1953--The Year in Review

1953 marked an extraordinary explosion of filmic activity around the world, most notably in Japan, France, Sweden and Italy. Ozu, Fellini, Bergman, Tati, Kinugasa, Mizoguchi, and Clouzot all dwarfed the American output, and the cinematic world was never the same. Ozu's elegant look at family dynamics would rival none in its wake. Fellini's examination of youth would ripple in effect for decades to come. Bergman's breakthrough with two films would mark the near-beginning of a gorgeous career (his elegiac Summer with Monika would also introduce brief nudity to big screens). And Anthony Mann's The Naked Spur would connote a new era in Westerns--one with detailed characterizations and complex moral consequences. Musicals, too, would progress, with Minnelli's The Band Wagon leading the way (and with George Sidney's 3-D musical Kiss Me Kate and Roy Rowland's insane The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T tending towards other crazy directions). The Little Fugitive would stand as a earnest landmark in American indie filmmaking. Ida Lupino would become among the first female filmmakers to work for studios, arriving with two superb noir selections. Max Ophul's Madame De... would beget many imitators, while George Pal's The War of the Worlds would transform the science-fiction genre forever. And, finally, Chuck Jones would again stun us with numerous short films, chief among them a hysterical 8-minute irritation aimed at Daffy Duck. And, after all of that, Cinemascope was introduced by 20th Century Fox, giving TV-bound moviegoers the thrill of widescreen opulence, delivering the kind of visually dazzling Biblical epic that would subsequently obsess the American movie industry for a decade. As far as the Academy was concerned, it was another year to pay tribute to the past war effort with their selection of From Here to Eternity. But now, as good as Zinnemann's film is, save for one heated beachfront romantic interlude between Lancaster and Kerr, only Frank Sinatra's committed supporting performance (and maybe Donna Reed's Oscar-winning role) really make any waves presently. Finally, A newcomer makes the independent cinema scene: some guy named Stanley Kubrick. 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: TOKYO STORY (Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
(2nd: The Naked Spur (US, Anthony Mann), followed by:
Madame de… (France, Max Ophuls)
The Band Wagon (US, Vincente Minnelli)
I Vitelloni (Italy, Federico Fellini)
Shane (US, George Stevens)
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (France, Jacques Tati)
Gate of Hell (Japan, Teinosuke Kinugasa)
The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (US, Roy Rowland)
The Big Heat (US, Fritz Lang)
Summer With Monika (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
Ugetsu Monogatari (Japan, Kenji Mizoguchi)
From Here to Eternity (US, Fred Zinnemann)
The Wages of Fear (France, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Voyage to Italy (Italy, Roberto Rossellini)
The Little Fugitive (US, Morris Engel, Ray Ashley and Ruth Orkin)
Julius Caesar (US, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Pickup on South Street (US, Samuel Fuller)
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Mexico, Luis Buñuel)
Beat the Devil (UK, John Huston)
The Hitch-Hiker (US, Ida Lupino)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (US, Howard Hawks)
The Bigamist (US, Ida Lupino)
The Blue Gardenia (US, Fritz Lang)
How to Marry a Millionaire (US, Jean Negulesco)
Kiss Me Kate (US, George Sidney)
Fear and Desire (US, Stanley Kubrick)
Roman Holiday (US, William Wyler)
Sawdust and Tinsel (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
The Robe (US, Henry Koster)
Stalag 17 (US, Billy Wilder)
House of Wax (US, Andre De Toth)
The War of the Worlds (US, Byron Haskin)
Titanic (US, Jean Negulesco)
Call Me Madam (US, Walter Lang)
It Came from Outer Space (US, Jack Arnold)
Calamity Jane (US, David Butler)

ACTOR: Chishu Ryu, TOKYO STORY (2nd: James Stewart, The Naked Spur, followed by: Alan Ladd, Shane; Marlon Brando, Julius Caesar; William Holden, Stalag 17; Yves Montand, The Wages of Fear; Montgomery Clift, From Here to Eternity; George Sanders, Voyage to Italy; Kazuo Hasegawa, Gate of Hell)

ACTRESS: Harriet Andersson, SUMMER WITH MONIKA (2nd: Setsuko Hara, Tokyo Story, followed by: Maggie McNamara, The Moon is Blue; Ingrid Bergman, Voyage to Italy; Danielle Darrieux, Madame de…; Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday; Jean Arthur, Shane; Ethel Merman, Call Me Madam; Deborah Kerr, From Here to Eternity) 

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Frank Sinatra, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (2nd: Robert Ryan, The Naked Spur, followed by: Jack Palance, Shane; Hans Conreid, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T; Lee Marvin, The Big Heat; Jay Robinson, The Robe; Brandon De Wilde, Shane; Peter Lorre, Beat the Devil; Louis Calhern, Julius Caesar) 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Gloria Grahame, THE BIG HEAT (2nd: Setsuko Hara, Tokyo Story, followed by: Janet Leigh, The Naked Spur; Kyoko Kagawa, Tokyo Story; Thelma Ritter, Pickup on South Street; Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity; Geraldine Page, Hondo; Grace Kelly, Mogambo)



DIRECTOR: Yasujiro Ozu, TOKYO STORY (2nd: Max Ophuls, Madame de…, followed by: Anthony Mann, The Naked Spur; Federico Fellini, I Vitelloni; Vincente Minnelli, The Band Wagon; George Stevens, Shane; Teinosuke Kinugasa, Gate of Hell; Jacques Tati, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday)

