The 1954 Retro Hollmann Awards: Part Two

Yesterday, we finally began the 1954 Retro Hollmann Awards. Today...we complete them.

Best Original Song

1. A Star is Born - "The Man That Got Away"
music by Harold Arlen
lyrics by Ira Gershwin


2. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - "Wonderful Wonderful Day"
music by Gene de Paul
lyrics by Johnny Mercer


3. White Christmas - "Sisters"
music and lyrics by Irving Berlin


4. Johnny Guitar - "Johnny Guitar"
music and lyrics by Peggy Lee and Victor Young


5. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - "Lonesome Polecat"
music by Gene de Paul
lyrics by Johnny Mercer

After the jump - Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture....and more!

The 1954 Retro Hollmann Awards: Part One

Extremely late. The 1954 Retro Hollmann Awards are today and tomorrow, nine categories each day. Who's nominated? You'll find out as we go along. For now, let's start with....

Best Actress

Judy Garland as Esther Blodgett / Vicki Lester

A Star is Born

She truly does it all: singing, dancing, comedy, drama - and more than once, all at once. Her chemistry with James Mason is perfect, her watchfulness, her knowing when to turn it on to cheer him up and when to fade back. Her song-work, of course, is superb, from the way she conjures a second "Born in a Trunk" out of nothing but living room furniture for "Someone at Last" to her gathering all her strength to sell the optimistic "Lose That Long Face" to, of course, "The Man That Got Away." You've heard the legend of Judy Garland; come see for yourself.

In second place, Danielle Darrieux in The Earrings of Madame De... - where frivolous flirting gives way to genuine passion. In third place, Rosaura Revueltas in Salt of the Earth - a marvelous arc where quiet housewife becomes fierce fighter for the working class. In fourth place, Brenda de Banzie in Hobson's Choice - a force of nature that's never overbearing, a genuine warmth that lives in tandem with her curt professionalism. In fifth place, Jane Powell in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - leading the film's balance between rough-and-ready horniness and family-friendly sweetness.

Eight more categories, including Best Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, after the jump.

Top Ten of 1954

With apologies for both the late posting and the absence of beloved titles like Executive Suite, Hobson's Choice, Prince Valiant, Riot in Cell Block 11, Salt of the Earth, and White Christmas.....

I present the Top Ten of 1954....

Day Nine: Best Actress, 1954

In 1940, at the ceremony honoring the films of 1939, Hattie McDaniel made history as the first black performer to be nominated for an Academy Award. She also made history as the first black winner, receiving the plaque for Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind.

It would take another 15 years for a second black performer to be nominated for an Oscar, which would be history-making anyway (when an industry does its utmost to ignore or handicap you, every step is a milestone). But Dorothy Dandridge's nomination for playing the titular role in Otto Preminger's adaptation of Carmen Jones carries an extra significance: it was the first ever for a black woman in Best Leading Actress. She would never be nominated again, a fact that some blame on Preminger, who during their four-year affair advised her against taking supporting roles in high-profile films, since a Best Actress nod meant she should only take star parts from then on. He was not necessarily wrong, but nor was he some altruist; Preminger had a history of taking actresses under his wing, rocketing them to stardom and Oscar nods, then controlling their careers into oblivion.

To this day, only ten women have repeated the feat, with Ruth Negga being the most recent for 2016's Loving. Monster's Ball's Halle Berry is still the only black winner for Best Actress, and she did so just two years after winning the Emmy equivalent for playing the title role in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Funny how things work out...

Of course, just as I'm crossing my fingers for a three-peat repeat in the supporting categories (ahem, Parasite), I'm also hoping that this year, we can add a few more names to the roster. Earlier this year, I predicted that this would be the first time since 1972 when more than one black actress got a Best Actress nomination, and although the names I have in mind may have changed (Lupitaaaaaaa!), I still expect it to happen. 

But you never know with Oscar. Sometimes he does the right thing. Other times, he surprises you in unpleasant ways:

The nominees were....

Day Seven: The Scores, 1954

Is there any branch more exclusive than the Music one? In looking up the usual trivia of previous nominees, past winners, etc., I found that of the thirteen composers nominated - and I'm including both Musical and Non-Musical categories - all but two were either previous nominees, previous winners, or on their first of many nominations. Only Larry Adler and Leonard Bernstein, both up for Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, were one-and-dones, though it's worth noting that Saul Chaplin, a co-winner for Scoring of a Musical Picture, would once again triumph in that same category for co-adapting Bernstein's West Side Story compositions for the cinema.

The nominees after the jump, starting with the non-musicals....

Films of '54: Eight

Next week, we'll delve fully into the Best Picture nominees. But while we have the weekend, let's take a closer look at some of the films discussed earlier this week that weren't up for Best Picture...

