Director: Sam Wood
Distributor: United Artists
Top Billed Actors: William Holden, Martha Scott, Fay Bainter
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 6 more:
Outstanding Production - Sol Lesser
Best Actress - Martha Scott
Best Original Score - Aaron Copland
Best Scoring - Aaron Copland
Best Sound Recording - Thomas T. Moulton
Best Art Direction, Black-and-White - Lewis J. Rachmil
Plot: People live in a small town.
Distributor: United Artists
Top Billed Actors: William Holden, Martha Scott, Fay Bainter
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 6 more:
Outstanding Production - Sol Lesser
Best Actress - Martha Scott
Best Original Score - Aaron Copland
Best Scoring - Aaron Copland
Best Sound Recording - Thomas T. Moulton
Best Art Direction, Black-and-White - Lewis J. Rachmil
Plot: People live in a small town.
For me, the story of the 1940 crop of Best Picture nominees is that there are three directors that had two films each in the mix. Our Town (1940) concludes our look at the third director as we've already seen John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock enter the fray. Like those two directors, Sam Wood would also be nominated for Best Director but not for this film. Here, he is adapting a minimalist stage drama into a feature film. The author of the the Pulitzer Prize winning play and the original lead actress join Wood on this endeavor. That lead actress, Martha Scott, earned her one and only Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Emily Webb. Also returning to the silver screen is heralded music composer Aaron Copland, who we last saw score Of Mice and Men (1939). Also, the copyright for this film lapsed in 1968, which means the movie has existed in many iterations over the years throughout the public domain. If you can find a high quality print of this, more power to you but most versions of Our Town is of a degraded quality.
When comparing the stage play to the film, the biggest change you'll notice is the mise en scène, mainly that there actually is scenery. The play is completely bare bones but the film creates a town complete with a main street, two main houses, and a church. It did enough to garner an Art Direction nod, which I think the cemetery scene alone could have achieved. The score is also a noticeable upgrade to the play. Copland's score is so good, it received two nominations! I'm still not so sure what the difference between Original Score and Scoring is (Original Score has to mean he actual compositions and perhaps Scoring means the arrangements and instrumentation), but this is the final year for that distinction anyway. Copland adds an atmosphere of pleasantness to this small town. Not a lot happens in the story but it just feels and sounds homely.
Ultimately, the lack of drama lost me during this. I like the structure of the host setting up the story and explaining what year we were about to witness, but until the final fifteen minutes, this is a total snoozefest. I hardly ever use the b-word, but man is this boring. The performances are alright but I don't think Scott necessarily deserved an Oscar nomination. If you see my snarky-short plot description, that pretty much sums up the narrative - people simply grow up in a town, get married, have kids, and maybe gossip about the one drunk guy. It's a neat snapshot of what life might have been like in the early 20th century of a rural town in New Hampshire, but I just wish something happened for me to grasp onto. Thankfully, the Copland score was able to keep me awake.
Overall, this is an odd film to be nominated for Best Picture. I can't think of a single aspect that could be considered great other than perhaps the Aaron Copland score and the creatively shot cemetery scene near the end of the film.
My Score: 6/10
When comparing the stage play to the film, the biggest change you'll notice is the mise en scène, mainly that there actually is scenery. The play is completely bare bones but the film creates a town complete with a main street, two main houses, and a church. It did enough to garner an Art Direction nod, which I think the cemetery scene alone could have achieved. The score is also a noticeable upgrade to the play. Copland's score is so good, it received two nominations! I'm still not so sure what the difference between Original Score and Scoring is (Original Score has to mean he actual compositions and perhaps Scoring means the arrangements and instrumentation), but this is the final year for that distinction anyway. Copland adds an atmosphere of pleasantness to this small town. Not a lot happens in the story but it just feels and sounds homely.
Ultimately, the lack of drama lost me during this. I like the structure of the host setting up the story and explaining what year we were about to witness, but until the final fifteen minutes, this is a total snoozefest. I hardly ever use the b-word, but man is this boring. The performances are alright but I don't think Scott necessarily deserved an Oscar nomination. If you see my snarky-short plot description, that pretty much sums up the narrative - people simply grow up in a town, get married, have kids, and maybe gossip about the one drunk guy. It's a neat snapshot of what life might have been like in the early 20th century of a rural town in New Hampshire, but I just wish something happened for me to grasp onto. Thankfully, the Copland score was able to keep me awake.
Overall, this is an odd film to be nominated for Best Picture. I can't think of a single aspect that could be considered great other than perhaps the Aaron Copland score and the creatively shot cemetery scene near the end of the film.
My Score: 6/10