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: TOKYO STORY (Japan, Yasujiro Ozu) (2nd: Madame de… (France, Max Ophuls), followed by: I Vitelloni (Italy, Federico Fellini); Gate of Hell (Japan, Teinosuke Kinugasa); Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (France, Jacques Tati); Summer With Monika (Sweden, Ingmar Bergman); Ugetsu Monogatari (Japan, Kenji Mizoguchi))


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom, THE NAKED SPUR (2nd: Kogo Noda and Yasujiro Ozu, Tokyo Story, followed by: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, and Tullio Panelli, I Vitelloni; Morris Engel, Ray Ashley and Ruth Orkin, The Little Fugitive; Adolph Green and Betty Comden, The Band Wagon)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Marcel Auchard, Max Ophuls, Annette Wademant, and Marcel Achard, MADAME D... (2nd: A.B. Guthrie Jr. and Jack Sher, Shane, followed by: Henri-Georges Cluzot and Jerome Geronimi, The Wages of Fear; Sydney Boehm, The Big Heat; Daniel Taradash, From Here to Eternity)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: THE ELEPHANT WILL NEVER FORGET (UK, John Krish);  O Dreamland (UK, Lindsay Anderson); The End (US, Christopher MacLaine); The Pleasure Garden (UK, James Broughton)

ANIMATED SHORT FILM: DUCK AMUCK (US, Chuck Jones) (2nd: Bully for Bugs (US, Chuck Jones), followed by: The Tell-Tale Heart (US, Ted Parmelee); From A to Z-Z-Z-Z (US, Chuck Jones); Don’t Give Up the Sheep (US, Chuck Jones); Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (US, Ward Kimball, August Nichols); The Unicorn in the Garden (US, William T. Hurtz)

BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: Yuharu Atsuta, TOKYO STORY (2nd: Christian Matras, Madame de…, followed by: Charles B. Lang, The Big Heat; Burnett Guffey, From Here to Eternity; Kazuo Miyagawa, Ugetsu Monogatari)



COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Loyal Griggs, SHANE (2nd: Leon Shamroy, The Robe, followed by: Frank Planer, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T; William C. Mellor, The Naked Spur; Henry Jackson and George J. Folsey, The Band Wagon)

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: MADAME DE..., Tokyo Story, Titanic, Roman Holiday, Gate of Hell

COLOR ART DIRECTION: THE ROBE, The Band Wagon, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, How to Marry a Millionaire, Knights of the Round Table 

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: MADAME DE..., Gate of Hell, Roman Holiday, Titanic, Tokyo Story

COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: THE ROBE, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Band Wagon, Call Me Madam, Kiss Me Kate
 
FILM EDITING: THE NAKED SPUR, The Big Heat, Shane, From Here to Eternity, The War of the Worlds

SOUND: THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, From Here to Eternity, The Band Wagon, Kiss Me Kate, Calamity Jane



ORIGINAL SCORE: Alfred Newman, THE ROBE (2nd: Victor Young, Shane, followed by: Nino Rota, I Vitelloni; Bronislau Kaper, The Naked Spur; Alain Romans, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday)

ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Frederic Hollender and Morris Stoloff, THE 5000 FINGERS OF DR. T (2nd: Adolph Deutsch, The Band Wagon, followed by: Andre Previn and Saul Chaplin, Kiss Me Kate; Alfred Newman, Call Me Madam; Ray Heindorf, Calamity Jane)



ORIGINAL SONG: "That's Amore" from THE CADDY (Music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Jack Brooks) (2nd: "That's Entertainment" from The Band Wagon (Music and lyrics by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz); "Because We're Kids" from The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (Music by Frederic Hollender, lyrics by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)); "Secret Love" from Calamity Jane (Music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster); "Ten Happy Fingers" from The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (Music by Frederic Hollender, lyrics by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss); "Sadie Thompson's Song (Blue Pacific Blues)" from Miss Sadie Thompson (Music by Lester Lee, lyrics by Ned Washington)

SPECIAL EFFECTS: THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

1952--The Year in Review

This is not the greatest movie year, in general, and yet the top ten are amongst the finest works ever filmed. It seems to be a period hearkening back to ancient memories, with Kurosawa's exquisite Ikiru, De Sica's heartbreaking Umberto D. and Zinnemann's exciting High Noon all coming together as paeans to the past (deciding the Best Actor slot this year is like splitting already split hairs). Of course, the most loved American movie of this year is Singin' in the Rain, a film that was little praised by the Academy, but which is also a glorious work of pure nostalgia. Chaplin and Ford, too, examine their rich and varied pasts via film, making this year feel like the end of a wealthy era. Only Canada's Norman McLaren dissects the now and the future with his absolutely original live action short (which actually won as a documentary short--very unusually); his film also serves as a bellwether to the future domination of the shorts categories by The National Film Board of Canada. And, of course, the Warner Brothers animation team, led by the incredible Chuck Jones, continues to impress. As far as the Oscars were concerned, their choice this year was ill-gotten: Cecil B. De Mille's awful The Greatest Show on Earth, very possibly the worst selection ever for Best Picture, made only in tribute to this legendary impresario's epic career. 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: IKIRU (Japan, Akira Kurosawa)
(2nd: Singin’ in the Rain (US, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly), followed by:
Umberto D (Italy, Vittorio De Sica)
High Noon (US, Fred Zinnemann)
The Quiet Man (US, John Ford)
The Bad and the Beautiful (US, Vincente Minnelli)
Forbidden Games (France, René Clair)
Bend of the River (US, Anthony Mann)
Limelight (UK, Charles Chaplin)
The Life of Oharu (Japan, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Les Belles de Nuit (France, René Clair)
Clash by Night (US, Fritz Lang)
The Titfield Thunderbolt (UK, Charles Crichton)
The Importance of Being Earnest (UK, Anthony Asquith)
Le Plaisir (France, Max Ophuls)
Othello (US/Italy, Orson Welles)
The Member of the Wedding (US, Fred Zinnemann)
Rancho Notorious (US, Fritz Lang)
Viva Zapata! (US, Elia Kazan)
Kansas City Confidential (US, Phil Karlson)
The Lusty Men (US, Nicholas Ray)
Monkey Business (US, Howard Hawks)
Breaking the Sound Barrier (UK, David Lean)
The Sniper (US, Edward Dmytryk)
The Living Desert (US, James Algar)
The Narrow Margin (US, Richard Fleischer)
Five Fingers (US, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Moulin Rouge (US, John Huston)
Come Back, Little Sheba (US, Daniel Mann)
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (US, John Brahm)
Hans Christian Andersen (US, Charles Vidor)
Million Dollar Mermaid (US, Mervyn Le Roy))

