The Imitation and the Real Thing: 1944, Part One

Of our first eleven films that qualified for the Academy Awards honoring the films of 1944, five were released in late 1943. Of the six released in 1944, one of them is the reason we're here - Lifeboat, the second film for which Alfred Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director. We'll get more into the specifics of Lifeboat's production and Hitchcock's nomination when we discuss the Best Director category in a couple of weeks. For now, let us just take in these eleven releases, from November 1943 through January 1944, running the gamut from musical to thriller, original to remake, Hitchcock himself to Hitchcock proteges. 

One thing you'll see, as I mentioned yesterday, is how some films referenced the War even when they didn't have to. Sure, The Fighting Seabees is specifically about a military unit, and Lifeboat is a tale of survival on the Atlantic - but Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman includes a visual joke, The Desert Song rewrites its plot to accommodate the times, and our first flick even gives a tongue-in-cheek apology for being a fantasy:

We're Back!: An Intro to 1944

If you're here, chances are you've been here before. I started retrospective Oscar years in 2011; my last one was in September of last year, the next one begins right now - the longest I've gone between retrospectives in three years.

But here we are! As voted on by you, the next three retrospectives will all focus on the years in which Alfred Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director. 

Despite being heralded as one of the greatest (and certainly most influential) filmmakers of all time, Hitchcock never won a competitive Academy Award, despite five nominations (he did win the non-competitive Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968). All five nominations came within a 20-year period, beginning with his first Hollywood feature, 1940's Rebecca (as we covered in 2024), and ending with his most famous film, 1960's Psycho (which we will cover in July). 

In addition to Rebecca and the films of 1940, - which, by the way, include Hitchcock's second Hollywood production, Foreign Correspondent - we've also already looked at his nomination for Rear Window and the films of 1954. Which means only three years to cover, beginning with his second nomination: Lifeboat, 1944.

Now, recall - or learn, if it's your first time here - we don't just focus on just the one film or the one category or even the one ceremony. No, I've watched 89 films released in 1944, and we're going to look at all of them, the good and the bad. We're gonna look at Charlie Chan films. We're gonna look at almost-nominated buzzworthy films. And, of course, we're gonna talk about World War II, still ongoing, though this would be the final full year of the war. Of the 89 films I screened, at least 49 either depict or reference - or are an allegory for - the War.

We'll get into it, starting tomorrow. But I do want you to know what we're talking about, so here are the 89 films we'll cover: