1931 - Feeling Depressed? Go Watch a Western

Starring Robert Dix and Irene Dunne, Cimarron is an epic tale spanning 40 years chronicling the life of Osage, a fictional town in Oklahoma from its roots as a pioneer town that exploded into a thriving metropolis following a great oil discovery.
This was the first film to be nominated in every major category of the Oscars and the first and only Western to receive an Academy award until 1990 when Dances With Wolves received the honor of Best Picture.
Yancey Cravat, a lawyer and newspaper editor, sets out under the American dream of manifest destiny to join the thousands of others hoping to settle the West. He brings his wife Sabra and son, Cimarron, to the town of Osage and transforms it through his charisma that inspires it's citizens and courage to stand against the lawless men who threaten the towns existence.
His desire for adventure, however, leads him to search for new land, leaving his wife to run the newspaper and raise their, now, two children. Years later he returns.......they find oil....so he leaves......then he returns.....aaaaaaand....then he leaves...and finally, years later, on the day Sabra is announced as the newest member to congress she finds him dying in a puddle of mud and oil after a disastrous explosion on one of the rigs. The End
Interesting Facts:
Though it was an Oscar winner, Cimarron lost money in the box office - the only film in history to do so. However this can be due to the fact that it was released during the darkest period of the Great Depression.
Irene Dunne is considered the best actress to never have won an Academy Award despite being nominated five times in her career.
The movie is based on an Edna Ferber novel who also wrote Giant and Showboat which was adapted into a Tony Award winning musical.
One theme that seems to garner much attention in this film is it's depiction of ethnicities. Although we would argue that this film is not a commentary on racism it is not without it's very stereotypical portrayals of various ethnic minorities.

Now, let's simmer on Cimarron.....

Cin: (cynical laughter) That's a good one Nicole
Nic: I know right? So I was really expecting more aliens when I first heard this title
Cin: Aliens?
Nic: Well yeah, sounds kind of sci-fi don't you think? Or maybe I'm just thinking of the Chrsysalids. What's up with the title, apart from being his son's name, it didn't really come into play
Cin: Actually it did Nicole. Sabra's mother and brother made comments that they couldn't believe he was taking her into "Cimarron country" which means wild. Apparently it was a river that flows from New Mexico into Oklahoma.
Nic: .....oh....missed that. Ssssooooooo......
Cin: Don't you want to know what I think?
Nic: Well yeah, but I didn't want us to fall into a rut
Cin: Right...cause we're not in a rut now?
Nic: I just meant that we always seem to start each entry this way. Just wanna keep it fresh ya know. We've got over 80 films to do.
Cin: Hmmm
Nic: Okay, carrying on. Cindy, what did you think?
Cin: I think this is the worst film by far. I thought it was poorly written, choppy, it was almost like an ancient soap opera, the acting was melodramatic. The only thing that was interesting was the take on history during the 40 year span.
Nic: So even worse than Wings?
Cin: Oh yes, there was a lot that I appreciated about Wings. The style and what they tried to do. This was just bad story telling. I liked Irene Dunne
Dave: Oh, was it another war movie?
Cin: No it was a western. Enough about me and David's rehearsal tonight. What did you think?
Nic: BORING!!!!
Cin: Was there anything you liked about it?
Nic: .......................I will echo your sentiment on the portrayal of the time. I have always found stories of settling the wild west intriguing. Hence my love of our Little House on the Prairie Sunday night dates.
Dave: Except when they're babies die.
Nic: Otherwise I found it was not a cohesive story and though it seemed as though it was supposed to centre around what's his face, I thought it was more about Irene Dunne's character as she struggles to keep her family and their dreams afloat while her husband is off satisfying his own wanderlust.
Cin: Yeah. I'm really looking forward to Friday actually.
Nic: What's it called again
Cin: Grande Hotel..
Nic: Oh yeah
Cin: Greta Garbo
Nic: Yes it will be interesting. We'll have to wait until the kids are in bed
Cin: I thought we did okay, I don't feel like we missed much...but then there wasn't much to miss
Nic: Exactly what I was about to say....Okay...
Cin: Until then...





*For those of you who do not know him, "Dave" is the lovely and talented spouse of "Cin". Check out his band "The Pity Dates" at www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2520383

1930 - War! What Is It Good For? Winning an Oscar!

Well so far almost 65% of the Academy Award Winning Films are about war....okay it is only the third year, but still.

Based on a 1929 novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque, "All Quiet On the Western Front", takes us behind enemy lines and portrays the horrors of World War I from the perspective of German soldiers.

