Winners indicated (*). I still need to see films like The Star, Mother, Bend of the River, Othello, Le Plaisir, The Narrow Margin, O. Henry's Full House, My Cousin Rachel, Clash by Night, With a Song in My Heart, Carrie, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, On Dangerous Ground, Hunted, The White Sheik, The Member of the Wedding, The Big Sky, The Life of Oharu, The Thief, The Sniper, Hans Christian Anderson, My Son John, and Because You're Mine.
 |
| Singin' in the Rain |
BEST PICTURE:
High Noon
Ikiru
The Quiet Man
Singin' in the Rain*
Umberto D.
BEST DIRECTOR:
Vittorio De Sica, Umberto D.
John Ford, The Quiet Man
Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen, Singin' in the Rain*
Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru
Fred Zinnemann, High Noon
 |
| Ikiru |
BEST ACTOR:
Carlo Battisti, Umberto D.
Charles Chaplin, Limelight
Kirk Douglas, The Bad and the Beautiful
James Mason, Five Fingers
Takashi Shimura, Ikiru*
BEST ACTRESS:
Shirley Booth, Come Back, Little Sheba
Joan Crawford, Sudden Fear
Maureen O'Hara, The Quiet Man*
Debbie Reynolds, Singin' in the Rain
Simone Signoret, Casque d'Or
 |
| The Quiet Man |
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Barry Fitzgerald, The Quiet Man
Victor McLaglen, The Quiet Man*
Donald O'Connor, Singin' in the Rain
Anthony Quinn, Viva Zapata!
James Stewart, The Greatest Show on Earth
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Maria Pia Casilio, Umberto D.
Gloria Grahame, Sudden Fear
Jean Hagen, Singin' in the Rain*
Katy Jurado, High Noon
Miki Odagiri, Ikiru
 |
| Umberto D. |
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
The Bad and the Beautiful
Forbidden Games
High Noon*
The Man in the White Suit
The Quiet Man
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Casque d'Or
Ikiru
The Lavender Hill Mob
Singin' in the Rain
Umberto D.*
 |
| Casque d'Or |
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
High Noon
Ikiru
The Quiet Man*
Singin' in the Rain
Sudden Fear
BEST FILM EDITING:
The Bad and the Beautiful
Casque d'Or
High Noon
The Quiet Man
Singin' in the Rain*
 |
| High Noon |
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
The Bad and the Beautiful
High Noon
Limelight
The Quiet Man
Sudden Fear*
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
"High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')", High Noon*
"Make 'Em Laugh", Singin' in the Rain
"Moses Supposes", Singin' in the Rain
"Riddle De Diddle De Day", The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men
"Spring is Here", Limelight
Additional Categories
 |
| The Bad and the Beautiful |
BEST ART DIRECTION:
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Importance of Being Earnest
Moulin Rouge
The Quiet Man
Singin' in the Rain*
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
The Greatest Show on Earth*
The Importance of Being Earnest
Ivanhoe
Moulin Rouge
Singin' in the Rain
 |
| The Greatest Show on Earth |
BEST MAKEUP:
The Greatest Show on Earth*
Limelight
Singin' in the Rain
BEST SOUND (MIXING AND EDITING):
The Greatest Show on Earth
High Noon
The Quiet Man
Singin' in the Rain*
Viva Zapata!
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
The Greatest Show on Earth*
Ivanhoe
The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men
Singing in the Rain is a good choice, though as I'm not really into musicals as much as you, my best picture win would probably go to Ikiru.
ReplyDeleteAlso, great that you nominated the score for Limelight.
Haha, it's my favorite musical, but The Quiet Man is a close second for me. I usually don't give musicals Best Picture - only 3 (Singin' in the Rain, Love Me Tonight and 42nd Street) at the moment.
DeleteOh, Limelight has a wonderful score. Chaplin was the ultimate multi-hyphenate.
Eww...I hated High Noon!
ReplyDeleteLOL, and I have Umberto D. in 1956 because it was nominated for the screenplay Oscar that year, and as a rule I try and place foreign films in the year that they received Oscar recognition (that, and I needed some more Original Screenplay options, because it looks like EVERYTHING was adapted in 1956).
I need to see so much more from this year.
Ha, knew you wouldn't like that, but at least I didn't nominate Gary Cooper. :P
DeleteI started doing that too, though I decided a gap of a few years is a bit much for films released that long ago. Still, I can always break that rule if necessary. ;)
I'm still behind on this year as well, but my ballot looks much better than it did a week ago.