ACTOR: Carlo Battista, UMBERTO D (2nd: Takashi Shimura, Ikiru, followed by: Gary Cooper, High Noon; Gene Kelly, Singin’ in the Rain; Kirk Douglas, The Bad and the Beautiful; John Wayne, The Quiet Man; Charles Chaplin, Limelight; Richard Burton, My Cousin Rachel)

ACTRESS: Julie Harris, THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING (2nd: Barbara Stanwyck, Clash by Night, followed by: Shirley Booth, Come Back, Little Sheba; Debbie Reynolds, Singin’ in the Rain; Ginger Rogers, Monkey Business; Judy Holliday, The Marrying Kind; Joan Crawford, Sudden Fear)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Donald O’Connor, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (2nd: Anthony Quinn, Viva Zapata!, followed by: Barry Fitzgerald, The Quiet Man; Victor McLaglen, The Quiet Man; Jack Palance, Sudden Fear; Robert Ryan, Clash by Night; Charles Coburn, Monkey Business; Arthur Hunnicutt, The Big Sky) 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jean Hagen, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (2nd: Gloria Grahame, The Bad and the Beautiful, followed by: Ethel Waters, The Member of the Wedding; Katy Jurado, High Noon; Claire Bloom, Limelight; Joan Greenwood, The Importance of Being Earnest; Simone Simon, Le Plaisir; Marie Windsor, The Narrow Margin)



DIRECTOR: Akira Kurosawa, IKIRU (2nd: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, Singin’ in the Rain, followed by: Vittorio De Sica, Umberto D; Fred Zinnemann, High Noon; John Ford, The Quiet Man; René Clair, Forbidden Games; Vincente Minnelli, The Bad and the Beautiful; Charles Chaplin, Limelight)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni, IKIRU (2nd: Cesare Zavattini, Umberto D., followed by: Adolph Green and Betty Comden, Singin' in the Rain; Charles Schnee and George Bradshaw, The Bad and the Beautiful; Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, Pat and Mike; T.E.B. Clarke, The Titfield Thunderbolt)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Carl Foreman, HIGH NOON (2nd: Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, and Francois Boyer, Forbidden Games, followed by: Borden Chase, Bend of the River; Frank S. Nugent, The Quiet Man; Michael Wilson, Five Fingers)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: NEIGHBOURS (Canada, Norman McLaren) (2nd: Duck and Cover (US, Anthony Rizzo), followed by: The Stranger Left No Card (UK, Wendy Toye)

ANIMATED SHORT FILM: FEED THE KITTY (US, Chuck Jones) (2nd: Rabbit Seasoning (US, Chuck Jones), followed by: Water, Water Every Hare (US, Chuck Jones); Johann Mouse (US, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera); Beep Beep (US, Chuck Jones))



BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: Robert Surtees, THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (2nd: G.R. Aldo, Umberto D, followed by: Karl Struss, Limelight; Asaichi Nakai, Ikiru; Charles B. Lang Jr., Sudden Fear)


COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Winton H. Hoch and Archie Stout, THE QUIET MAN (2nd: Harold Rosson, Singin’ in the Rain, followed by: George J. Folsey, Million Dollar Mermaid; Leon Shamroy, The Snows of Kilimanjaro; Harry Stradling, Hans Christian Andersen)

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, My Cousin Rachel, Le Plaisir, Viva Zapata!, The Member of the Wedding

COLOR ART DIRECTION: THE QUIET MAN, The Importance of Being Earnest, Moulin Rouge, Singin' in the Rain, The Merry Widow

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, My Cousin Rachel, Le Plaisir, Carrie, Limelight

COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: MOULIN ROUGE, The Importance of Being Earnest, Million Dollar Mermaid, The Greatest Show on Earth, Hans Christian Andersen 



FILM EDITING: HIGH NOON, Singin' in the Rain, Ikiru, The Quiet Man, The Bad and the Beautiful
 
SOUND: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, Breaking the Sound Barrier, High Noon, The Quiet Man, The Bad and the Beautiful 

ORIGINAL SCORE: Dimitri Tiomkin, HIGH NOON (2nd: Charles Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell, Limelight, followed by: Victor Young, The Quiet Man; Alex North, Viva Zapata!; Miklós Rózsa, Ivanhoe)

ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Lennie Hayton, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (2nd: Walter Scharf, Hans Christian Andersen, followed by: Alfred Newman, With a Song in My Heart; Adolph Deutsch, Million Dollar Mermaid)



ORIGINAL SONG: "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin')" from HIGH NOON (Music by Dimitri Tiomkin, lyrics by Ned Washington) (2nd: "Inchworm" from Hans Christian Andersen (Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser), followed by: "Angel Eyes" from Jennifer (Music by Matt Dennis, lyrics by Earl Brent); "Thumbelina" from Hans Christian Andersen (Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser); "Make 'Em Laugh" from Singin' in the Rain (Music and lyrics by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown)

1951--The Year in Review

Vincente Minnelli's boisterous cinematic adaptation of George Gershwin's An American in Paris is certainly one of the more florid Best Picture winners ever--a radically stylized flight of imagination, gorgeously filmed and performed with verve, its cast led by the magnificent team of Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. But, for me, as superb as it is, it's not even the best musical of the year (that position would go to Powell and Pressberger's nearly psychedelic adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's 1881 opera The Tales of Hoffmann). Instead, I hand the bulk of this year's citations to Elia Kazan's vibrant filming of Tennessee Williams' stage masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire--a work so stunning that it can be enjoyed again and again in all of its sweaty, battered glory. Kazan opens the play up perfectly to cinema standards (it's ridiculously splendid to look at, even if it takes place in sloppy surroundings--poverty has never looked so good). And he directed his cast to such towering heights that the movie came dangerously close to sweeping the acting awards in both my and the Academy's estimation (I left Karl Malden's wonderfully sheepish Mitch behind and instead lauded Peter Ustinov's odious but highly amusing Nero in Quo Vadis?, while the AMPAS foolishly left then-newcomer Marlon Brando waiting a few years for his first Oscar, choosing to instead make up for decades of Humphrey Bogart ignorance by giving the legendary actor a still justified nod for his terrific show as Charlie Allnut in John Huston's superb The African Queen; I'm happy Bogart finally won but he should have won years before, while Brando deserved the award in '51, even if he had played Stanley Kowalski hundreds of times before on stage). At least they knew they couldn't ignore Vivien Leigh's hypnotizing, graceful take on Blanche Dubois! Largely ignored by the Academy were three of the years greatest films: Billy Wilder's still-relevant takedown of media hype called Ace in the Hole (known as The Big Carnival in its original release), Alfred Hitchcock's incredibly taut thriller Strangers on a Train, and Yasujiro Ozu's magnificently elegant Early Summer. The Academy displayed much love for George Stevens' lavish tale of murder A Place in the Sun--and deservedly so--but there were at least 30 more movies this year worth singing about. 1951 was a particularly rich period. Again, with the short films, Warner Brothers and Bugs Bunny (this time famously paired with Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd) illustrated that absolutely no filmmaking team in Hollywood was working at a higher level than those at Termite Terrace (it both kills and mystifies me that the Academy's board of animators--throughout this entire golden age at Warner Brothers--instead decided they loved the very blah Tom and Jerry cartoons--what the hell were they thinking?). And my choice for Best Song is one that wasn't even nominated, though, still today, the song has solidified its place in the popular culture. 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: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (US, Elia Kazan)
(2nd: Strangers on a Train (US, Alfred Hitchcock), followed by:
Ace in the Hole (US, Billy Wilder)
A Place in the Sun (US, George Stevens)
The African Queen (UK, John Huston)
Early Summer (Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
The Tales of Hoffmann (UK, Michael Powell)
An American in Paris (US, Vincente Minnelli)
The Lavender Hill Mob (UK, Charles Crichton)
The Diary of a Country Priest (France, Robert Bresson)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (US, Robert Wise)
On Dangerous Ground (US, Nicholas Ray)
The Red Badge of Courage (US, John Huston)
The River (India/UK, Jean Renoir)
The Tall Target (US, Anthony Mann)
Quo Vadis? (US, Mervyn Le Roy)
Europa ’51 (Italy, Roberto Rossellini)
Fourteen Hours (US, Henry Hathaway)
Detective Story (US, William Wyler)
The Man in the White Suit (UK, Alexander Mackendrick)
Decision Before Dawn (US, Anatole Litvak)
Alice in Wonderland (US, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson)
Royal Wedding (US, Stanley Donen)
A Christmas Carol (UK, Brian Desmond Hurst)
The Steel Helmet (US, Samuel Fuller)
Death of a Salesman (US, Laslo Benedek)
Miss Julie (Sweden, Alf Sjöberg)
The Thing (from Another World) (US, Christian Nyby)
M (US, Joseph Losey)
No Highway in the Sky (US, Henry Koster)
Fixed Bayonets! (US, Samuel Fuller)
The Browning Version (UK, Anthony Asquith)
Miracle in Milan (Italy, Vittorio de Sica)
The Racket (US, John Cromwell)
The Bullfighter and the Lady (US, Budd Boetticher)
Rhubarb (US, Arthur Lubin)
Along the Great Divide (US, Raoul Walsh)
When Worlds Collide (US, George Pal)
David and Bathsheba (US, Henry King))

ACTOR: Marlon Brando, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (2nd: Robert Walker, Strangers on a Train, followed by: Kirk Douglas, Ace in the Hole; Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen; Chishu Ryu, Early Summer; Alastair Sim, A Christmas Carol; Alec Guinness, The Lavender Hill Mob; Gene Kelly, An American in Paris; Montgomery Clift, A Place in the Sun; Fredric March, Death of a Salesman)

