1963--The Year in Review

An abysmal year for American film, with only one Best Picture nominee (Elia Kazan's beautiful memory piece America, America) worthy of the honor. The slate was rounded out with two bloated epics--the now-dull Cinerama showcase How The West Was Won and the intermittently entertaining Cleopatra (the year's most controversial work, for all the wrong reasons)--and one good-hearted drama, Lilies of the Field, starring Sidney Poitier, who probably won the '63 Best Actor award because he wasn't even nominated for his supreme screen performance the year before (for A Raisin in the Sun). The winner, ultimately, was Tony Richardson's bawdy farce Tom Jones, a handsome and totally inconsequential choice (though one that harkens to the looming sexual revolution and British Invasion). It's holds, then, that Fellini takes the prize (here, at least) for his impressively thoughtful, visually striking personal epic about a filmmaker's bout with creative ennui; it kinda goes without saying that it's a dazzling work, deserving of the award even if American movies had been ten times their power. Spearheaded by Marcello Mastroianni's complex, charismatic lead performance, Fellini's soul-baring movie would be much imitated by only the bravest directors in later years, but never with quite as much verve (though Bob Fosse would come dangerously close in 1979). Still, the great Italian auteur spars mightily with Jean-Luc Godard, another master filmmaker critically examining his chosen craft with the brightly-colored and beautifully scored Contempt. The closest the US could come to this remarkable level of filmmaking aptitude was Martin Ritt's Hud, a sourly dour look at the death of the American West, led by nasty Paul Newman as an odious drunkard causing trouble for his aging cowpoke father (a stern, lovely Melvin Douglas) and straight-talking housemaid (Patricia Neal, whose wonderfully naturalistic, Best Actress-winning role really belonged in the supporting category). Instead, for Best Actress, I initially leaned towards competing performances delivered by Ingrid Thulin in service of Ingmar Bergman (agilely directing two intensely challenging movies about religious faith), but in the end had to give the award to Julie Harris. whose manic heroine finds solace with a haunted house (for me, it's her second Best Actress award, after 1952's The Member of the Wedding). In the newly lively Documentary Feature category, it was impossible to ignore Robert Drew's Crisis, an intimate examination of President John F. Kennedy's trying battle with Alabama's governor George Wallace over allowing black students into the state university. As for the short films, none surpass The House is Black, the shockingly frank look at a leper colony from Iran's Forugh Farrokhzad--a masterpiece if there ever was one. The same goes for Stan Brakhage's silent "animated" short film Mothlight, consisting of pieces of moth wings embedded withing long strips of 16mm editing tape (both films are like nothing you've ever seen--and you can watch them here!). And, finally, in the special effects category, Ray Harryhausen finally wins, this time for his most deeply loved work. Unbelievably, it wasn't even nominated for the Special Effects award. What the hell were the voters THINKING? NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold. 

PICTURE: 8½ (Italy, Federico Fellini)
(2nd: Contempt (France, Jean-Luc Godard), followed by:
Hud (US, Martin Ritt)
High and Low (Japan, Akira Kurosawa)
The Leopard (Italy/US, Luchino Visconti)
America, America (US, Elia Kazan)
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (US, Robert Drew)
Winter Light (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
The Birds (US, Alfred Hitchcock)
Shock Corridor (US, Samuel Fuller)
The Haunting (US, Robert Wise)
Billy Liar (UK, John Schlesinger)
Lord of the Flies (UK, Peter Brook)
An Actor’s Revenge (Japan, Kon Ichikawa)
The Servant (UK, Joseph Losey)
Ladybug Ladybug (US, Frank Perry)
This Sporting Life (UK, Lindsay Anderson)
The Silence (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
The Big City (India, Satyajit Ray)
Charade (US, Stanley Donen)
From Russia With Love (UK, Terence Young)
The Great Escape (US/UK, John Sturges)
Cleopatra (US, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Bye Bye Birdie (US, George Sidney)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (US, Stanley Kramer)
Jason and the Argonauts (UK, Don Chaffey)
The Nutty Professor (US, Jerry Lewis)
Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (Italy, Vittorio de Sica)
La Baie des Anges (France, Jacques Demy)
Tom Jones (UK, Tony Richardson)
X--The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (US, Roger Corman)
The Cool World (US, Shirley Clarke)
Flaming Creatures (US, Jack Smith)
These are the Damned (UK, Joseph Losey)
Love with the Proper Stranger (US, Robert Mulligan)
Lilies of the Field (US, Ralph Nelson)
The Pink Panther (US, Blake Edwards)
The List of Adrian Messenger (US, John Huston)
The Cardinal (US, Otto Preminger)
Irma La Douce (US, Billy Wilder)
The Day of the Triffids (US, Steve Sekely)
Johnny Cool (US, William Asher)
Black Sabbath (Italy, Mario Bava)
Dementia 13 (US, Francis Coppola)
Blood Feast (US, Hershel Gordon Lewis))