We follow a group of school comrades who, after an impassioned speech from their professor soon become comrades in war. Their enthusiasm and passion to defend the Fatherland, however, quickly dissolves into fear and disillusionment when they reach the Western Front. With little food to sustain them, their friends dying around them and under constant attack, one by one the soldiers succumb to the horrors of war.

One of the original enthusiastic recruits, Paul, played by Lew Ayres, manages to return home on furlough after being injured, only to find that he no longer belongs among the many old men who still praise the "glory of war" and sit and argue over their beer steins on how the war should be battled. Discouraged he returns to the only life he seems to understand. The film ends poetically as Paul is shot while reaching for a butterfly, a brief reminder of home and his sisters butterfly collection.

The film was praised in the US. Variety Magazine wrote of the film "The League of Nations could make no better investment than to buy up the master-print, reproduce it in every language, to be shown in all the nations until the word "war" is taken out of the dictionaries."

Stephen Spielberg even credits Lewis Milestone's work as partial inspiration for Saving Private Ryan.

One group, however, that was not pleased with the film, was the Nazi Party. Perceived to be anti-war and anti-German, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party banned the film from being seen in the 1930's and early 1940's, going to great lengths to insure that audiences would not see this film including releasing rats into the theatres as the movie ran.

An interesting point, among the many actors and extras, were actual German veterans of WWI who were, at the time, residing in the US.

And now to our commentary.....

Cin: Little known fact is that they're rumoured to be doing a remake for August 2011
Nic: Weird, considering I have never heard of this movie and yet just last week it was on tv like super late.
Nic: So, the parts you were awake for.....whaddya think?
Cin: *sigh* I feel like I just lived through World War One, battling my eyelids, suppressing my snore and containing my dribble
Nic: So, didn't grab ya?
Cin: It was an interesting premise. it was just very slow moving for me
Nic: Yeah so far all of these movies seem to be that way
Cin: Well they didn't have all the fancy technical gadgets that we have today although I did like the battle scenes. I thought they were quite horrifying and stark, not glamorized like we do nowadays.
Nic: So how do you mean "gadgets we have these days"? How would that make a difference to the speed of the plot?
Cin: Special effects, fancy editing, sound tracks, that's a lot of what draws us in now and moves things faster.
Nic: I don't know, I find that today we are over stimulated in all visual areas that we need scenes to move quickly and plots to advance to keep our attention. You did point out the sound track factor. A friend had mentioned that that was one of the things that stood out to her about this film, that there was no music. I often imagined how much more sentimental and less, as you said, stark and horrifying the scenes would have been with the presence of a manipulative string section as it were.
Cin: mmm.mmm
Nic: One thing I thought was interesting was this year's oscar winner - Hurt Locker - takes place during the war with the main...
Cin: First World War?
Nic: Iraq war...I think...umm with the main character returning home for a brief stint and realizing that he no longer belongs in that normal life and returns to the war where he finds belonging much like our main character in this film.
Nic:.........
Cin: Are you waiting for me to say something?
Nic: Well you don't have to
Cin: It is food for thought. How do you come back after living in hell and being asked to do things that no human being should be asked to do?
Nic. Interesting that so many films are based on the theme of war
Cin: Well look on a America, it's been formed on war and battle
Nic: Which is also interesting considering this film, which is based on novel by a German writer, is actually taking the perspective of the German soldiers
Cin: but yet was banned by Nazi Germany
Nic: Well of course it's an anti war message although....
Cin: Is it an anti war message or a realistic portrayal? I didn't see it as anti war but I could see how anything that wasn't pro war could be seen as anti war propaganda. I could see how this would push the buttons
Nic: It did feature several conversations about the purpose of why they were there. Messages we hear from war protestors throughout history - why are we fighting? who are we fighting for? we're fighting the wars of kings but on the battlefield we are killing other human beings that could otherwise be our friends
Cin: Yeah, there were some great quotes "at the end of the day, war is just war"
Nic: I liked the guy who said "when there's a big war comin' on, they should rope of a big field and on the big day and take all king's and all their cabinets and all their generals, put 'em in the centre dressed in their underpants and let em' fight it out. The best country wins"
Cin: It will be interesting to see an updated version of it
Nic : A whole lot more blood and more flying limbs and disemboweled soldiers
Cin: You know what's funny? You don't need that. This isn't what this film is missing
Nic: It almost diminishes the impact I think the way everything is so...spelled out, would you say? Visualized out?
Cin: The best part was that they focused on the reaction of the soldiers to the violence as opposed to the violence itself. I just wish the acting technique was a little better.
Nic: I really liked the Katczinsky guy (played by Louis Wolheim) I thought he was really good..... You awake?
Cin: ......yeah
Nic: So Oscar worthy?
Cin: Oh yeah, definitely a big film for it's time I just wish I could have stayed awake for the whole thing
Nic: Based on what?
Cin: Themes, directorily, had some really good stuff, even the immensity of the production, the explosions. Like that one shot when they showed the enemy being shot down as they ran towards the bunkers. That had to be really difficult to do. It was quite impactful, how they just keep coming
Nic: Apparently that scene pioneered the use of a swooping crane shot
Cin: Yeah you could tell that that was something
Nic: I definitely appreciate that the plot was far more involved, I felt, than the previous films which earns my "You're so right Oscar, I totally like this one too".....so you're off?
Cin: yeah
Nic: yeah, I'm off to the ultimate field, until the next film, which is?
Cin: Cimarron
Nic: Ooo what's that aboot?
Cin: Something to do with ethnicities...
Nic .......okay