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

nominee - Best Actor (Dan O'Herlihy)

My only exposure to this story was a comic adaptation (I think Classics Illustrated) I read in either fourth or fifth grade. I barely remembered any of it except that Crusoe's deserted on an island and then Friday eventually appears and is more or less adopted, so I was prepared for some problematic times. But wow, I was not ready for such a beautifully-shot satire about stubborn imperialism and white supremacy, in which a spoiled idiot almost dies, spends thirty years trying to recreate a parody of western society, before realizing there are other, non-white people on "his" island. It's hilarious.

Eight more, after the jump......

Day Five: Best Actor, 1954

I have no way of knowing this for certain - I wasn't there, I don't have access to archives - but historians tell us that Bing Crosby was the favorite to win for his performance as a recovering alcoholic in The Country Girl. It seems bonkers now, considering Crosby was already an Oscar winner for Going My Way in 1944, while Marlon Brando was not only in the Best Picture frontrunner, but had been accumulating momentum with three previous, unsuccessful nominations, all in consecutive years: 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire, 1952's Viva Zapata!, and 1953's Julius Caesar. Not to mention it was a rematch against Humphrey Bogart, whose win for The African Queen came the same year as A Streetcar Named Desire. Plus, he had already swept what we now call "the precursors." But there you have it - the results were a shock, an upset:

Just another example of how times have changed as far as Oscar narratives, momentum, and expectations go. Anyway, the nominees were:

Day Three: Original Song, 1954

The nominees for Best Original Song are:

"The High and the Mighty" from The High and the Mighty

music by Dimitri Tiomkin

lyrics by Ned Washington

** / disqualified

Like "Jean", a nominated song that doesn't even appear in the film! Not for us, anyway - Elmer Bernstein was reportedly so intent on repeating the Score/Song double dip of 1952's High Noon, he had a special print featuring his original song booked for one week in a Los Angeles theater, thus meeting the standards for qualification. A cheap stunt, if you ask me - and for a song that mars his own beautiful score with stupid, stupid lyrics!

"The Man That Got Away" from A Star is Born

music by Harold Arlen

lyrics by Ira Gershwin

*****

The song that convinces Norman Maine that Esther Blodgett is star material. Goosebumps! The song was shot a number of times with different outfits, background, etc. The one above made the cut, but no matter the look, the song - and Judy's performance of it - is perfect.

"Hold My Hand" from Susan Slept Here

**

Completely forgot about this moment, this song - but not the movie. It's a romantic-comedy about a 35-year-old screenwriter who weds a 17-year-old transient to keep her out of trouble. Lord have mercy. The song's not bad, though. It's fine.

"Three Coins in the Fountain" from Three Coins in the Fountain

music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn

***

we;ll talk more about the movie when we do Best Picture (oh, how we'll talk!), but this tune, performed over the opening titles by an uncredited Frank Sinatra, is....cute! It's certainly memorable. Very nice, very nicely done.

"Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)" from White Christmas

music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

****

Oh wow, watching this movie for the first time in four years was a great reminder of why it's a classic. what a gem! As for the song, I love it, even if the lyric where it's implied his "blessings" are his kids make absolutely no sense in this context.

--------------------------------------

"Three Coins in the Fountain" was a bona fide radio hit, so you better believe it won. Here's Dean Martin performing it on the broadcast:

For me, it's not even a question, no thinking required, my vote goes to

ARLEN & GERSHWIN

for

"THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY"

from

A STAR IS BORN

Tomorrow, the nominees for Best Supporting Actress: Nina Foch (Executive Suite), Katy Jurado (Broken Lance), Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront, Jan Sterling (The High and the Mighty) and Claire Trevor (The High and the Mighty)

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My Oscar Predictions, 2018 Edition

My final predictions for the 91st Academy Awards in all 24 categories, in three acts.

Act One: No Dog in This Fight (or, i ain't seen all these)

Animated Short - "Bao"
Documentary Short - "Period. End of Sentence."
Live Action Short - "Skin"
Animated Feature - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Documentary Feature - Free Solo
Foreign Language Film - Roma
Original Song - "Shallow" from A Star is Born
Visual Effects - First Man
Makeup and Hairstyling - Vice
Cinematography - Roma

Act Two: Opinions, I Have Them (or, the ol' will win/should win game)

Sound Mixing - Bohemian Rhapsody (should win: Roma)
Sound Editing - Bohemian Rhapsody (should win: First Man)
Costume Design - Black Panther (should win: The Favourite, but I'd be down with Black Panther)
Film Editing - Vice (should win: BlacKkKlansman)
Production Design - The Favourite (should win: The Favourite)

The final act after the jump...

Oscar Guesses

The nominations for the 91st Annual Academy Awards are tomorrow SO let's predict 'em.

Officially, I'm predicting just seven films for Best Picture; A Star is Born leading with 10 nominations.

Check 'em out, after the jump...

Lucky 13

A great many films to discuss....

