AWARDS 1946 AND 1947?

* Best Years of Our Lives. Fredric March wins best actor. Harold Russell, best supporting. about the difficult readjustments of returning World War II veterans, tells the intertwined homecoming stories of ex-sergeant Al Stephenson former bomber pilot Fred Derry and sailor Homer Parrish Having rubbed shoulders with blue-collar Joes for the first time in his life, Al finds it difficult to return to a banker's high-finance mind set, and he shocks his co-workers with a plan to provide no-collateral loans to veterans. Meanwhile, Al's children virtually grown up in his absence. Fred discovers that his wartime heroics don't count for much in the postwar marketplace.

Henry V, Laurence Oliver, Nominated Shakespeare's play done as a film.

It's a Wonderful Life, James Stewart nominated, In the sentimental favorite by Frank Capra, small-town banker George Bailey (James Stewart) contemplates ending it all as his life teeters on the edge of financial ruin. But he finds a reason to live when his guardian angel shows him what the world would be like if he'd never been born.

The Razor's Edge, Clifton Webb, nominated, also stars Tyrone Power as a disillusioned World War I vet Larry Darrell, who returns from hostilities questioning his old values. To find himself, Larry joins several other members of the Lost Generation in Paris. He is disillusioned once more when the society deb whom he loves, Isabel Bradley played by Gene Tierney marries another for wealth and position.

The Yearling, Gregory Peck, nominated, Jane Wyman, nominated. The Yearling is set in post-Civil War Florida. Claude Jarman Jr. plays Jody Baxter, the lonely son of just-getting-by farmers Pa and Ma Baxter, Jane Wyman and Gregory Peck. With all of his siblings dead and buried, Jody yearns to have a pet of some sort. When Pa is forced by circumstances to kill a doe, the animal's fawn-the yearling of the title-is adopted by Jody. The boy's love for the animal does not alter the fact that the fawn is eating all of the Baxter's' crops. Sadly, Pa tells Jody that he must kill the yearling before all their crops are destroyed. Jody can't bring himself to do this, so he sets the animal free in the wilds. Time and again, however, the yearling returns to the farm. Finally, Ma Baxter, who'd been against having the fawn on the property in the first place, shoots and wounds the animal. Now, Jody has no choice: rather than see his beloved yearling writhe in agony, he kills it.

The Jolson Story, Larry Parks, nominated Jolson literally stopped the show with his robust rendition of "Swanee." Suddenly, every Hollywood studio was negotiating with Jolson to film his life story. Warner Bros., the studio that skyrocketed to the top ranks via the 1927 part-talkie Jolson vehicle The Jazz Singer, seemed to have the inside track, but it was Columbia's Harry Cohn who made the deal that Jolson couldn't refuse. An attractively appointed fabrication, the Technicolor The Jolson Story distorts and glosses over the particulars of Jolson's life, but the results are so darned entertaining that nobody really paid attention to its inaccuracies. The story begins in turn-of-the-century Washington, D.C., where young Asa Yoelson son of an immigrant cantor ignores his religious studies in favor of popular music

To Each His Own, Olivia de Havilland, best actress. During World War I, small-town girl Josephine Norris has an illegitimate son by an itinerant pilot. After a scheme to adopt him ends up giving him to another family, she devotes her life to loving him from afar.



1947
*Gentleman's Agreement, Gregory Peck is nominated. Celeste Holm is the best supporting actress. Anne Revere is nominated. Philip Green is a highly respected writer who is recruited by a national magazine to write a series of articles on anti-Semitism in America. He's not too keen on the series, mostly because he's not sure how to tackle the subject. Then it dawns on him: if he was to pretend to all and sundry that he was Jewish, he could then experience the degree of racism and prejudice that exists and write his story from that perspective. It takes little time for him to experience bigotry. He soon learns the liberal-minded firm he works for doesn't hire Jews and that his own secretary changed her name and kept the fact that she is Jewish a secret from everyone. Green soon finds that he won't be invited to certain parties, that he cannot stay in so-called 'restricted' hotels and that his own son is called names in the street. Remade from 1918

Great Expectations
The story is divided into three phases of Pip's life expectations.
On Christmas Eve, young Pip, an orphan being raised by his sister and her husband, encounters a frightening man in the village churchyard. The man, a convict who has escaped from a prison ship, scares Pip into stealing him some food and a file to grind away his leg shackle. This incident is crucial: firstly, it gives Pip, who must steal the goods from his sister's house, his first taste of true guilt, and, secondly, Pip's kindness warms the convicts heart. The convict, however, waits many years to truly show his gratitude. It was also required reading in Mrs. Johnson's ninth grade English class. It has been remade several times.