ACTRESS: Vivien Leigh, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (2nd: Setsuko Hara, Early Summer, followed by: Katharine Hepburn, The African Queen; Anita Björk, Miss Julie; Elizabeth Taylor, A Place in the Sun; Leslie Caron, An American in Paris; Shelley Winters, A Place in the Sun; Ingrid Bergman, Europa ’51)



SUPPORTING ACTOR: Peter Ustinov, QUO VADIS? (2nd: Karl Malden, A Streetcar Named Desire, followed by: Kevin McCarthy, Death of a Salesman; Stanley Holloway, The Lavender Hill Mob; Gig Young, Come Fill the Cup; Leo Genn, Quo Vadis?; Porter Hall, Ace in the Hole; Joseph Wiseman, Detective Story) 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kim Hunter, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (2nd: Lee Grant, Detective Story, followed by: Mildred Dunnock, Death of a Salesman; Barbara Bel Geddes, Fourteen Hours; Thelma Ritter, The Mating Season; Joan Greenwood, The Man in the White Suit; Agnes Moorehead, Fourteen Hours) 

 

DIRECTOR: Elia Kazan, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (2nd: Alfred Hitchcock, Strangers on a Train, followed by: Billy Wilder, Ace in the Hole; Yasujiro Ozu, Early Summer; George Stevens, A Place in the Sun; Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger, The Tales of Hoffmann; Vincente Minnelli, An American in Paris; Charles Crichton, The Lavender Hill Mob)



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, and Walter Newman, ACE IN THE HOLE (2nd: T.E.B. Clarke, The Lavender Hill Mob, followed by: Kogu Noda and Yasujiro Ozu, Early Summer; George Worthington Yates, Art Cohn and Daniel Mainwaring, The Tall Target; John Paxton and Joel Sayre, Fourteen Hours) 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Tennessee Williams and Oscar Saul, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (2nd: James Agee and John Huston, The African Queen, followed by: Raymond Chandler, Czenzi Ormonde, and Whitfield Cook, Strangers on a Train; Michael Wilson and Harry Brown, A Place in the Sun; Roger MacDougall, John Dighton, and Alexander Mackendrick, The Man in the White Suit) 



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: DAVID (UK…Paul Dickson); Merry Mavericks (Edward Bernds The Three Stooges); The Tooth Will Out (Edward Bernds The Three Stooges); Let's Go Crazy  (UK, Alan Cullimore)

ANIMATED SHORT FILM: RABBIT FIRE (Chuck Jones; Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck) (2nd: Cheese Chasers (Chuck Jones); Drip Along Daffy (Chuck Jones);  Rooty Toot Toot (John Hubley); Canned Feud (Friz Freleng; Sylvester); Daredevil Droopy (US…Tex Avery); Chow Hound (Chuck Jones); The Two Mousketeers (William Hanna and Joseph Barbera; Tom and Jerry))

BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: Robert Burks, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (2nd: William C. Mellor, A Place in the Sun, followed by: Harry Stradling, A Streetcar Named Desire; Harold Rosson, The Red Badge of Courage; Charles Lang, Ace in the Hole) 

COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Alton and Al Gilks, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (2nd: Claude Renoir, The River, followed by: Christopher Challis, The Tales of Hoffmann; Robert Surtees and William V. Skall, Quo Vadis?; Jack Cardiff, The African Queen) 

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, A Place in the Sun, Ace in the Hole, Fourteen Hours, The Day The Earth Stood Still

COLOR ART DIRECTION: THE TALES OF HOFFMANN, An American in Paris, Royal Wedding, Quo Vadis?, David and Bathsheba
 

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: A PLACE IN THE SUN, A Streetcar Named Desire, Early Summer, A Christmas Carol, Ace in the Hole

COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: THE TALES OF HOFFMANN, Quo Vadis?, An American in Paris, The River, Royal Wedding 



FILM EDITING: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, Ace in the Hole, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Place in the Sun, The Red Badge of Courage 

SOUND: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, A Place in the Sun, Bright Victory, The Tales of Hoffmann, An American in Paris



ORIGINAL SCORE: Alex North, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (2nd: Bernard Herrmann,  The Day the Earth Stood Still, followed by: Franz Waxman, A Place in the Sun; Dimitri Tiomkin, Strangers on a Train; Miklós Rózsa, Quo Vadis?; Bronislau Kaper, The Red Badge of Courage) 

ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (2nd: Albert Sendrey, Royal Wedding, followed by: Thomas Beecham, The Tales of Hoffmann; Adolph Deutsch and Conrad Salinger, Show Boat; Oliver Wallace, Alice in Wonderland)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Happy Trails" from PALS OF THE GOLDEN WEST (Music and lyrics by Dale Evans) (2nd: "Silver Bells" from The Lemon Drop Kid (Music by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans), followed by: "In The Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" from Here Comes The Groom (Music by Hoagy Carmichael, lyrics by Johnny Mercer); "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" from The Strip (Music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Oscar Hammerstein II); "Too Late Now" from Royal Wedding (Music by Burton Lane, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner))




SPECIAL EFFECTS: WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Strangers on a Train 

MAKEUP: THE TALES OF HOFFMANN, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Thing (From Another World)

1950--The Year in Review

Midway into the 20th Century, it's an astonishing clean sweep for Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd., with only Thelma Ritter's supporting performance in All About Eve interrupting it. But, in 1950, it was Joseph L. Manckiewicz's film that took all the awards--in fact, All About Eve set a record for the most Oscar nominations with 14 (a record that still stands, with Titanic siding up to it in 1996). But it's Wilder's film that remains the most loved and watched film of the year. It's both intensely dramatic and hilarious (intentionally so) in just the correct measures, and contains three creepy, nastily effective performances. Plus, Sunset Blvd. looks and sounds spectacular, with its superbly regal and yet strangely scuzzy cinematography, art direction and musical score propelling it into the stratosphere. It seems difficult now to understand All About Eve's besting of it, though Mankiewicz's screenplay for Eve contained an endless array of razor-sharp bon mots that clearly captivated the anti-stage Hollywood community (for them, at the time, Sunset Blvd. was seen as a mean joke played at their expense). The second best movie of the year, Joseph L. Lewis' Gun Crazy, wasn't nominated for a single thing, as it was a lowly B-picture. But, in the '60s, French critics raised its standing up as a deftly influential noir gifted with infinitely creative camerawork and acting. Equally influential were Kurosawa's Rashomon, Huston's The Asphalt Jungle, Bunuel's Los Olvidados and Anthony Mann's first western with Jimmy Stewart, Winchester '73 (though Stewart's Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey is a more popular performance). In the short films, Bugs Bunny and director Chuck Jones again took the top slot, though there were many equally worthy selections crafted at Warner Brothers that year. And, finally, literary hero Jean Genet contributed the year's most accomplished live action short. 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: SUNSET BLVD. (US, Billy Wilder)
(2nd: Gun Crazy (US, Joseph H. Lewis), followed by:
Rashomon (Japan, Akira Kurosawa)
Winchester ’73 (US, Anthony Mann)
The Asphalt Jungle (US, John Huston)
In a Lonely Place (US, Nicholas Ray)
All About Eve (US, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
La Ronde (France, Max Ophuls)
Los Olvidados (Mexico, Luis Buñuel)
Wagon Master (US, John Ford)
Cinderella (US, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi)
Night and the City (UK, Jules Dassin)
Orphée (France, Jean Cocteau)
Panic in the Streets (US, Elia Kazan)
Breaking Point (US, Michael Curtiz)
Where The Sidewalk Ends (US, Otto Preminger)
The Furies (US, Anthony Mann)
Harvey (US, Henry Koster)
The Gunfighter (US, Henry King)
Rio Grande (US, John Ford)
D.O.A. (US, Rudolph Maté)
Stromboli (Italy, Roberto Rossellini)
Father of the Bride (US, Vincente Minnelli)
Quicksand (US, Irving Pichel)
Born Yesterday (US, George Cukor)
Broken Arrow (US, Delmer Daves)
Caged (US, John Cromwell)
Stage Fright (US, Alfred Hitchcock)
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (US, Gordon Douglas)
Born to Be Bad (US, Nicholas Ray)
The Baron of Arizona (US, Samuel Fuller)
No Man of Her Own (US, Mitchell Leisen)
Annie Get Your Gun (US, George Sidney)
Young Man With a Horn (US, Michael Curtiz))

ACTOR: William Holden, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Humphrey Bogart, In a Lonely Place, followed by: John Dall, Gun Crazy; James Stewart, Winchester ’73; James Stewart, Harvey; José Ferrer, Cyrano de Bergerac; Sterling Hayden, The Asphalt Jungle; Spencer Tracy, Father of the Bride; Clifton Webb, Cheaper by the Dozen; Ben Johnson, Wagon Master) 

ACTRESS: Gloria Swanson, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Peggy Cummins, Gun Crazy, followed by: Bette Davis, All About Eve; Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday; Anne Baxter, All About Eve; Eleanor Parker, Caged; Gertrude Lawrence, The Glass Menagerie; Barbara Stanwyck, The Furies; Ingrid Bergman, Stromboli; Gloria Grahame, In a Lonely Place)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Erich Von Stroheim, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: George Sanders, All About Eve, followed by: Sam Jaffe, The Asphalt Jungle; Jack Palance, Panic in the Streets; Will Geer, Winchester '73; Walter Huston, The Furies; Masayuki Mori, Rashomon; Takashi Shimura, Rashomon; Arthur Kennedy, The Glass Menagerie; Zero Mostel, Panic in the Streets) 



SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Thelma Ritter, ALL ABOUT EVE (2nd: Danielle Darrieux, La Ronde, followed by: Celeste Holm, All About Eve; Josephine Hull, Harvey; Hope Emerson, Caged; Jan Sterling, Caged; Joan Bennett, Father of the Bride; Nancy Olson, Sunset Blvd.) 
 
DIRECTOR: Billy Wilder, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Joseph H. Lewis, Gun Crazy, followed by: Akira Kurosawa, Rashomon; Anthony Mann, Winchester '73; Luis Bunuel, Los Olvidados; Joseph L. Mankiewicz, All About Eve; John Huston, The Asphalt Jungle; Nicholas Ray, In a Lonely Place; Max Ophuls, La Ronde; John Ford, Wagon Master)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D.M. Marshman, Jr., SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Robert L. Richards, Borden Chase, and Stuart N. Lake, Winchester '73, followed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, All About Eve; Luis Alcoriza and Luis Bunuel, Los Olvidados; Edna Anhalt, Edward Anhalt, Daniel Fuchs and Richard Murphy, Panic in the Streets)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Akira Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto, RASHOMON (2nd: Ben Maddow and John Huston, The Asphalt Jungle, followed by: Edmund H. North and Andrew Solt, In a Lonely Place; Jacques Natanson and Max Ophuls, La Ronde; Dalton Trumbo and MacKinlay Kantor, Gun Crazy)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: A SONG OF LOVE (Un Chant D'Amour) (France, Jean Genet) (2nd: Family Portrait (UK, Humphrey Jennings), followed by: Mirror of Holland (Netherlands, Bert Haanstra)



