Street
Jane Russell-Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
If the lead in Blondes had been played by anyone but MM Jane Russell's Dorothy would have stolen the picture right from under her nose, she's a total delight. Equally splendid is the enchanting Kay Kendall in the part that brought her to prominence in her regrettably short career and Nolan's Lady MacBeth act is a viperish triumph. But it came down to Donna Reed's silk & sandpaper Alma and Thelma Ritter's played out Moe. Both were deserving but since I chose Thelma previously I'm going with Donna for Eternity.
Awesome picks! From Here to Eternity used to be my Best Picture winner too. In fact, all 5 of my nominees I watched only days before posting my ballot. This year did turn out to be very good, as films like Wages and Pickup are two of my all-time favorites now.
DeleteI love that you give Grahame the win in lead, but I've just never seen her character as the true lead/co-lead. To me, all of the ladies are supporting in The Big Heat. I was very close to giving Ryan the win as well, but I went with Sinatra, since I already gave Ryan a win for Crossfire. Ritter is my Supporting Actress runner-up, but Reed is right behind at #3.
Intriguing fact about the role of Debbie in Big Heat. Lang had initially requested Marilyn Monroe for it having worked with her in Clash by Night. She had moved quite a bit forward in the year between that and the pre-production of this and Cohn wouldn't pay what Zanuck wanted for her. Clash ended up being her last loan out.
DeleteHad she done this along with Niagara it makes you wonder what direction her career might have moved in. Niagara shows that she was suited to noir, perhaps she would have been happier in those roles since they required a different type of persona than she developed.
I can't imagine anyone being better in the part than Gloria Grahame but it's a fascinating could have been.
Oh, that would've been interesting. Monroe could've done very well in noir. Still, she did have some great roles after Niagara.
DeleteI agree on Grahame, who gives probably her best performance in The Big Heat.