The 1945 Retro Hollmann Awards: Part One

With the Top Ten posted, we can finally start the grand finale. Here are the first nine categories for my Retro Hollmann Awards honoring the films of 1945:

Billy's Turn: Best Director, 1945

We came to 1945 for the same reason we came to 1944: to explore all the years where Alfred Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director. This was his third nomination overall, for his second film under the auspices of producer David O. Selznick. The two admired each other, but both laid heavy hands in their work, so it's little surprise that, despite technically working for Selznick, Hitch made more films on loan to other studios during their seven years "together." Spellbound, fortunately, was a huge hit, the third greatest earner of the year in the US, while breaking box office records twice over in London.

Hitchcock found himself up for Best Director in a rare 3/5 repeat of the previous year's Best Director lineup:

Clarence Brown, National Velvet

Alfred Hitchcock, Spellbound

Leo McCarey, The Bells of St. Mary's

Jean Renoir, The Southerner

Billy Wilder, The Lost Weekend

The year before, Hitchcock, McCarey, and Wilder were all nominated, with McCarey winning; this year, Wilder would come out the winner. Hitchcock and Wilder were up against each other twice more, which we'll get into next month. In the meantime, my rankings, from fifth to first:

The Big Winner: Best Picture, 1945

Like its leading man, The Lost Weekend was inevitable. Indeed, in a time when the Golden Globes had winners only, the NYFCC didn't always have runner-ups, and the National Board of Review could give its top prize to documentaries, The Lost Weekend is the only film of any of these five to appear on other contemporary Best Picture lists!

Your nominees for the 18th Academy Awards' Best Motion Picture of the Year:

Anchors Aweigh

The Bells of St. Mary's

The Lost Weekend

Mildred Pierce

Spellbound

My rankings, from fifth to first:

The Sure Thing: Best Actor, 1945

If you were paying attention and betting against Ray Milland for 1945's Best Actor Oscar, you deserved to lose your money. 

The versatile Canadian actor had done light comedy, musicals, horror, spy thrillers - and that was just his 1944 slate!  With Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend, he took on the role of a writer who spends his days and nights getting boozed up, and when he isn't, he's scheming how to score the next drink. Not exactly the most commercial of plotlines, Paramount had insisted Wilder cast the reliable Milland to at least guarantee some butts in seats. From its first screenings in London, the seats were filled and the critical praise effusive; by the time it reached the United States, trade columns were already calling him the favorite for the Academy Award. And the year seemed to bear that out, as he won plaudits from the New York Critics, the National Board of Review, and the Hollywood Foreign Press. And yes, eventually, finally, the Oscar itself:

That wasn't even the end of his run, by the way. Six months later, The Lost Weekend was one of 44 films selected to compete at the 1st Cannes Film Festival. Not only was the film one of 11 to share the Grand Prix (this was before Palme d'Or), but Milland was named Best Actor - and didn't have to share at all.

But back to matters Oscar. These were the nominees for Best Actor:

Bing Crosby, The Bells of St. Mary's

Gene Kelly, Anchors Aweigh

Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend

Gregory Peck, The Keys of the Kingdom

Cornel Wilde, A Song to Remember

Bing Crosby was back in his Oscar-winning role of Father O'Malley in The Bells of St. Mary's, which, like its predecessor, was the highest-grossing film of the year. Gene Kelly made a surprise splash, and his only nomination, for Anchors Aweigh, a musical comedy about horny Navy men getting domesticated. There's Milland. Gregory Peck was only 28 when he played the Catholic missionary priest in The Keys of the Kingdom, which takes place over 50 years. And, finally, because Oscar law states someone has to be nominated for a biopic, there's Cornel Wilde as Chopin in A Song to Remember.

My rankings, from fifth to first:

The Last of It: 1945, Part Nine

November and December 1945. By the end of the year, the Nuremberg Trials begin, revolution breaks out in Indonesia, and 51 nations join the United Nations. The year began with a world at war and ended with a world determined to find peace, even as some nations were still struggling to establish their independence from colonial rule (not just Indonesia; India was also trying to get the Brits out, while civil war continued in China).

