Like 1942 but don’t love it. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the Best Picture choice feels too easy. It’s a good film, but not a definitive winner to me. And the year doesn’t seem to have that definitive winner (though, historically, they did make a good choice. I’m all about how the Oscars tie into history).

Mrs. Miniver wins Best Picture, Best Director for William Wyler (talked about here), Best Actress for Greer Garson, and this category. I love all of these decisions. (Though as an addendum to that, I’d have voted for Teresa Wright in Best Actress, because I voted for Greer Garson the year before this in Blossoms in the Dust because I think that performance was better, so me voting for Garson there and Wright this year meant that I voted for someone else in this category. Ya follow?)

The non-Miniver Oscars went to James Cagney, as Best Actor for Yankee Doodle Dandy (a fantastic decision) and Best Supporting Actor was Van Heflin for Johnny Eager, which is the biggest blank in the history of that category.

So let’s get into this one, which, as I already said, I love the decision, but through my bookkeeping, I’m voting for something else. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1942

And the nominees were…

Gladys Cooper, Now Voyager

Agnes Moorehead, The Magnificent Ambersons

Susan Peters, Random Harvest

Dame May Whitty, Mrs. Miniver

Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver Read the rest of this page »

1939 was the greatest year in the history of movies. Bar none. There has never been so many great movies released in the same year outside of this one. It’s incredible. And the best thing about such a great year is, despite all the great movies, there was a definitive Best Picture winner: Gone With the Wind.

Gone With the Wind wins Best Picture, Best Director for Victor Fleming (talked about here), Best Actress for Vivien Leigh, and here. All perfect decisions. The only awards the film didn’t win were Best Actor, which went to Robert Donat for Goodbye Mr. Chips, which as I said here, is an award that should have went to Jimmy Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (and the Academy knew it because they blatantly gave him an Oscar the year after this), and Best Supporting Actor, which went to Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach, which, as I said here, I love (despite also loving Claude Rains).

And that brings us to this historic category, which features the first black actress (or black anyone) to win an Academy Award. This one needed to happen, and I approve.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1939

And the nominee were…

Olivia de Havilland, Gone With the Wind

Geraldine Fitzgerald, Wuthering Heights

Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the Wind

Edna May Oliver, Drums Along the Mohawk

Maria Ouspenskaya, Love Affair Read the rest of this page »