*If you wanted to check this film out, it's available for purchase or rent on Itunes! Take a look and let us know what you think!

1929 - It's a Broadway Melody

The first musical to ever win an Academy Award (let's just point out, it is only the second year of the Academy Awards), Broadway Melody, starring Bessie Love, Anita Page and Charles King and Directed by Harry Beaumont, took home the Best Picture Oscar in 1930. Filmsite.org describes this film as "A cliche ridden backstage film in which two stage struck aspiring chorus girl sisters come to New York's Vaudeville Broadway and both fall in love with the same wily song and dance man".
This was the first musical undertaken by MGM and the first sound film to win the Oscar.
One could say it was the Avatar of it's time (har har har), costing just over $300,000 to make and yet grossing over $4 million which was unheard of in it's time.
Sound films or "talkies" as they were called or, as in this case, "talkie singies" (I made that up) were still considered a passing fad - fools if only they knew.
Not immune to Hollywood nepotism, the Academy came into question when Broadway Melody took home the Oscar considering that two of the five member "Central Board of Judges" which selected the winners, happened to be the M and M of MGM. It was after this that the selection process was entrusted to the Academy members.

Cin - So Nic what'd ya think?
Nic - I will call this douchebag and a dumb blonde. So before woman's liberation took over, was it okay that a guy who said he was going to marry one sister instantly falls in love with the other and the jilted sister is okay with it?
Cin - I wouldn't say she was okay with it. As you recall in the final frame she's wiping away a tear.
Nic - true, I guess she just knew what was best for everyone. What'd you think?
Cin - Well I'm glad you asked. I would like to address something far more interesting than the plot of this film, Nic, which is, it's breakthrough from the silent into talkie world.
Nic - but not the first
Cin - no, but still in that transitionary period.
Nic - yes...and?
Cin - so, interesting in the sense, first of all the sound quality was shaky, some frames would have sound and some have no sound
Nic - If I could interject, because the cameras were so loud they often had to be in sound proof rooms which meant there could be no moving scenes until the boom mic was introduced, anyway do go on...
Cin - So, sound quality, we also had the lovely sign cards (a text frame introducing the next scene) which were a lovely throw back to the silent films and let us not forget the poignant melodramatic acting that fit well with the silent film era but is not as graceful in the newly invented talkie film
Nic- Now would you say that that is reflective of the over all acting style at the time? Being that Stanislavsky's influence had yet to really infiltrate North American theatre?
Cin - Actually I would say it's more reflective of the fact that that style was needed for silent film and they had yet to adapt to the new medium
Nic - Hmm....so intellectual....No hot guys
Cin - ....no....but I will say that the Hank character (played by Bessie Love) had some great moments and she did get nominated for best actress.
Nic - any particular moment?
Cin - (looks away thoughtfully)...I think when she was telling Eddie that she didn't love him...was a good moment...it was layered..
All in all, I am thankful that I did not have to study the other pictures nominated if this won best picture. But interesting, nonetheless, to see a part of cinematic history
Nic - A to the MEN! I'm just curious about the complexity, or lack thereof, of earlier plot lines. Theatre at the time was not void of depth and yet, so far, the first two films seem somewhat....simple?
Cin - ....................yeah
Nic - okay it's late.....


*Speaking of the transition into "Talkies", many actors praised on the silent screen soon found themselves out of a job when the sound pictures took over because of their voices. German actor and first recipient of the Oscar for Best Actor, Emil Jannings, eventually returned to Germany and made Nazi propagandist films while another actor, Karl Dane, from Denmark, who, due to a strong Danish accent, eventually was selling hot dogs outside of the studio that used to employ him. After losing everything, including his wife, he committed suicide.
Even our starlet from the 1929 Oscar winner "Wings", Clara Bow, was discovered to have a strong Brooklyn accent.