Halloween

dir: David Gordon Green

scr: David Gordon Green & Danny McBride & Jeff Fradley

adapted from: characters created by John Carpenter and Debra Hill

seen: Cinerama Dome at ArcLight Hollywood

This Halloween fan was satisfied. In ignoring all but the first film in the series, the filmmakers both explore the trauma of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, both gutting and bad-ass), and how that trauma is dismissed, re-interpreted, or forgotten by the world's mythologizing of a serial killer and his crimes. As a fan of true crime podcasts and docs, it hit close to home.

Venom, First Man, A Star is Born, and more - after the jump...

Coming Attractions: Most Anticipated 2018

Happy New Year! And happy week o' lists, as we look back at the year that was in movies...

But first! The year ahead! These are the fifteen titles that I'm most looking forward to in 2018...

15. Halloween

release date: October 19th
dir: David Gordon Green
scr: Green/Danny McBride, based on characters created by John Carpenter & Debra Hill
David Gordon Green - a very solid director - has the direct blessing of John Carpenter himself, and Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode. Apparently this film is ignoring every Halloween film after the original, which is kind of a shame, but I guess there's no other way to bring Laurie back, considering the events of Halloween: Resurrection (I'm not apologizing if that's a spoiler for you - that movie is all about Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks). Yours truly owns every Halloween film on BluRay, so yeah, I'm here for it.

Musicals, dogs, klansmen and more, after the jump...

The Bicentennial Adapted Score

Did you know that this is a category that still technically exists? Yeah. According to official Academy Rules, Best Original Musical can be activated if it is determined that there are enough quality-level films to qualify. All they have to do is have at least five original songs that propel the narrative, not just incidental or "poppy" songs.

Now, it didn't used to be that way. Back when this was Adapted Score, all you had to do was arrange previously-written work, or the songs within your original musical, into an instrumental score. Which, like, if that rule was still in place, the number of studios that would squeeze an extra nomination out of that would be nuts. Think of Into the Woods, Pitch Perfect, Les Miserables, Black Swan, True Grit - they all would have been nominated here, you know it. Though the fact that they couldn't open up this rule for La La Land, Sing Street, and Moana makes me wonder if anyone knows this rule exists anymore.

Anyway. The 1976 nominees included arrangements of Woody Guthrie songs; arrangements of Paul Williams songs; and Paul Williams. The folk hero took the prize...sort of:

Actually, it was Leonard Rosenman, his second Oscar in a row, as he points out, having won the previous year for Barry Lyndon; he would eventually be nominated for his original score for Cross Creek.

The nominees for Best Adapted Score:

The Bicentennial Song

It is incredible that the category of Best Original Song has lasted as long as it has. It is possibly the most expendable category at the Oscars. I know people who think the ceremony runs too long always suggest moving the Short Categories to the Governors Awards, but at least those serve as calling-cards for obscurer filmmakers.

But Original Song? It is not like it was in the 1930s, when musicals were as common as romantic-comedies and a song was as much a part of the studio package as a leading lady and a happy ending. When was the last time the winner even played on the radio? Outside of a dance remix? You know Justin Timberlake isn't going home with the Oscar this year!

Still, it makes for an entertaining category, a fun diversion during the ceremony, and a chance for Neil Diamond to accidentally call Ayn Rand a nominated songwriter:

(It's kind of bad form for Diamond to openly root for Barbra, but very gracious of her to cede the mic to Paul Williams)

So, consider this a musical break - the nominees, with video, after the jump.

The Bicentennial Cinematography

It's all-star lineup of Cinematographers for 1976, with three former winners and two previous nominees - and many of them faced off against each other before.

Just the year before, in fact, Haskell Wexler's co-DP'ing of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest faced off against Robert Surtees' solo work on The Hindenburg. Both had won previously, but they both settled for bridesmaid status - John Alcott's work for Barry Lyndon went home with the Oscar. Surtees already had three to his name, and Wexler already had one. Soon to be two:

In 1973, Surtees was once again up for the award, this time for Best Picture Oscar Winner The Sting. His competition? The Sting's only real rival for the Big Prize, The Exorcist, photographed by Mr. Owen Roizman. They lost to Sven Nykvist's Cries and Whispers, which made it the second time they'd both competed and lost - in 1971, Roizman was up for the first time in his career for The French Connection, while Surtees had a two-for-one special in The Last Picture and Summer of '42. The Oscar went to Oswald Morris for Fiddler on the Roof.

Ernest Laszlo met none of these men on the battlefield when he won for Ship of Fools. And indeed, he didn't meet them the year after, either: his Fantastic Voyage work was nominated in the Color category, while Wexler's winning work for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? won in the Black-and-White category. By the following ceremony, there was no separation, so that the black-and-white In Cold Blood competed with Surtees' work on both Doctor Dolittle and The Graduate, as well as first-time nominee Richard H. Kline for Camelot.

What I'm saying is, some categories tend to have the same names batted around. It's probably why the Class of 2016 is such a breath of fresh air - Rodrigo Prieto is the one previous nominee of the bunch, and his only other nomination was 11 years ago.

The nominees and rankings of 1976, after the jump.