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: RABBIT OF SEVILLE (Chuck Jones; Bugs Bunny) (2nd: The Scarlet Pumpernickel (Chuck Jones; Daffy Duck); Gerald McBoing-Boing (Robert Cannon); What's Up Doc? (Robert McKimson; Bugs Bunny); Dog Gone South (Chuck Jones); 8 Ball Bunny (Chuck Jones; Bugs Bunny); A Fractured Leghorn (Robert McKimson; Foghorn Leghorn); The Hypo-condri-Cat (Chuck Jones)

BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Seitz, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Russell Harlan, Gun Crazy, followed by: Kazuo Miyagawa, Rashomon; Harold Rosson, The Asphalt Jungle; Victor Milner, The Furies)

COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ernest Palmer, BROKEN ARROW (2nd: Charles Rosher, Annie Get Your Gun, followed by: Robert Surtees, King Solomon's Mines)

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: SUNSET BLVD., All About Eve, La Ronde, Stage Fright, The Asphalt Jungle

 COLOR ART DIRECTION: DESTINATION MOON, Annie Get Your Gun, Cheaper by the Dozen

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: ALL ABOUT EVE, Sunset Blvd., La Ronde, Rashomon, The Furies


COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Toast of New Orleans

FILM EDITING: SUNSET BLVD., Winchester '73, The Asphalt Jungle, Gun Crazy, Panic in the Streets

SOUND: ALL ABOUT EVE, Winchester '73, Wagon Master, Sunset Blvd., Cinderella



ORIGINAL SCORE: Franz Waxman, SUNSET BLVD. (2nd: Miklós Rózsa, The Asphalt Jungle, followed by: Franz Waxman, The Furies; Fumio Hayasaka, Rashomon; Alfred Newman, All About Eve; Oscar Straus, La Ronde) 

 
ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Oliver Wallace and Paul J. Smith, CINDERELLA (2nd: Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens, Annie Get Your Gun, followed by: Andre Previn, Three Little Words)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Mona Lisa" from CAPTAIN CAREY, USA (Music and lyrics by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston) (2nd: "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" from Cinderella (Music and lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston); "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" from Cinderella (Music and lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston); "Mule Train" from Singing Guns (Music and lyrics by Fred Glickman, Hy Heath, and Johnny Lange); "Cinderella" from Cinderella (Music and lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston))



SPECIAL EFFECTS: DESTINATION MOON, Rocketship X-M 

1949--The Year in Review

Easily my most obscure Best Picture pick from the 1940s is Robert Wise's boxing noir The Set-Up, constructed in real time way before Fred Zinneman's 1952 western High Noon made it widely known a movie could be built in this fashion (though I suppose Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope did it earlier). I know many will have problems with this pick, simply because Carol Reed's extremely popular The Third Man appears as competition. But I think Reed's movie lacks a bit of energy when its main assets--Orson Welles and composer Anton Karas--aren't apparent. Wise's film, meanwhile, is still as strong and economical as it was the day of its release--a damning indictment of boxing, and its bloodthirsty fans, too (almost as good in this respect was Mark Robson's soapier boxing film Champion, with Kirk Douglas in the lead). The UK output was particularly lively this year, with comedic masterpieces Kind Hearts and Coronets, Passport to Pimlico and Whisky Galore, while Japan gave us prime films from Ozu and Kurosawa. Alec Guinness wins the lead actor award for his robust, eight-character performance in Kind Hearts and Coronets, while Olivia De Havilland lands her second lead nod in a row for her devastating show in William Wyler's The Heiress. The Oscars, meanwhile, saw fit to give its top awards to Robert Rossen's All The King's Men--a groundbreaker when released but sadly dated today (though Mercedes McCambridge's hard-bitten supporting turn still resonates). 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: THE SET-UP (US, Robert Wise)
(2nd: The Third Man (UK, Carol Reed), followed by:
The Heiress (US, William Wyler)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (UK, Robert Hamer)
White Heat (US, Raoul Walsh)
Late Spring (Japan, Yasujiro Ozu)
On the Town (US, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly)
Stray Dog (Japan, Akira Kurosawa)
A Letter to Three Wives (US, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Battleground (US, William A. Wellman)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (US, John Ford)
The Window (US, Ted Tetzlaff)
Champion (US, Mark Robson)
Criss Cross (US, Robert Siodmak)
Adam’s Rib (US, George Cukor)
Whisky Galore (UK, Alexander Mackendrick)
All the King’s Men (US, Robert Rossen)
Come to the Stable (US, Henry Koster)
Madame Bovary (US, Vincente Minnelli)
The Big Steal (US, Don Siegel)
Passport to Pimlico (UK, Henry Cornelius)
Jour de Fête (France, Jacques Tati)
Border Incident (US, Anthony Mann)
It Happens Every Spring (US, Lloyd Bacon)
Colorado Territory (US, Raoul Walsh)
The Fountainhead (US, King Vidor)
Sands of Iwo Jima (US, Allan Dwan)
Caught (US, Max Ophuls)
Intruder in the Dust (US, Clarence Brown)
I Shot Jesse James (US, Samuel Fuller)
Samson and Delilah (US, Cecil B. De Mille)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (US, Busby Berkeley)
Mighty Joe Young (US, Ernest B. Schoedsack))