I saw Singin' in the Rain as part of the TCM re-release and I loved it! I haven't seen a lot from this year but I could see why you picked that one for Best Picture, Josh.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great movie to see on the big screen! Glad you got to see it that way, Ruth. :)
DeleteI struggled with this year, having trouble in a few categories finding five worthy candidates. While there are many films I enjoyed enjoy and award worthy are not the same thing. A few are universally loved, The Quiet Man is one, to which I'm indifferent. I'm missing some key films, Limelight, Casque d'Or, Five Fingers and Umberto D. so maybe after seeing them the choices wouldn't be so tough.
ReplyDeletePicture
The Bad and the Beautiful
Clash by Night
High Noon
The Lusty Men-Winner
Singin' in the Rain
I recognize Singin' in the Rain as an achievement but harbor no great affection for it as a whole. Bad & Beautiful is a terrific character study but has one vignette too many and Clash by Night is a bit too hysterical for its own good. That left a decision between High Noon and The Lusty Men. Noon is a tightly wound allegory but a trifle preachy whereas the spare Lusty Men tells a very human story with an economy of focus.
Director
Cecil B. De Mille-The Greatest Show on Earth
Fritz Lang-Clash by Night
Vincente Minnelli-The Bad and the Beautiful
Nicolas Ray-The Lusty Men
Fred Zinneman-High Noon-Winner
Greatest Show was a ridiculous winner as Best Picture but a fun film, its huge spectacle took a firm hand to make work-a De Mille's strength. Lang and Minnelli guided potentially soapy stories with a firm hand veering them away from the more overheated aspects and Ray kept his story lean never losing focus on his main tale. Zinneman however, aided by Cooper's understated grace, takes his western set McCarthy allegory and keeps the tension tight throughout.
Actor
Gary Cooper-High Noon
Kirk Douglas-The Bad and the Beautiful
Cary Grant-Monkey Business
Robert Mitchum-The Lusty Men-Winner
Aldo Ray-The Marrying Kind
Monkey Business is Grant's best latter day comedy performance. Aldo Ray finds many layers in the seeming lug of The Marrying Kind and Douglas is a magnificent heel in B&B but this came down to Cooper and Mitchum for me. Cooper's world weary Will Kane is a wonderful creation but I prefer Mitchum's questioning rambler nearing the end of the line.
Actress
Shirley Booth-Come Back, Little Sheba
Susan Hayward-The Lusty Men
Judy Holliday-The Marrying Kind-Winner
Jean Simmons-Angel Face
Barbara Stanwyck-Clash by Night
Shirley Booth is touching in Sheba but I prefer her work in '54's About Mrs. Leslie. You can feel Stanwyck's fatigue in the worn out and bitter Mae. Jean Simmons's glacial stillness masking her character's psychosis is chilling in Angel Face. Susan Hayward a nominee for Song in My Heart is better as the no nonsense farm wife fighting fast money and Mitchum for her husband in Lusty Men. All those fine performances though aren't the equal to Judy Holliday's fully lived-in interpretation in The Marrying Kind from happy-go-lucky young girl to careworn and exhausted wife, she felt it was her best work and I agree.
Supporting Actor
Paul Douglas-Clash by Night
Arthur Kennedy-The Lusty Men
Donald O'Connor-Singin' in the Rain-Winner
Jack Palance-Sudden Fear
Gregory Ratoff-O. Henry's Full House
This was the toughest category for me to come up with five nominees. I settled for Palance, he's fine but didn't knock me out. I have a special affinity for Ratoff's showy but gentle work in The Last Leaf segment of O. Henry's Full House but O'Connor's massive vaudeville turn can't be denied.
Supporting Actress
Edith Evans-The Importance of Being Earnest
Jean Hagen-Singin' in the Rain-Winner
Glynis Johns-The Card
Katy Jurado-High Noon
Ethel Waters-The Member of the Wedding
I really admired Katy Jurado's work in High Noon and any other year she'd be my winner but there was no one else better than Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain. I'll never understand how Gloria Grahame won for a nothing part in Bad and Beautiful. That's not a swing against Grahame who I love and gave many award worthy performances but B&B did not contain one of them.
This year does feel a little thin, but I expect there are plenty of good films to discover. I'd be interested to see your ballot after you see those other films.
DeleteI completely overlooked The Lusty Men (and I'm a fan of the few Ray films I've seen). I'll have to give it a look, as well as Clash by Night and The Marrying Kind. Yeah, Grahame shouldn't have won for B&B, but I loved her work in Sudden Fear that year.
Randomly decided to check this after watching 'The Quiet Man' again. Great picks! I love James Stewart, Barry Fitzgerald, Takashi (I weep just thinking about him), Ikiru, The Quiet Man's cinematography and of course, everything about Singin in the Rain.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize this was such a great film year!
Thanks! I love The Quiet Man so much, and you can't go wrong with Singin' in the Rain and Ikiru. Glad you love Stewart, too. He's so good in that role.
DeleteYeah, this year was surprisingly great.