Director: Henry King
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Top Billed Actors: Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Won 5 Oscars:
Best Original Screenplay - Lamar Trotti
Best Sound Recording - Edmund H. Hansen
Best Art Direction, Color - Art Direction: Wiard Ihnen; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little
Best Cinematography, Color - Leon Shamroy
Best Film Editing - Barbara McLean
Nominated for 5 more:
Best Motion Picture - 20th Century-Fox
Best Director - Henry King
Best Actor - Alexander Knox
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Alfred Newman
Best Special Effects - Photographic Effects: Fred Sersen; Sound Effects: Roger Hemen Sr.
Plot: A university president becomes President and has to deal with a war in Europe and the ever-evil Republicans.
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Top Billed Actors: Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Won 5 Oscars:
Best Original Screenplay - Lamar Trotti
Best Sound Recording - Edmund H. Hansen
Best Art Direction, Color - Art Direction: Wiard Ihnen; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little
Best Cinematography, Color - Leon Shamroy
Best Film Editing - Barbara McLean
Nominated for 5 more:
Best Motion Picture - 20th Century-Fox
Best Director - Henry King
Best Actor - Alexander Knox
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Alfred Newman
Best Special Effects - Photographic Effects: Fred Sersen; Sound Effects: Roger Hemen Sr.
Plot: A university president becomes President and has to deal with a war in Europe and the ever-evil Republicans.
The final Best Picture nominee for 1944 is Wilson (1944), a film that is both the pride and shame of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial winning producer Darryl F. Zanuck. It was one of the biggest box office flops of the year due to its excessive budget, surpassing that of even Gone with the Wind (1939). Despite its abysmal showing at the box office, it still succeeded at the Academy Awards, winning five of its ten nominations (tying Going My Way (1944) with the most). However, Zanuck was so ashamed with its financial performance that he ordered people to never mention the film in his presence, despite the fact he mentioned it himself as he was claiming the Best Picture Oscar a few years later when he said "I should have won this for Wilson (1944)." The accolades didn't stop with the Oscars. It was named the Best Film of 1945 by Film Daily, an industry publication that aggregated critics' claims of their best films. It was among the ten best films according to the National Board of Review and Alexander Knox in a rare leading role earned the Golden Globe. A political film tends to get watched by political figures; then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt screened the picture at the Second Quebec Conference in 1944 much to the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's chagrin, who chose to go to bed halfway through.
I also chose to go to bed halfway through the film. I typically don't like to put a pin in movies and pick them up halfway, but I was extremely tired after a long weekend of a bachelor party get together. I'm not sure if it was my attitude from being tired or if it was the film, but I enjoyed the second half immensely more than the second. Granted, the crowd shots of the Democratic National Convention and Wilson's speeches still impresses me, but when he finally gets elected President of the United States and his specific accomplishments are touched upon. I haven't studied this part of American history since high school (a long time ago at this point) so learning about Wilson's presidency during World War I had me hooked. I forgot all about his League of Nations and his reluctance to enter the War at first. A few other situations, mainly with his domestic life, took me by surprise as well. See, it pays to be ignorant of history! (/s). Although I don't know much about President Wilson's mannerisms, Knox seems to have nailed it from the few pictures I've seen of the man. It was refreshing to see a relatively unknown actor carry this film from beginning to end. The biopic always puts Wilson in a positive light and Knox is a great conduit for this angle. He's stately, stoic, and carries himself with the academic weight that I'm sure Wilson did. In addition to capturing the extras in the crowd shots, the color cinematography and art direction is also wonderful. Geraldine Fitzgerald always matches the carefully re-constructed rooms of the White House such as the Blue Room or the red curtains in the Oval Office. The film editing must also be commended as real newsreel footage is expertly cut into the narrative. The music accompanying these newsreels makes these transition segments the highlight of the movie.
