Oscars 1952: Best Actor

What to say about this crop of Best Actor nominees except to say that they are unusually great, all of them? How about this: 1941 and 1952 are in conversation with each other. John Ford wins in 1941, never nominated again until 1952, where he wins again. John Huston's directorial is in 1941; by 1952, he's nominated against Ford...and a veteran Oscar winner. For unnominated films, Swamp Water is remade as Lure of the Wilderness. And, if we're talking repeat winners, Gary Cooper finally wins an Oscar in 1941...only to repeat, once again uncontested, in 1952:

But who do you even vote for in this lineup? The Academy spoiled us this year, as witness:

1948: Best Supporting Actor

The moment The Treasure of the Sierra Madre opened back in January 1948, critics had been talking up Walter Huston's performance as a shoo-in for the Oscars. For the usual Awards Season reasons, of course: veteran actor, frequently nominated but never won, deglam...oh, and his acting's great, too! All true, but there's one more thing: who could resist the narrative of Legacy? Not only was Huston giving the performance of his life, he was doing so in a film written and directed by his own son, John. Upon winning the Oscar (oh, yes, you saw that coming if you didn't already know), Huston said, "I said to him, 'Son, if you ever become a writer, try to write a good part for your old man some time.' Well, by cracky, that's what he did!"

They were the first parent-child pair to win Academy Awards in the same ceremony, a feat later repeated by Francis Ford Coppola (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay) and his father Carmine Coppola (Original Score) for 1974's The Godfather: Part II.

But, while Huston's win may have been a cakewalk, he was up against what I consider one of this category's strongest lineups. If you please:

1950: Actor

Today we look at 1950's nominees for Best Actor. Three of these nominees first played their parts on Broadway, including the eventual winner:

Let's talk about it!

Flashback Friday: Return to Peyton Place

I finally saw Return to Peyton Place, the 1961 sequel to the 1957 Peyton Place, one of my all-time favorite movies, and both based on novels by Grace Metalious.

Have you seen Peyton Place? It has everything! Incest, murder, sex, a lack of sex that somehow everyone mistakes for too much sex, bastard children, town gossip raging out of control, dangerously liberal school administrators, suicide! All culminating in a dramatic trial that climaxes with town doctor Lloyd Nolan taking the stand to finger-wag the townspeople! Five of its nine Oscar nominations were for the actors, including Lana Turner's first and only for her role as secretive, untrusting, prudish Constance MacKenzie! Diane Varsi was also nominated for playing her haughty daughter Allison, who fills the interludes with purple voice-over about changing seasons and other metaphors! It was directed by Mark Valley of the Dolls Robson!

Can't beat the original!

How on earth could Return to Peyton Place possibly live up to the deliciousness of its predecessor, a movie that not only dared expose the vicious truth about American pettiness but looked great doing it? How?

Well, truthfully, it doesn't. Find out why.....after the jump.