1928 - We're ready for the Oscar Mr Demille...

It's a war film - two guys, a girl and war which, of course, the Americans win.
Released in 1927, directed by William A. Wellman and starring Buddy Rogers, Richard Arlen and Clara Bow. Worthy of mention is the two second appearance by the later to become great Gary Cooper. Ah patriotism, where would our war films be without you. Set during the first world war we follow two men, the innocent Jack Powell and the ever brooding David Armstrong who, at home, are competing for the heart of the temptress, Sylvia Lewis, but when they both answer the call to defend their country they soon become friends. Mary Preston, the consumate girl next door, follows her love, Jack, to war as an ambulance driver. After lots and lots and lots of dog fights (that's military talk for planes shooting at one another) the Americans bring down the "heinies" (I'm assuming that's a derogatory term for the Germans) and win the war!!! Oh and the other guys helped as well, you can see them in the background. After a series of unfortunate events Jack shoots down David's plane, they share a passionate kiss, one of the first man on man kisses in cinematic history....okay so it was meant as a fraternal kiss, but wikipedia felt it was worthy of mention - and embrace before David finally dies in Jack's arms. After David passes, Jack finds the letter Sylvia wrote declaring her love for David so Jack returns home and to the arms of good ol' faithful Mary who's waiting patiently at the garden fence.

Nic - One of the first guy on guy kisses, a second of naked boobies and men getting physical exams as seen through an opening and closing door (must have missed that)?! And we thought we were so modern in our exposes.
Cin - Yeah...I think it's interesting that in all of our wikipedias today that that's what they chose to mention when it probably wasn't that big of a deal at the time.
Nic - So what I find most impressive is how skilled everyone had to be
Cin - What, in terms of flying planes?
Nic - Well that too, the stunt people actually had to do all their own stunts, flying planes, crashing planes and stuff
Cin - Did you know Nic that there were actually two plane crashes during the filming and one person died?
Nic -I did, cause you told me yesterday. What amazes me too, thanks to my "wiki"d research that the music which accompanied this silent film, whoops, forgot to mention it was the only silent film to receive an oscar - was performed live. As a musician (said in haughty tone) I am amazed that for 2 hours and 20 minutes an orchestra or organist played for every frame of film.
Cin - Yeah, that's cool. So Nic...let's talk about something really important....Gary Cooper.
Nic - Ooooo...hawt! With his haphazard hair
Cin - tall
Nic - but dude dies the second he walks out of the only the scene he's in. He wasn't even in battle!
Cin - he dies PRACTICING (said with amused and astounded grin)
Cin - Alright, so, all in all...Oscar worthy?
Nic - Ummm, it's really hard to say. I sat there the whole time thinking....this has got to be one of the lamest plot lines , there were hardly any movie titles - ie dialogue or sub plot stuff, so how do you get into it? Have we been so spoiled (said in dramatic tone)
Cin - WHAT!?!?! Well maybe you've been spoiled Nicole, I thought it was an interesting story.
Nic - Sorry, guess I'm just too uneducated to get it....DUDE They went to war, they fought, chick is in love with a guy who goes for the hot mandolin player, mistaken identity , guy dies...
Cin - I defy you to find a more complicated story in todays remakes and computer generated war movies....
Nic -hmpf....really? Okay, well, we've got 81 more movies to go through
Cin - With all that said I don't know if I would add it to my movie collection but nice to know American patriotism still ran strong in 1929
Nic - STILL ran strong?
Cin - Well...yeah

*one thing we should note - initially there existed no category for "Best Picture" but rather two categories - "Most Outstanding Production", which Wings was awarded, and "Most Artistic Quality of Production", awarded to the film Sunrise. The following year the Academy introduced the "Best Picture" category, which leads us to our next film.....stay tuned.

Introducing Oscar

81 years ago Cecil B DeMille and Douglas Fairbanks announced, to an audience of 270 people, the Academy's first recipient of Best Picture - Wings, Directed by William A Wellman and starring Richard Arlen, Buddy Rogers and a very brief appearance by Gary Cooper . What would Cecil say about the nominees in 2010 with such films as Avatar, The Hurt Locker and Precious up for the award? Less than a century later, films have transcended what Mr Wellman couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams. Sound had only been introduced the year the Academy made it's debut and now there are alien beings where the viewer must constantly be reminded that they don't actually exist.
Our journey will take us through the history of the Oscar's Best Picture winners. Join us as we dive into cinematic history and appreciate, educate and debate the greatest films of all time....according to Oscar.