Director: Leo McCarey
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh
Won 7 Oscars:
Best Motion Picture - Paramount
Best Director - Leo McCarey
Best Actor - Bing Crosby
Best Supporting Actor - Barry Fitzgerald
Best Screenplay - Frank Butler and Frank Cavett
Best Original Motion Picture Story - Leo McCarey
Best Song - James Van Heusen (music) and Johnny Burke (lyrics)
Nominated for 3 more:
Best Actor - Barry Fitzgerald
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Lionel Lindon
Best Film Editing - Leroy Stone
Plot: The ever-so-musical Father O'Malley (not the Alley Cat) is assigned to save a financially distressed parish which is led by an old man set in his ways.
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh
Won 7 Oscars:
Best Motion Picture - Paramount
Best Director - Leo McCarey
Best Actor - Bing Crosby
Best Supporting Actor - Barry Fitzgerald
Best Screenplay - Frank Butler and Frank Cavett
Best Original Motion Picture Story - Leo McCarey
Best Song - James Van Heusen (music) and Johnny Burke (lyrics)
Nominated for 3 more:
Best Actor - Barry Fitzgerald
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Lionel Lindon
Best Film Editing - Leroy Stone
Plot: The ever-so-musical Father O'Malley (not the Alley Cat) is assigned to save a financially distressed parish which is led by an old man set in his ways.
I begin my journey of the Academy Award years with only five Best Picture nominees with the first winner of the era, Going My Way (1944). This was the film of 1944 with it winning the most Oscars at the 17th Awards with seven in addition to the tie for most nomination with ten. It also fared well at the 2nd Golden Globes, becoming the first film to win the Best Picture accolades at both of these top awards shows. To go along with the gold, this film made the most green, not only attaining the highest box-office gross of 1944 but having multiple songs charting throughout the year. The top song is the one that won the Best Song Oscar ("Swinging on a Star"), a first for a Best Picture winner. The success of this film led exhibitors and the studios to come to the conclusion that Bing Crosby would be the top box-office draw of the year which led him to become the biggest draw of the 1940s. He won the Best Actor Oscar for his efforts beating out co-star Barry Fitzgerald in that category. But Fitzgerald would not go home empty handed as he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the same role. This led to the rules changing to avoid this happening in the future so Fitzgerald will be the only person to ever be nominated in the lead and supporting categories for the same role in the same film.
Out of all the Oscar wins by this film, Fitzgerald's is my favorite. I guess that might tip my hand when it comes to picking a different film to replace this for Best Picture in my culminating post but I just adore Fitzgerald as the elder priest who disagrees with the unconventional approach of Crosby's O'Malley, but is not so set in his way to where his methods are frustrating. His disposition is more or less jovial and genial; he's a harmless and cute old man who kindly objects to some modern perspectives. The scenes with Crosby and Fitzgerald together steal the show and the emotional conclusion to the story is a testament to his performance. The prowess of Crosby is also a welcome surprise. I recently watched Holiday Inn (1942) which stars Crosby and Fred Astaire and I came away from that very lukewarm with bass singer. But the Father O'Malley character is perfect for him as he can showcase his musical talents alongside a warm and comfy role. It's like a reverse James Cagney from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) in which an established actor incorporates music - here it's an established singer incorporating acting and he became a bigger star for its success.
Although I enjoy the story of a younger man coming in to show contrast in the approach to turn around a failing church, the overall structure of the film lacks cohesion. The story follows threads on supporting characters so much so that there are scenes with Crosby or Fitzgerald absent which feel like filler. I know Paramount was trying to make Jean Heather a star, but her part in this picture padded the runtime to an overlong extent. There's also a lot of scenes that feature entire songs with the segment from the opera 'Carmen' feeling like the most extraneous. A lot of the movie feels like disjointed episodes of how O'Malley would handle an issue compared to his senior priest. Again, I still enjoy these comparisons but from a 10,000 foot perspective, there isn't a clear trajectory in the plot like the other films of its day. I see some film noirs in the writing categories that this won so although it's early in my 17th Awards batch, I can't see how a retrospective look would award this for writing. I also don't care for the song that the title of the picture takes its name from. There is some foreshadowing within the story in that 'Going My Way' did not fare quite as well as 'Swinging on a Star,' which topped the charts for multiple weeks. 'Going My Way' is a bit too religious for my taste and I didn't take to the old-fashioned crooning of Crosby when he sings it. It's ironic that the most famous song to come out of this is not the title song but here we are.
Overall, a pair of lead (or is one supporting?) performances by Bing Crosby, who injects some Acting to his musical talents, and Barry Fitzgerald, who plays the most endearing and adorable of old men this side of You Can't Take It with You (1938) is the highlight of the first Best Picture winner in the five-nominee era. The music is hit-or-miss for me but the emotional conclusion put my face in a puddle. An uneven story creates a runtime that is bit too long but it's still rewarding to see Father O'Malley handle situations with the long game.
My Score: 7/10
Out of all the Oscar wins by this film, Fitzgerald's is my favorite. I guess that might tip my hand when it comes to picking a different film to replace this for Best Picture in my culminating post but I just adore Fitzgerald as the elder priest who disagrees with the unconventional approach of Crosby's O'Malley, but is not so set in his way to where his methods are frustrating. His disposition is more or less jovial and genial; he's a harmless and cute old man who kindly objects to some modern perspectives. The scenes with Crosby and Fitzgerald together steal the show and the emotional conclusion to the story is a testament to his performance. The prowess of Crosby is also a welcome surprise. I recently watched Holiday Inn (1942) which stars Crosby and Fred Astaire and I came away from that very lukewarm with bass singer. But the Father O'Malley character is perfect for him as he can showcase his musical talents alongside a warm and comfy role. It's like a reverse James Cagney from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) in which an established actor incorporates music - here it's an established singer incorporating acting and he became a bigger star for its success.
Although I enjoy the story of a younger man coming in to show contrast in the approach to turn around a failing church, the overall structure of the film lacks cohesion. The story follows threads on supporting characters so much so that there are scenes with Crosby or Fitzgerald absent which feel like filler. I know Paramount was trying to make Jean Heather a star, but her part in this picture padded the runtime to an overlong extent. There's also a lot of scenes that feature entire songs with the segment from the opera 'Carmen' feeling like the most extraneous. A lot of the movie feels like disjointed episodes of how O'Malley would handle an issue compared to his senior priest. Again, I still enjoy these comparisons but from a 10,000 foot perspective, there isn't a clear trajectory in the plot like the other films of its day. I see some film noirs in the writing categories that this won so although it's early in my 17th Awards batch, I can't see how a retrospective look would award this for writing. I also don't care for the song that the title of the picture takes its name from. There is some foreshadowing within the story in that 'Going My Way' did not fare quite as well as 'Swinging on a Star,' which topped the charts for multiple weeks. 'Going My Way' is a bit too religious for my taste and I didn't take to the old-fashioned crooning of Crosby when he sings it. It's ironic that the most famous song to come out of this is not the title song but here we are.
Overall, a pair of lead (or is one supporting?) performances by Bing Crosby, who injects some Acting to his musical talents, and Barry Fitzgerald, who plays the most endearing and adorable of old men this side of You Can't Take It with You (1938) is the highlight of the first Best Picture winner in the five-nominee era. The music is hit-or-miss for me but the emotional conclusion put my face in a puddle. An uneven story creates a runtime that is bit too long but it's still rewarding to see Father O'Malley handle situations with the long game.
My Score: 7/10