Miracle on 34th Street, Edmund Gwenn best supporting role. Also stars Natalie Wood and Maureen O'Hara. At the Macy's Department Store Thanksgiving Day parade, the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man. Doris Walker, the no nonsense special events director, persuades the old man to take his place. The old man proves to be a sensation and is quickly recruited to be the store Santa at the main Macy's outlet. While he is successful, Ms. Walker learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus. Despite reassurances by Kringle's doctor that he is harmless, Doris still has misgivings, especially when she has cynically trained herself, and especially her daughter, Susan, to reject all notions of belief and fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas. Remade in the 90’s


Crossfire, Robert Ryan is nominated, also stars Robert Mitchum and Robert Young. Homicide Capt. Finlay finds evidence that one or more of a group of demobilized soldiers is involved in the death of Joseph Samuels. In flashbacks, we see the night's events from different viewpoints as Sergeant Keeley investigates on his own, trying to clear his friend Mitchell, to whom circumstantial evidence points. Then the real, ugly motive for the killing begins to dawn on both Finlay and Keeley...

The Bishop's Wife When Episcopalian bishop Henry Brougham David Niven prays for divine guidance in his efforts to raise the necessary funds for a new cathedral, his prayers are answered in the form of a handsome, personable guardian angel named Dudley played by Cary Grant. Establishing himself as a Yuletide guest in the Brougham home, Dudley arouses the ire of Henry, who, unaware that his visitor is from Up Above, assumes that Dudley has designs on the bishop's wife Julia (Loretta Young).

A Double Life stars Ronald Coleman and Shelly Winters. Anthony John is an actor whose life is strongly influenced by the characters he plays. When he's playing comedy, he's the most enjoyable person in the world, but when he's playing drama, it's terrible to be around him. That's the reason why his wife Brita divorced him; although she still loves him and works with him, she couldn't stand living with him anymore. So when Anthony accepts to play Othello, he devotes himself entirely to the part, but it soon overwhelms him and with each day his mind gets filled more and more with Othello's murderous jealousy.

Life With Father, William Powell is nominated, Irene Dunn plays his wife, Vinnie and is a tower of comic strength as Clarence Day, the benevolent despot of his 1880s New York City household. Vinnie outwardly has no more common sense than a butterfly but who is the real head of the household. The anecdotal story, encompassing such details as the eldest Day son's romance with pretty out-of-towner Mary, played by Elizabeth Taylor is tied together by Vinnie's tireless efforts to get her headstrong husband baptized, else he'll never be able to enter the Kingdom of God. Each scene is a little gem of comedy and pathos, as the formidable Mr. Day tries to bring a stern businesslike attitude to everyday household activities, including explaining the facts of life to his impressionable son.

Smash Up--The story of a Woman, Susan Hayward is nominated. Angie Evans, fast-rising nightclub singer, interrupts her career to marry struggling songwriter Ken Conway. When Ken lucks into a career as chart-topping radio crooner, Angie is forced into idle luxury which proves her downfall. Her potential alcoholism burgeons and Ken remains clueless concerning his responsibility for her problems.

The Farmer's Daughter, Loretta Young wins for best actress, Charles Bickford is nominated. Joesph Cotton also plays. Swedish-American farmer's daughter Katrin 'Katie' Holstrom leaves the farm to study nursing in the big, wicked city. Thanks to a chiseling acquaintance, her tuition and expense money disappears the first day, and she's forced to get a job...as a domestic for congressman Glenn Morley. Impressed by her political awareness as well as her many charms and capabilities, Glenn is soon infatuated with Katie, and she with him, but their feelings remain unspoken...until Katie speaks up at a party rally and is abruptly thrust into politics herself.

The Egg and I, Marjorie Main is nominated. Based on the humorous autobiographical book by Betty McDonald, The Egg & I casts Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray as Manhattan-dwelling newlyweds. When MacMurray enthusiastically purchases an upstate farm in the hopes of cleaning up in the egg business.

715 movies were released in 1946 and 1947. Things have lightened up, almost half of the movies reviewed on this blog have some comedy.

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