Hollywood-wise, the heavy-hitters at the Oscars all came from the last two months of the year. Deliberately saved 'til the last minute by the studios, or just recency bias from weary voters momentarily looking up from post-War news? Whatever the reason, eleven of the twelve following films wound up nominated for Academy Awards:

Casting Coup Month: The Lost Weekend

Last year, I did a Casting Coup of All the King's Men, the Best Picture winner of 1949. I never saw the original. I never saw the remake. I read the book senior year of high school, so my memories of some of the details were kind of hazy. Nevertheless, I went with it, for it was an Oscar-winning film and I knew who to cast.

This year, we get a similar treatment. I have never seen this movie. What I have done, though, is read the book. Recently, in fact. It was Thanksgiving Weekend, and I was over at my grandfather's house, celebrating with my mom's side of the family. I skimmed through the many titles on Poppa's bookshelves. Poppa is a voracious reader, has a library's worth of fiction and non-fiction, the entire Travis McGee collection, and still remembers most of the details of each one. I was torn between two titles: The Bridge Over the River Kwai and The Lost Weekend, books he acquired when he subscribed to a Time-Life book club back in the 1960s. The covers were awesome, though falling apart. The binding job was more for artistic purposes than to actually hold a damn book together, but I soldiered through the detaching cover and read the novel in three days. And it took me a week to get through Pippi Longstocking.

The book was just amazing. The period of time mentioned in the title is a span of four days in the life of Don Birnam. It is a fascinating piece depicting the mental, emotional and physical state of the alcoholic, with all the faux conversions and desperate action that is now familiar to audience members. Yet Charles Jackson's semi-autobiographical novel was years ahead of its time, one of the first to acknowledge alcoholism as a disease.

How they managed to adapt this novel, made up mostly of inner monologues, is beyond me. They must have done something right, though. The film absolutely dominated at the 1945 Academy Awards (that's right, same as The Picture of Dorian Gray). The Lost Weekend won four of its seven nominations. John F. Seitz lost Cinematography, Black and White to Dorian Gray, Doane Harrison's Film Editing to Robert Kern's National Velvet, and Miklos Rozsa's score lost to himself, but for Spellbound. But the other four were just a little important, I think. Like, say, Best Writing, Screenplay (Charles Brackett/Billy Wilder), Best Actor (Ray Milland), Best Director (Billy Wilder) and Best Picture. So...yeah, just a little awesome.

RABINOWITZ
Who is He: Runs a pawn shop, where Don is at his lowest.

Originally played by:
The always uncredited, frequently unpictured Milton Wallace (The Killers, None But the Lonely Heart)

My Choice:

Saul Rubinek (Santa's Slay, The Express)
The book makes much of the fact that Rabinowitz is Jewish, as it illustrates Don's drunken anti-Semitism. Rubinek is a respected yet unassuming character actor who is very Jewish. Elliott Gould would be too distracting, so Rubinek has to step in.


DR. STEVENS
Who is He: The doctor that runs the Alcoholic Ward at the hospital. He sees his wing as merely a place for drunks to stay until they get enough strangth to drink themselves to oblivion again.

Originally played by:

Emmett Vogan (Charlie Chan at the Opera, Edison, the Man)

My Choice: BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Actor (Carrington)

Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Brazil)
The doctor is a much bigger part in the book (he goes uncredited in the film). Pryce has that professional air about him. He's someone you can trust. Which is odd, because he plays sleazebags quite a bit. But he's rather professorial, and would sound natural in the hospital scenes.


BIM
Who is He: A limp-wristed nurse at the hospital, his attempts to soothe Don are both comforting and uncomfortable. He understands better than most what Don is going through.

Originally played by:

Frank Faylen (Mission to Moscow, Funny Girl)

My Choice:

Pruitt Taylor Vince (Nobody's Fool, Indentity)
Vince is always playing someone who is a little "off". I've always suspected he's a little retarded, but I can't find anything proving this. So, anyway, I think he can do the comforting thing, but since most of this is Don's impression of people, and Bim kind of weirds him out, Pruitt Taylor Vince. That is all.


