The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1929-1930
I call 1929-1930 the year with the first real (or is it great? Either way, really…) Best Picture winner. There aren’t any real definitive Best Picture winners for the first decade, really. I mean, Wings, but there you have the confusion of two winners. But here — All Quiet on the Western Front. A definitive winner. And something you can point to as an “Oscar” film, too. We wouldn’t get another one of these until The Great Ziegfeld, and then Gone With the Wind. (Though, It Happened One Night is also a real Best Picture winner.) The rest just feel like decisions. You know?
Lewis Milestone also won Best Director for All Quiet on the Western Front (talked about here), which is a top ten decision for all time. And George Arliss won Best Actor for Disraeli, which is actually a strong decision, historically, based on all it represents.
And then this category — I don’t really know what to do with it. I really don’t like any of the nominees. So it’s pretty much a crap shoot. (Note the pun.)
BEST ACTRESS – 1929-1930
And the nominees were…
Nancy Carroll. The Devil’s Holiday
Ruth Chatterton, Sarah and Son
Greta Garbo, Anna Christie & Romance
Norma Shearer, The Divorcée & Their Own Desire
Gloria Swanson, The Trespasser (more…)
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