ACTOR: Alec Guinness, KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (2nd: James Cagney, White Heat, followed by: Broderick Crawford, All the King’s Men; Toshiro Mifune, Stray Dog; Dennis Price, Kind Hearts and Coronets; Robert Ryan, The Set-Up; Kirk Douglas, Champion; Joseph Cotten, The Third Man; John Wayne, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon; Spencer Tracy, Adam’s Rib) 

ACTRESS: Olivia De Havilland, THE HEIRESS (2nd: Setsuko Hara, Late Spring, followed by: Katharine Hepburn, Adam’s Rib; Loretta Young, Come to the Stable; Joan Bennett, The Reckless Moment; Patricia Neal, The Fountainhead; Jane Greer, The Big Steal; Jennifer Jones, Madame Bovary; Deborah Kerr, Edward My Son; Jeanne Crain, Pinky)  

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Orson Welles, THE THIRD MAN (2nd: Ralph Richardson, The Heiress, followed by: James Whitmore, Battleground; Wylie Watson, Whisky Galore; Dan Duryea, Criss Cross; Kirk Douglas, A Letter to Three Wives; Dean Jagger, Twelve O’Clock High; Arthur Kennedy, Champion; William Bendix, The Big Steal) 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mercedes McCambridge, ALL THE KING'S MEN (2nd: Thelma Ritter, A Letter to Three Wives, followed by: Keiko Awaji, Stray Dog; Celeste Holm, Come to the Stable; Margaret Wycherley, White Heat; Joan Greenwood, Kind Hearts and Coronets; Ethel Waters, Pinky; Jean Cadell, Whisky Galore; Jean Hagen, Adam’s Rib; Judy Holliday, Adam’s Rib)

DIRECTOR: Robert Wise, THE SET-UP (2nd: Carol Reed, The Third Man, followed by: Robert Hamer, Kind Hearts and Coronets; Yasujiro Ozu, Late Spring; Akira Kurosawa, Stray Dog; William Wyler, The Heiress; Raoul Walsh, White Heat; Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, On The Town;Joseph L. Mankiewicz, A Letter to Three Wives; William A. Wellman, Battleground)

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Graham Greene, THE THIRD MAN (2nd: Valentine Davies and Shirley Smith, It Happens Every Spring, followed by: T.E.B. Clarke, Passport to Pimlico; Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, White Heat; Ryuzo Kikushima and Akira Kurosawa, Stray Dog; Carl Foreman and Ring Lardner, Champion)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Robert Hamer and John Dighton, KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (2nd: Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz, The Heiress, followed by; Art Cohn, The Set-Up; Kogo Noda and Yasujiro Ozu, Late Spring; Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Vera Caspery, A Letter to Three Wives; Compton Mackenzie and Angus McPhail, Whisky Galore)

ANIMATED SHORT FILM: LONG HAIRED HARE (Chuck Jones; Bugs Bunny) (2nd: Begone Dull Care (Canada, Norman McLaren), followed by: For Scent-imental Reasons (Chuck Jones; Pepe Le Pew); Little Rural Riding Hood (Tex Avery); High Diving Hare (Friz Freleng); Fast and Furry-Ous (Chuck Jones; Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote); Bad Luck Blackie (Tex Avery); The Counterfeit Cat (Tex Avery))

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: LAND OF PROMISE (aka DIM LITTLE ISLAND) (UK, Humphrey Jennings) (2nd: Who Done It? (Edward Bernds; The Three Stooges), followed by: The Lead Shoes (Sidney Peterson)

BLACK-AND-WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY: Paul Vogel, BATTLEGROUND (2nd: Milton Krasner, The Set-Up, followed by: Yuharu Atsuta, Late Spring; Robert Krasker, The Third Man; Robert Surtees, Intruder in the Dust; Leo Tover, The Heiress; Franz Planer, Criss Cross)

COLOR CINEMATOGRAPHY: Winton Hoch, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (2nd: Harold Rosson, On The Town, followed by: Robert Planck and Charles Schoenbaum, Little Women)

BLACK-AND-WHITE ART DIRECTION: THE FOUNTAINHEAD, Madame Bovary, Late Spring, The Set-Up, The Heiress

COLOR ART DIRECTION: LITTLE WOMEN, The Adventures of Don Juan, Saraband

BLACK-AND-WHITE COSTUME DESIGN: KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, The Heiress, Madame Bovary

COLOR COSTUME DESIGN: LITTLE WOMEN, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Samson and Delilah 

FILM EDITING: THE SET-UP, Champion, Battleground, All The King's Men, The Window

SOUND: THE SET-UP, All The King's Men, Twelve O'Clock High, Champion, Sands of Iwo Jima



ORIGINAL SCORE: Anton Karas, THE THIRD MAN (2nd: Aaron Copland, The Heiress, followed by: Miklós Rózsa, Criss Cross; Dimitri Tiomkin, Champion; Victor Young, Samson and Delilah)

ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Roger Edens and Lennie Hayton, ON THE TOWN (2nd: Morris Stoloff and George Duning, Jolson Sings Again, followed by: Roger Edens and Conrad Salinger, Take Me Out to the Ball Game)



ORIGINAL SONG: "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter (Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser) (2nd: “Through a Long and Sleepless Night” from Come to the Stable (Music by Alfred Newman, lyrics by Mack Gordon); "My Foolish Heart: from My Foolish Heart (Music by Victor Young, lyrics by Ned Washington)

SPECIAL EFFECTS: MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, 12 O' Clock High

MAKEUP: KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, The Heiress, Sampson and Delilah