Winners indicated (*). I still need to see films like Island of Lost Souls, Smilin' Through, Blonde Venus, The Mouthpiece, Horse Feathers, Night at the Crossroads, Back Street, American Madness, Tarzan the Ape Man, Me and My Gal, Number Seventeen, Emma, What Price Hollywood?, Lady and Gent, Movie Crazy, Red-Headed Woman, The Mask of Fu Manchu, White Zombie, The Animal Kingdom, and Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth.
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| Love Me Tonight |
BEST PICTURE:
Grand Hotel
Love Me Tonight*
One Hour with You
Trouble in Paradise
Wooden Crosses
BEST DIRECTOR:
Raymond Bernard, Wooden Crosses*
Tod Browning, Freaks
Carl Theodor Dreyer, Vampyr
Ernst Lubitsch, One Hour with You
Rouben Mamoulian, Love Me Tonight
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| I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang |
BEST ACTOR:
John Barrymore, Grand Hotel
Maurice Chevalier, Love Me Tonight
Herbert Marshall, Trouble in Paradise
Paul Muni, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang*
Michel Simon, Boudu Saved from Drowning
BEST ACTRESS:
Marlene Dietrich, Shanghai Express
Greta Garbo, Grand Hotel*
Jean Harlow, Red Dust
Miriam Hopkins, Trouble in Paradise
Jeanette MacDonald, Love Me Tonight
 |
| Grand Hotel |
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Lionel Barrymore, Grand Hotel
Humphrey Bogart, Three on a Match*
Harry Earles, Freaks
Charles Laughton, The Sign of the Cross
Frank McHugh, One Way Passage
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Mary Astor, Red Dust
Joan Crawford, Grand Hotel*
Daisy Earles, Freaks
Aline MacMahon, One Way Passage
Anna May Wong, Shanghai Express
 |
| Trouble in Paradise |
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Grand Hotel
Love Me Tonight*
One Hour with You
Trouble in Paradise
Wooden Crosses
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
I Was Born, But...
No Man of Her Own
One Way Passage*
Shanghai Express
Three on a Match
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| Wooden Crosses |
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
A Farewell to Arms
Shanghai Express
The Sign of the Cross
Vampyr
Wooden Crosses*
BEST FILM EDITING:
Freaks
Love Me Tonight*
One Hour with You
Scarface
Wooden Crosses
 |
| One Hour with You |
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Love Me Tonight
The Most Dangerous Game
The Mummy
One Hour with You
Vampyr*
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
"Isn't It Romantic?", Love Me Tonight*
"Mimi", Love Me Tonight
"Oh That Mitzi", One Hour with You
"One Hour with You", One Hour with You
"Trouble in Paradise", Trouble in Paradise
Additional Categories
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| Freaks |
BEST ART DIRECTION:
Freaks*
The Old Dark House
Shanghai Express
The Sign of the Cross
Vampyr
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Grand Hotel
Love Me Tonight
The Mummy
Shanghai Express
The Sign of the Cross*
 |
| Vampyr |
BEST MAKEUP:
The Mummy
The Old Dark House*
The Sign of the Cross
BEST SOUND (MIXING AND EDITING):
A Farewell to Arms
Love Me Tonight
The Old Dark House
Vampyr
Wooden Crosses*
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
A Farewell to Arms
Vampyr
Wooden Crosses*
Freaks is my favorite from that year so far. I read somewhere the freaks depicted would probably not have been born with today's improved technology, so that made the movie a unique film of its era.
ReplyDeleteFreaks is my #6 right now, so it just missed a Best Picture nod. Yeah, the film is very unique for its time period.
DeletePaul Muni!!!!! Such a marvelous performance!
ReplyDeleteHe was terrific! The movie just missed in several other categories too, like Adapted Screenplay, Sound, Editing and Cinematography.
DeleteInteresting to see the two Barrymores represented in the acting categories, Josh. Ok so is Grand Hotel about the hotel in Mackinack Island in Michigan? The same one in Somewhere in Time? Pardon my ignorance, ahah.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's the Grand Hotel in Berlin. ;)
DeleteAh ok, I didn't even know there's one in Berlin, too :)
DeleteHaha, beforehand I didn't either.
DeleteGreat picks here. I love that Browning and Earles got noms for Freaks! That's such a warped little movie.
ReplyDeleteThanks man. Browning did a wonderful job, and the Earles siblings just blew me away. They were perfect for those roles.
DeletePicture:
ReplyDeleteFreaks
Grand Hotel
I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang-Winner
One Way Passage
Trouble in Paradise
A great year for cinema and all the films are worth a statue but Fugitive remains a powerful social indictment.
Director:
Tod Browning-Freaks-Winner
Tay Garnett-One Way Passage
Edmund Goulding-Grand Hotel
Mervyn LeRoy-I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang
Ernst Lubitsch-Trouble in Paradise
Freaks can be an unsettling experience but Browning's clear vision of the story makes it a gripping, totally original one.
Actor:
John Barrymore-Grand Hotel
Herbert Marshall-Trouble in Paradise
Paul Muni-I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang-Winner
William Powell-One Way Passage
Lowell Sherman-What Price Hollywood?
In sixth place: Clark Gable-Red Dust
There's excellence in all this work but it was a choice between Barrymore and Muni. I've rarely seen Barrymore be better, though I've seen little of his silent work. I've always preferred Muni in his plain clothes roles even if Hollywood seemed to favor him in heavy makeup, Louis Pasteur, Emile Zola etc. where I find him too studied and mannered. He's at his best as the wronged James Allen and my easy winner.
Actress:
Constance Bennett-What Price Hollywood?
Clara Bow-Call Her Savage
Marlene Dietrich-Blonde Venus
Kay Francis-One Way Passage
Jean Harlow-Red Dust-Winner
Francis is full of swoony, doomed romanticism in Passage, Bennett sets the Star is Born prototype in Hollywood and Dietrich adds to her image in Venus but again it came down to two performers in this category. I would have loved to hand this to Bow's fully engaged work in the crazy patchwork that is Call Her Savage but Harlow, having found her forte in comedy, is at the very peak of her powers in Red Dust. Snappy, sad, bold as brass and funny as hell she drives that film handily aided by Gable.
Supporting Actor:
Leslie Banks-The Most Dangerous Game
Lionel Barrymore-Grand Hotel
Charles Laughton-The Sign of the Cross
Frank McHugh-One Way Passage-Winner
Adolphe Menjou-A Farewell to Arms
Barrymore makes you ache for Kringelein's predicament but the under appreciated McHugh gently tweaks his patented buffonish persona in Passage showing great depth in his boozy conman.
Supporting Actress:
Joan Crawford-Grand Hotel-Winner
Ann Dvorak-Scarface
Aline MacMahon-One Way Passage
Mayo Methot-Virtue
Mae West-Night After Night
It wasn't hard to decide on Crawford as the winner, this might be the best performance of her career, but the other women in the category are so awesome it could be a five way tie.
Love these. Thrilled to see Grand Hotel and One Way Passage, which just missed my top 5, get so many nominations. Both feel so underrated, even if they each won an Oscar.
Delete