Best Picture nominees:
Blossoms in the Dust
Citizen Kane
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Hold Back the Dawn
How Green Was My Valley
The Little Foxes
The Maltese Falcon
One Foot in Heaven
Sergeant York
Suspicion
What won: How Green Was My Valley
The big winner of the night was John Ford's down-to-earth portrait of a working class coal mining family. Featuring an ensemble cast, two performances were nominated in the Supporting categories, with Donald Crisp winning his only Oscar. In addition to Best Picture and Best Director, it also won the Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography awards over Citizen Kane. Indeed, the Art Direction was well deserved as the entire late Victorian era coal mining village was constructed after deeming it dangerous to film on location in Wales during the War. This set makes for gorgeous black-and-white photography but winning over Gregg Toland just isn't right.
What should have won: Citizen Kane
You knew this was coming. In perhaps the most predictable decision I will have in the Project, Citizen Kane just has to win my Best Picture. Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre troupe took the cinema by storm with one of the most pivotal films in cinematic history. A fictional biopic that seems to reference William Randolph Hearst, only one Oscar was awarded to it - that of its original screenplay. There is some conflicting information on who is more responsible, Welles or Herman J. Mankiewicz but what impresses me the most about the screenplay is how it's constructed. The nonlinear nature allows the film to never grow stale. You can throw on the movie at any time and, unless you've seen it hundreds of times, it would be difficult to predict which scene comes next; the way the characters are blocked in the frame does make it easy to manage who's perspective we are watching though. The editing somehow manages to craft a highly entertaining narrative by piecing these moments in time together, but the most impressive editing comes during a couple of montage sequences, most notably the breakfast sequence. The picture is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to all these technical aspects but the deep focus cinematography is its most lasting achievement. Gregg Toland did so much of the heavy lifting and his loss in the Best Cinematography race has to be among the most egregious of the Academy's history. I didn't mention this in my review, but the story is also evergreen. There will always be ambitious people who let greed and money soil their character and end up on the wrong side of history after starting on the right side. Mr. Welles' performance on both sides of this line holds up and his picture is appropriately considered a masterpiece.
My Best Picture nominee rankings:
1. Citizen Kane (10/10)
2. The Maltese Falcon (9/10)
3. The Little Foxes (8/10)
4. How Green Was My Valley (7/10)
5. Sergeant York (7/10)
6. Suspicion (7/10)
7. Blossoms in the Dust (7/10)
8. Here Comes Mr. Jordan (7/10)
9. Hold Back the Dawn (7/10)
10. One Foot in Heaven (5/10)