GLORIA
Who is She: She works at the bar Don frequents. Is she a call girl? A slut? Maybe. But she seems to be really impressed by Don, and she even makes a date with him.

Originally played by:

Doris Dowling (The Blue Dahlia, The Car)

My Choice: BAFTA Award Winner for Best Actress (Lost in Translation), Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress in a Drama (Girl with a Pearl Earring, Lost in Translation, A Love Song for Bobby Long) and Best Supporting Actress (Match Point)

Scarlett Johansson (He's Just Not That Into You, The Nanny Diaries)
I will take this opportunity to say that The Nanny Diaries is an extremely funny, highly underrated movie, and the fact that I do not own it is abominable. But Johansson is great. She's a great actress who could use a few small character roles to remind us of the heights she can achieve. Gloria is a minor character, true, but Scarlett could play it. It's Marble Columns with depth.


SAM
Who is He: The bartender at Don's preferred bar. Knows he should stop Don, but business is business. Unfortunately, though, Don just kind of runs up a tab, leading him to horrifying lows.

Originally played by: BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Foreign Actor (David and Lisa)

Howard Da Silva (Sergeant York, Mommie Dearest)

My Choice:

Ian Gomez (Rookie of the Year, My Big Fat Greek Wedding)
Bartender look, first of all. But secondly, his roles in film and television reveal him to be a sympathetic, "best friend" type. As a bartender should be.


WICK BIRNAM
Who is He: Don's brother, who says he worries about the alcoholism, but also enab les him through denial. Wick's kind of a pussy, I feel, but who wouldn't be in such a situation?

Originally played by:

Phillip Terry (Honolulu, Calling Dr. Kildare), and three-year hubby of Joan Crawford

My Choice:

Nicky Katt (Snow Angels, The Dark Knight)
The main guy in the story is Don, with everyone else only occupying a couple of scenes or so. Thus, the supporting cast should consist of outstanding yet chameleon-like character actors. Thus, Nicky Katt, a good actor who resembles the lead I have in mind. He can play the human, spineless character. You've seen it. You havem, don't tell me otherwise.


HELEN ST. CHARLES
Who is She: Don's longtime girlfriend. She suffers through all of Don's problems, taking care of him, supporting him. Helen's a fucking saint, but even she has her limits. If only she'd act on them.

Originally played by: Academy Award Winner for Best Actress (Johnny Belinda), Golden Globe Winner for Best Actress in a Drama (Johnny Belinda, The Blue Veil) and Female World Favorite

Jane Wyman (Anything Goes, Night and day)

My Choice:

Sarah Paulson (Down with Love, The Spirit)
Paulson was fantastic as Harriet hayes, the Kristin Chenowith-inspired sketch comedy actress on Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. She was soothing, but worn out and serious-minded. Which is what it takes to play Helen. Whose name is also an H. Paulson is marvelous.


DON BIRNAM
Who is He: An alcoholic. He is an intellectual, a closeted homosexual (oh, come on, it's true!), a man who fancies himself to be a better man than he really is. I mean, he knows he's an alky, but he also thinks he's the classiest alky this side of Nick Charles. And no one is cooler than Nick Charles, so you know Don has a problem.

Originally played by: Academy Award Winner for Best Actor (The Lost Weekend), Golden Globe Winner for Best Actor in a Drama (The Lost Weekend)

Ray Milland (The Informer, The Uninvited)

My Choice: SAG Award Nominee for Best Ensemble (Into the Wild)

Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers, Rudy)
I don't think I should have to justify it. Vaughn, to me, always seems drunk. he does. He's not very fit, he's sloppy, but he's also (somehow) attractive to women. Don is comic, but there is tragedy in his comedy. Like The Break-Up, actually, which worked when Vince Vaughn was actually going through a break-up, and not being Vince Vaughn, with as many "funny" lines as possible. No, Vince Vaughn can nail this part, balancing the lighter touches (two of them, I think) with the much sadder ones. Much, much sadder. Vaughn is a great actor who needs a challenge.

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Best Actor: Vince Vaughn
Best Supporting Actor: Nicky Katt
Best Supporting Actress: Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Paulson