Henry V came out in April. The American studios, after almost twenty years at the game, knew too well that a late-in-the-year release bettered the odds of getting a Best Picture nomination. They weren't wrong: the other four Best Picture nominees all made their LA debuts within seven days of each other.
Beginning with The Yearling, which wound up becoming the #10 film of 1946. Based on the novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, it's the story of a farming family in a remote area of South Florida - Cross Creek covers Rawlings' time at the place that inspired the book. The protagonist is a boy who befriends a deer; Pa allows him to still a boy in some respects while teaching him to be a man in others; Ma is the unhappiest woman in Christendom. Although it wouldn't hit New York until after the new year, it debuted in LA on December 18th.
The rest of the slate all dropped within 24 hours of each other. On Christmas Eve, holiday favorite It's a Wonderful Life made its LA debut, four days after its NYC bow. The very next day, Angelenos finally got to see The Best Years of Our Lives, a three-hour drama about veterans adjusting to life at home, which had played in New York since November. It wound up as the #1 movie of the year - and the Best Picture Oscar winner. The Razor's Edge also came out on Christmas Day: the heady drama about a man seeking enlightenment amid the tragedies of the friends around him ended its run as the #7 movie of the year - yes, higher than It's a Wonderful Life, which was not an immediate success!
The only other films that competed with them those days were Humoresque (December 25) and, at the very last minute, Duel in the Sun (December 31). Those two and the rest of the Fall-Winter programming, right now:
