The Winners - 1941 Retro Hollmann Awards

As the title says. Check out the Top Ten for more on my favorites of the year; look at the nominees to see the full...nominees.

We begin with an overture. Well, not really an overture, it's still an award, but we still begin with instrumentals to set the mood. Here is Best Score in order from #5 to the winner, setting the mood for the night ahead:

Best Score

5. That Night in Rio

Alfred Newman / David Buttolph / Harry Warren

4. Citizen Kane

Bernard Herrmann

3. Blood and Sand

Alfred Newman / David Buttolph / Vicente Gómez

2. All That Money Can Buy

Bernard Herrmann

1. The Wolf Man

Charles Previn / Hans J. Salter / Frank Skinner

And on with the show:

The 1941 Retro Hollmann Awards Nominees

After 82 films and my Top Ten, here are my nominees for the 1941 Retro Hollmann Awards - 34 films across 18 categories:

My Top Ten of 1941

I watched 82 movies for 1941:

All That Money Can Buy

All-American Co-Ed

Aloma of the South Seas

Appointment for Love

Back Street

Ball of Fire

The Big Store

Billy the Kid

Birth of the Blues

Blood and Sand

Blossoms in the Dust

Blues in the Night

Buck Privates

Cheers for Miss Bishop

The Chocolate Soldier

Citizen Kane

The Devil and Miss Jones

The Devil Pays Off

Dive Bomber

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Dumbo

Fantasia

The Flame of New Orleans

Flight Command

The Great Lie

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

High Sierra

Hold Back the Dawn

Hold That Ghost

How Green Was My Valley

Hudson's Bay

I Wanted Wings

Ice-Capades

The Invisible Woman

King of the Zombies

Ladies in Retirement

Lady Be Good

The Lady Eve

Las Vegas Nights

The Little Foxes

Louisiana Purchase

Lydia

Major Barbara

The Maltese Falcon

Man Hunt

Meet John Doe

The Men in Her Life

Mercy Island

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Moon Over Miami

Night Train to Munich

One Foot in Heaven

Penny Serenade

Pépé le Moko

The Reluctant Dragon

Ridin' on a Rainbow

The Sea Wolf

Sergeant York

Shadow of the Thin Man

Sis Hopkins

Skylark

Smilin' Through

So Ends Our Night

The Son of Monte Cristo

The Strawberry Blonde

Sun Valley Serenade

Sundown

Sunny

Suspicion

Swamp Water

Tall, Dark and Handsome

Tanks a Million

That Hamilton Woman

That Night in Rio

That Uncertain Feeling

This Woman is Mine

Tobacco Road

Topper Returns

When Ladies Meet

The Wolf Man

A Yank in the R.A.F.

You'll Never Get Rich

And now I finally give you a Top Ten. A hat tip to the movies that almost made this list: Blues in the Night, Dumbo, Fantasia, Major Barbara, and my #11, That Hamilton Woman.

In alphabetical order:

Oscars 1941: Best Director

Today, we look at Best Director of 1941, which John Ford won, accomplishing two rare feats: the three-time Oscar winner and the back-to-back Oscar winner:

Ford was not the first to pull off three: Frank Capra was when he won in 1938 for You Can't Take It with You, following his triumphs for It Happened One Night and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. He was, however, the first to get two of them back to back, a feat only accomplished by two other filmmakers: Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Alejandro González Iñárritu. Ford of course deserved the Oscar for The Grapes of Wrath and The Informer - but what of How Green Was My Valley? My thoughts:

Oscars 1941: Best Actor

Gary Cooper was the star of the biggest hit of the year, a heartthrob and a serious actor who had headlined the first Best Picture winner and many nominees in that category since. A previous nominee, is it any surprise that it was he who took home the prize?

Not really. But I do feel...well, let's talk.

Oscar 1941: Best Picture of the Year

It's taken me a long time to figure out how to write this one. Ranking the Best Picture nominees of 1941 is tough because, truthfully, I don't think any of these are bad. There's at least one movie I dislike but, even that one is well-mounted and, I think, well-meaning enough that one can't just dismiss it out of hand. Too, there are a few that I personally like but think a Best Picture nomination is a little much...even if I can't quite put a finger on why. My Top Three are no-brainers but, in what order? And, admittedly, there are some I know I admire but do not necessarily recall specifics as to why. How does one rank that?

I did my best. Here are the ten nominees for Best Picture, in ascending order of how I like them:

1941: The Legend Arrives

Ah, now we come to it, the first of the year's Best Picture nominees. It also happens to be, quite possibly, the most famous Best Picture loser of all time: Citizen Kane.

Dubbed the greatest American film of all time by the American Film Institute, inspiration for two award-winning films (HBO's RKO 291 and Netflix's Mank), Citizen Kane was the film debut of theatre and radio wünderkind Orson Welles: at 20, he had directed the famous Voodoo Macbeth for the Federal Theatre Project; at 23, he rocketed to fame thanks to his infamous radio adaptation of War of the Worlds. He started Citizen Kane when he was 24, filmed at 25, and released the very week of his 26th birthday. Its depiction of a newspaper magnate with political ambitions who tosses his wife aside for a showbiz starlet and becomes increasingly tyrannical hit a nerve with William Randolph Hearst, newspaper magnate with political ambition who maintained a long affair with showbiz starlet Marion Davies, and he used his power to knock down the film's reputation and release before it was even finished. 