ACTOR: Marcello Mastroianni, 8½ (2nd: Paul Newman, Hud, followed by: Toshiro Mifune, High and Low; Richard Harris, This Sporting Life; Jerry Lewis, The Nutty Professor; Dirk Bogarde, The Servant; Kazuo Hasegawa, An Actor’s Revenge; Ray Milland, X--The Man with the X-Ray Eyes; Gunnar Bjornstrand, Winter Light)



ACTRESS: Julie Harris, THE HAUNTING (2nd: Ingrid Thulin, Winter Light, followed by: Ingrid Thulin, The Silence; Tippi Hedren, The Birds; Sophia Loren, Yesterday Today and Tomorrow; Rachel Roberts, This Sporting Life; Audrey Hepburn, Charade; Madhabi Mukherjee, The Big City; Natalie Wood, Love With the Proper Stranger)



SUPPORTING ACTOR: Melvyn Douglas, HUD (2nd: Rex Harrison, Cleopatra, followed by: Walter Matthau, Charade; Larry Tucker, Shock Corridor; Robert Shaw, From Russia With Love; James Best, Shock Corridor; Roddy McDowall, Cleopatra; John Huston, The Cardinal; Paul Lynde, Bye Bye Birdie)



SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Neal, HUD (won as Best Actress) (2nd: Ethel Merman, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, followed by: Julie Christie, Billy Liar; Ann-Margret, Bye Bye Birdie; Lilia Skala, Lilies of the Field; Joyce Redman, Tom Jones; Diane Cilento, Tom Jones; Sandra Milo, 8½; Suzanne Pleshette, The Birds)



DIRECTOR: Federico Fellini, 8½ (2nd: Jean-Luc Godard, Contempt, followed by: Martin Ritt, Hud; Ingmar Bergman, Winter Light; Luchino Visconti, The Leopard; Elia Kazan, America America; Akira Kurosawa, High and Low; Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds; Samuel Fuller, Shock Corridor; Ingmar Bergman, The Silence)

NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: 8½ (Italy, Federico Fellini) (2nd: Contempt (France, Jean-Luc Godard); High and Low (Japan, Akira Kurosawa); The Leopard (Italy/US, Luchino Visconti); Winter Light (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman); An Actor’s Revenge (Japan, Kon Ichikawa); The Silence (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman); The Big City (India, Satyajit Ray); Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (Italy, Vittorio de Sica); La Baie des Anges (France, Jacques Demy))

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: CRISIS: BEHIND A PRESIDENTIAL COMMITMENT (US, Robert Drew) (2nd: The Cool World (US, Shirley Clarke))

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:  Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tulio Pinelli and Brunello Rondi, 8 ½ (2nd: Samuel Fuller, Shock Corridor, followed by: Ingmar Bergman, Winter Light; Eleanor Perry and Lois Dickert, Ladybug Ladybug; Elia Kazan, America, America)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Irving Ravetch and Harriett Frank Jr., HUD (2nd: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima and Eijiro Hisaita, High and Low, followed by: Harold Pinter, The Servant; David Storey, This Sporting Life; Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, Billy Liar)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: THE HOUSE IS BLACK (Iran, Forugh Farrokhzad) (2nd: Showman (US, Albert and David Maysles), followed by: Towers Open Fire (UK, Antony Balch); What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (US, Martin Scorsese); The Five Cities of June (US, Walter de Hoog and Bruce Herschensohn))


 
ANIMATED SHORT FILM: MOTHLIGHT (US, Stan Brakhage) (2nd: Labyrinth (Poland, Jan Lenica), followed by: The Critic (US, Ernest Pintoff); Automania 2000 (UK, John Halas); Le Nez (France, Alexander Alexeieff, Claire Parker))

BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gianni di Venanzo, 8½ (2nd: James Wong Howe, Hud, followed by: Sven Nykvist, Winter Light; Haskell Wexler, America America; David Boulton, The Haunting)
 

COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Raoul Coutard, CONTEMPT (2nd: Leon Shamroy, Cleopatra, followed by: Giuseppe Rotunno, The Leopard; Robert Burks, The Birds; Walter Lassally and Manny Wynn, Tom Jones)

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: THE HAUNTING, 8½, Hud, America America, Love with the Proper Stranger

COLOR ART DIRECTION: CLEOPATRA, The Leopard, Tom Jones, The Cardinal, Contempt 

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: 8½, The Stripper, Love with the Proper Stranger, America America, Toys in the Attic

 COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: CLEOPATRA, The Leopard, Tom Jones, The Cardinal, Irma La Douce 

FILM EDITING: 8 1/2, Hud, The Great Escape, The Birds, America America 



SOUND: THE BIRDS, The Haunting, Bye Bye Birdie, The Great Escape, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World



ORIGINAL SCORE: Georges Delerue, CONTEMPT (2nd: Nino Rota, 8½, followed by: Henry Mancini, The Pink Panther; John Barry, From Russia with Love; John Addison, Tom Jones; Elmer Bernstein, Hud)



ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: John Green, BYE BYE BIRDIE (2nd: Andre Previn, Irma La Douce)




ORIGINAL SONG: "More" from MONDO CANE (Music by Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliviero, lyrics by Norman Newell) (2nd: "Bye Bye Birdie" from Bye Bye Birdie (Music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Lee Adams), followed by: "A Gringo Like Me" from Gunfight at Red Sands (Music by Ennio Morricone, lyrics by Dicky Jones); "Call Me Irresponsible" from Papa's Delicate Condition (Music by James Van Heusen, lyrics by Sammy Cahn); "Charade" from Charade (Music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer))



SPECIAL EFFECTS: JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, The Birds, Cleopatra

  MAKEUP: CLEOPATRA, 8 1/2, The List of Adrian Messenger

The Encyclopedia of Cinematography: C-D

 The compendium continues...
 

Cabaret (Geoffrey Unsworth, 72)
The onslaught of Nazi think is personified on-stage, with Unsworth's unforgiving light and art director Tony Walton's bubbly, twisting mylar as backdrop.  The film's off-stage moments are shot in a fuzzy, nostalgic haze...until the inevitable becomes evitable.  
  

Carnal Knowledge (Giuseppe Rotunno, 71)
Rotunno's photography transmogrifies before our eyes, from classic 40s setups (in unusual widescreen) to slick 70s coldness.  

Casablanca (Arthur Edeson, 43)  
Romanticism in extrema.  

Champion (Frank Planer, 49) 
The hard-nosed early diagram for so many boxing movies. 
 

Children of Men (Emannuel Lubeski, 2006)
Utilizing the then-new possibilities of digital photography, Lubezki revolutionizes the unbroken shot, while still keeping it gorgeous to witness.  

Chinatown (John A. Alonzo [and Stanley Cortez], 74)
The noir film is given a jolt of color, always remaining true to its history.  

Citizen Kane (Gregg Toland, 41)
The movie that taught us all.  It taught us all. 

City of God (Cesar Charlone, 2002)
A battleground use of color and perfect framing.  

The City of Lost Children (Darius Khondji, 95)
Blues and yellows mix together, and end up in a greenish, fairy-taled, CGI-sickening hellhole. 

Claire's Knee (Nestor Alamendros, 70)  
As is the case with Eric Rohmer's works (for which Alamendros was a key player), the idyllic countryside becomes a metaphor for the female body.   

Cleopatra (Victor Milner, 34) 
A strikingly hued early De Mille spectacle, and an Oscar winner.  

Cleopatra (Leon Shamroy, 63) 
Dappled with light and hue, the long-masculine epic now becomes feminine.  

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Vilmos Zsigmond [with John Alonzo, William A. Fraker, Laszlo Kovacs, Steven Poster, and Douglas Slocombe], 77)
Special effects and lush photography--set against deserts, fields, mountains, houses, cities and space--unite for perhaps the first time.   
 

Coal Miner’s Daughter (Ralf D. Bode, 80) '
The capture of both the rural and the less rural, in striking blues and browns.  

The Color of Pomegranites (Suren Shakhbazyan, 68)
Shot after shot, you can hardly believe what you are seeing.  Utterly unique in every way.  

The Conformist (Vittorio Storaro, 70) 
Stark, sharp angles and bold coloring accompany one man's decent into fascism.  

Contempt (Raoul Coutard, 63)  
Gorgeous primary-colored widescreen interiors and sharp exteriors highlight another of Coutard's indispensable collaborations with Godard.  

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Sacha Vierny, 89) 
Decadence and disgust, filmed with glory.  
 

The Cranes are Flying (Sergei Urusevsky, 57)  
Every--and I mean every--shot is a stunner.  

Cries and Whispers (Sven Nykvist, 73)
Ardent, elegant blood reds highlight this Oscar-winning turn from Bergman and Nykvist.  
 

Crumb (Maryse Alberti, 94)
A prime example of expressive documentary cinematography.  
 

Dancer in the Dark (Robby Muller, 2001)
Muller's faux-documentary style takes a leap with this schizophrenic melodrama that, in its musical sequences, utilizes the gaze of a hundred cameras.  

Dark City (Dariusz Wolski, 98) 
A wild, threatening dream world is made alive through Wolski's stunning camerawork.  

Das Boot (Jost Vacano, 82)
Vacano's camera seeps in the harsh lighting and crushing claustrophobia of submarine life like no other movie has before or since.  
 

Days of Heaven (Nestor Alamendros and Haskell Wexler, 78) 
Arguably the most beautiful movie ever filmed; NOTE: my choice for the greatest cinematography of all time.

Dead Man (Robby Muller, 95)
The expressive influence of silent moviemakers in soaked up in Muller's work for this, one of the creepiest of westerns.  
 

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (Michael Chapman, 82)
Chapman perfectly matches the work of studio-era cameramen; his work can be seen side-by-side here with noir masters, without a hiccup. 

Dead Ringers (Peter Suschitzsky, 88)
Suschitzsky's first in a long series of collaborations with Cronenberg, and perhaps his best; the film is filled with gloriously rich primary colors hauntingly tinted with the blackness of the film's tale.  Plus, the film, pre-CGI, revolutionized the use of split screen photography in crafting the illusion of its twin leads.

Deep Red (Luigi Kuveiller, 75)
Kuveiller's camera jets from impossible close-ups to gorgeous long shots with a notable nimbleness.  
 

Delicatessen (Darius Khondji, 91) 
Stomach-churning yellows and greens vividly illustrate this cannibalistic, post-apocalypse landscape.
 

Deliverance (Vilmos Zsigmond, 72)
Zsigmond's camera sojourns so easily from idyllic weekend sightseeing to nightmarish frays. 
 

Die Hard (Jan De Bont, 88) 
Action photography at its most athletic and adept.   

Double Indemnity (John Seitz, 44) 
Through Billy Wilder's direction, Seitz's camera captures a man who;s already caught.  

Dracula (Karl Freund, 31) 
The undead, come to life, with creepy backgrounds and strong key lighting from German master Karl Freund.

Duel in the Sun (Lee Garmes, Ray Rennahan, and Hal Rosson, 46)
Bright yellows and reds memorably dapple this almost dreamlike tale of lust in the dust.  
 

The Duelists (Frank Tidy, 77) 
John Alcott's groundbreaking work with Barry Lyndon sees its closest compatriot in Tidy's expressive and absolutely transportative work.  

The Diary of Anne Frank (William C. Mellor, 59) 
The cinematographer had a bearish task here: how to deal with widescreen photography in a crushingly claustrophobic setting.  Mellor--who'd been used to filming in wide-open spaces with John Ford's westerns--really challenged himself here, to astonishing effect.

Dick Tracy (Vittorio Storaro, 90) 
The comic strip actually comes to vivid life under Storaro's tutelage.  

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (Janusz Kaminsky, 2007) 
The masterful Janusz Kaminsky outdoes himself, with impossible images concocted in collusion with director Julian Schnabel's inventive guidance, to tell a story that many thought could not be portrayed on film.  

Do The Right Thing (Ernest Dickerson, 89)
A red hot day in 80s Brooklyn is given a searing countenence.  One of the most vivacious examples of cinematography out there.   
 

Doctor Zhivago (Freddie Young, 65)
The freezing, oppressive climate of revolutionary Russia is lit with the warm romanticism of an affair gone awry in this, another of director David Lean's jaw-dropping collaborations with the singular Freddie Young.  

Down By Law (Robby Muller, 86)  
The bayous, cityscapes and prison cells of New Orleans, in articulate blacks, whites and greys.  

 Drums Along the Mohawk (Ray Rennahan and Burt Glennon, 39)  
A majestic early color cinematography Oscar winner, in service of director John Ford.