Although there are a lot of aspects that make this biopic work, there are that many more that are strikes against it. Like I already mentioned, the first half of the film contributed to my going to sleep like Mr. Churchill. It's always silly when suspense is attempted when knowledge as common as Woodrow Wilson becoming president is the result. Although I admire the way so many people are incorporated at those DNC meetings, complete with numerous marching bands, there is way too much devoted to the back and forth of Wilson securing the nomination. I would have much rather seen Wilson's roots in Georgia. Instead, we are started with his term as Princeton's president when he is already an older man. The presidential race could have done with more specifics on which platforms Wilson was running on in 1912. The early 20th century was an exciting time of a progressive shift but this movie drops the ball at highlighting that. In its place, we get a couple of montages that feature blink-or-you'll-miss-it newspaper headlines that show Wilson's accomplishments in his first term. Some of this is forgiven with the strong World War I portion of the screenplay, but the damage was done in the first act. I also didn't care for Charles Coburn's character. I typically adore this actor, who won his Oscar the year before and was also involved in another Best Picture nominee for 1944, but his involvement here is rather unnecessary as he just hangs around Wilson in nearly every scene.
Overall, the only color Best Picture nominee of the 17th Awards is a competent yet incomprehensive look at the 28th American President. Alexander Knox makes his mark in between excellent musical montages that fills in the historical backdrop of the 1910s and early 1920s. The length of the film doesn't justify the amount of the history left out and some stretches are simply dull.
My Score: 6/10
I also chose to go to bed halfway through the film. I typically don't like to put a pin in movies and pick them up halfway, but I was extremely tired after a long weekend of a bachelor party get together. I'm not sure if it was my attitude from being tired or if it was the film, but I enjoyed the second half immensely more than the second. Granted, the crowd shots of the Democratic National Convention and Wilson's speeches still impresses me, but when he finally gets elected President of the United States and his specific accomplishments are touched upon. I haven't studied this part of American history since high school (a long time ago at this point) so learning about Wilson's presidency during World War I had me hooked. I forgot all about his League of Nations and his reluctance to enter the War at first. A few other situations, mainly with his domestic life, took me by surprise as well. See, it pays to be ignorant of history! (/s). Although I don't know much about President Wilson's mannerisms, Knox seems to have nailed it from the few pictures I've seen of the man. It was refreshing to see a relatively unknown actor carry this film from beginning to end. The biopic always puts Wilson in a positive light and Knox is a great conduit for this angle. He's stately, stoic, and carries himself with the academic weight that I'm sure Wilson did. In addition to capturing the extras in the crowd shots, the color cinematography and art direction is also wonderful. Geraldine Fitzgerald always matches the carefully re-constructed rooms of the White House such as the Blue Room or the red curtains in the Oval Office. The film editing must also be commended as real newsreel footage is expertly cut into the narrative. The music accompanying these newsreels makes these transition segments the highlight of the movie.
Although there are a lot of aspects that make this biopic work, there are that many more that are strikes against it. Like I already mentioned, the first half of the film contributed to my going to sleep like Mr. Churchill. It's always silly when suspense is attempted when knowledge as common as Woodrow Wilson becoming president is the result. Although I admire the way so many people are incorporated at those DNC meetings, complete with numerous marching bands, there is way too much devoted to the back and forth of Wilson securing the nomination. I would have much rather seen Wilson's roots in Georgia. Instead, we are started with his term as Princeton's president when he is already an older man. The presidential race could have done with more specifics on which platforms Wilson was running on in 1912. The early 20th century was an exciting time of a progressive shift but this movie drops the ball at highlighting that. In its place, we get a couple of montages that feature blink-or-you'll-miss-it newspaper headlines that show Wilson's accomplishments in his first term. Some of this is forgiven with the strong World War I portion of the screenplay, but the damage was done in the first act. I also didn't care for Charles Coburn's character. I typically adore this actor, who won his Oscar the year before and was also involved in another Best Picture nominee for 1944, but his involvement here is rather unnecessary as he just hangs around Wilson in nearly every scene.
Overall, the only color Best Picture nominee of the 17th Awards is a competent yet incomprehensive look at the 28th American President. Alexander Knox makes his mark in between excellent musical montages that fills in the historical backdrop of the 1910s and early 1920s. The length of the film doesn't justify the amount of the history left out and some stretches are simply dull.
My Score: 6/10