Still, it went on to be declared Best Film by that year's National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics' Circle and garnered nine Oscar nominations. And, of course, won out in the end, historically. But it did not just show up all by itself one May morning. Here's what surrounded it:

Casting Coup: Citizen Kane

*From the original Casting Coup Month. I knew I was taking a risk in re-doing Citizen Kane, but the point of CCM is to spark debate and conversation. Also, to have fun. By the way, this was done ten months before the release of Doubt, so I think I can claim firsties on Streep/Adams pairings. As with all other LJ posts, hot-linking did abound. All pictures have been replaced with brand new ones because of this. Non-hot-linked ones.*

CASTING COUP MONTH presents an American classic...reborn!

Much is made of Citizen Kane, a controversial classic that kinda sorta bombed upon its first release. Saved from obscurity by film scholars, Citizen Kane is a shining testament to both America and the genius of young Orson Welles.

Citizen Kane (1941) was nominated for nine Academy Awards. It won one. One Oscar. It lost Film Editing (Robert Wise), Sound Recording (John Aalberg), Art Direction (Al Fields/Darrell Silvera/Perry Ferguson/Van Nest Polglase), Cinematography (Gregg Toland), Dramatic Score (Bernard Herrmann), Director (Orson Welles), Actor (Orson Welles) and Picture. The winners were, in that order: Sergeant York (William Holmes), That Hamilton Woman (Jack Whitney), How Green was My Valley (Richard Day/Nathan Juran/Thomas Little), How Green was My Valley (Arthur Miller), All That Money Can Buy (Bernard Herrmann), John Ford (How Green was My Valley), Gary Cooper (Sergeant York), and How GReen was My Valley.

It won Best Original Screenplay (Herman J. Mankiewicz/Orson Welles), one of the most important categories in the Oscar race (the others are adapted screenplay, actress, and supporting actor). Orson had to be content with that Oscar, and although he was later nominated for his work on The Magnificent Ambersons, he would never quite achieve the heights promised by Citizen Kane.

He got the last laugh, supposedly. In both 1997 and 2007, Citizen Kane was named the #1 Film of All Time by the American Film Institute. The box office debacle, the bridesmaid at the Oscars, became the most well-respected film in history (that's not Casablanca), the one film teachers use to illustrate what you will never achieve. But you know, it might have done more good if Citizen Kane had gotten recognition in previous years, before its writer/director/star was reduced to this:



Anyway, let's take a look at who I consider capable of filling those formidable shoes:

JIM W. GETTYS
Who is He: Kane's rival for governor, an amoral, unscrupulous man who dips his hand in blackmail and treachery.

Originally played by: Ray Collins (the man on the stairs)



My Choice: An Englishman



Popular character actor Ciaran Hinds (There Will Be Blood, The Phantom of the Opera)


JERRY THOMPSON
Who is He: A reporter investigating Kane's last words, he spends all his time in the shadows, his back to the camera.

Originally played by: William Alland



My Choice: Seriously, after Lord of the Rings, where did he go?



Elijah Wood (Everything is Illuminated, Sin City)


EMILY MONROE NORTON KANE
Who is She: Kane's first wife, the niece of the President of the United States, who dies in a car accident with Kane's only son (not a spoiler).

Originally played by: Ruth Warrick



My Choice: One of my top ten favorite living actresses.



Academy Award Nominee Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights, The Hours)


WALTER PARKS THATCHER
Who is He: Kane's boyhood guardian, a banker that Kane never really gets along with. Like, at all.

Originally played by: George Coulouris (in the top hat)



My Choice: One of my top five favorite living actors.



Former Hollmann Awards host Philip Baker Hall (The Amityville Horror, The Matador)


MR. BERNSTEIN
Who is He: Kane's accountant or something, a man who genuinely believes that Kane is, like, Jesus or something. Except he's Jewish, so Jesus is probably not the most accurate comparison here. Messiah, maybe?

Originally played by: Everett Sloane, who wears glasses



My Choice: Another old favorite, who gets mad respect over in Britain.



Richard Schiff (Ray, Se7en)


MARY KANE
Who is She: Kane's mother, who gives him over to Thatcher early in his life.

Originally played by: Academy Award Nominee Agnes Moorehead (Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte)



My Choice: Oh, please, like I could resist this...



Academy Award/Hollmann Award Winner Meryl Streep (A Prairie Home Companion, Sophie's Choice)


SUSAN ALEXANDER KANE
Who is She: Kane's number two wife, a "singer" he has an affair with while still married to Wife #1. Fond of jigsaw puzzles.

Originally played by: Dorothy Comingore (not with the mustache)



My Choice: The challenge here is to get her to sing worse than she does.



Academy Award Nominee Amy Adams (Junebug, Enchanted)


JEDEDIAH LELAND
Who is He: Kane's best friend, a writer for the paper (he specializes in the arts), more scrupulous and honest than Kane.

Originally played by: Joseph "How You Like My Bad Ass" Cotten, to the left



My Choice: Bigger than Joe, but just as good an actor.



Academy Award Winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote, Charlie Wilson's War)


CHARLES FOSTER KANE
Who is He: A newspaper magnate who personifies America.

Originally played by: Academy Award Winner Orson Welles (Citizen Kane)



My Choice: Amazingly, this, to me, was the most obvious and easiest pick of the cast.



Josh Brolin (Milk, Melinda and Melinda)


How about that? And by the way, every picture of the original stars is from the movie. Hoo-ah!


*Um, that last line was quite true at the time, and important because it was a first. Now I make it a point to find stills from the film.*