The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed in 1927 and held the first Academy Awards ceremony on May 16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to recognize films made in 1927 and 1928. The Academy Awards is known interchangeably as the Oscars, taking the nickname from that of the Oscar award statuette designed by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons and sculpted by George Stanley. Bette Davis claimed that she was responsible for its name, as the statue’s posterior reminded her of her then husband’s, Harmon Oscar Nelson. However additional lore names Academy librarian Margaret Herrick responsible after noting that the statue reminded her of her Uncle Oscar.
Since that first ceremony recognizing the 1927/1928 films, a varied amount of films have been nominated per annual ceremony with one winner each time. My goal is to watch all of the Best Picture nominees (including the winners) from 1927/1928 to 1969, which is the year I regard as the endpoint of what I consider classic film, and then review them. I originally thought that I would begin this series around the upcoming Oscar season and conclude it about a year later…then I looked at the numbers. With 270 films in total to watch and review, some being hard to come by, I decided I am not only taking my time with this challenge and not setting an end date, I will also not be viewing (and reviewing them) in order (though I will try to, if possible).
At the start of this challenge, I have only seen about 62 out of the 270 films on this list in their entirety, many of which I haven’t seen in over a decade and can barely remember. This rather shameful 23% is another reason why I am so excited for this endeavor!
In addition to writing a review per film, I will also be writing a summary entry per year (or season) once every nominee for that year/season has been watched. Films and full years that have been summarized will include the link to the review. The full list of nominees and winners (source credit Wikipedia) for each year is below (winners are the first listed per year and also in bold).
Year | Film | Studio/Producer |
1927/28 | Wings | Paramount Famous Lasky |
The Racket | The Caddo Company | |
7th Heaven | Fox Film Corporation | |
1928/29 | The Broadway Melody | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Alibi | Feature Productions | |
The Hollywood Revue of 1929 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
In Old Arizona | Fox | |
The Patriot | Paramount Pictures | |
1929/30 | All Quiet on the Western Front | Universal |
The Big House | Cosmopolitan | |
Disraeli | Warner Bros. | |
The Divorcee | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The Love Parade | Paramount Famous Lasky | |
1930/31 | Cimarron | RKO Radio |
East Lynne | Fox | |
The Front Page | The Caddo Company | |
Skippy | Paramount Publix | |
Trader Horn | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
1931/32 | Grand Hotel | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Arrowsmith | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
Bad Girl | Fox | |
The Champ | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Five Star Final | First National | |
One Hour with You | Paramount Publix | |
Shanghai Express | Paramount Publix | |
The Smiling Lieutenant | Paramount Publix | |
1932/33 | Cavalcade | Fox |
42nd Street | Warner Bros. | |
A Farewell to Arms | Paramount | |
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang | Warner Bros. | |
Lady for a Day | Columbia | |
Little Women | RKO Radio | |
The Private Life of Henry VIII | London Films | |
She Done Him Wrong | Paramount | |
Smilin’ Through | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
State Fair | Fox | |
1934 | It Happened One Night | Columbia |
The Barretts of Wimpole Street | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Cleopatra | Paramount | |
Flirtation Walk | First National | |
The Gay Divorcee | RKO Radio | |
Here Comes the Navy | Warner Bros. | |
The House of Rothschild | 20th Century | |
Imitation of Life | Universal | |
One Night of Love | Columbia | |
The Thin Man | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Viva Villa! | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The White Parade | Jesse L. Lasky (production company) | |
1935 | Mutiny on the Bounty | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Alice Adams | RKO Radio | |
Broadway Melody of 1936 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Captain Blood | Cosmopolitan | |
David Copperfield | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The Informer | RKO Radio | |
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer | Paramount | |
A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Warner Bros. | |
Les Misérables | 20th Century | |
Naughty Marietta | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Ruggles of Red Gap | Paramount | |
Top Hat | RKO Radio | |
1936 | The Great Ziegfeld | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Anthony Adverse | Warner Bros. | |
Dodsworth | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
Libeled Lady | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Columbia | |
Romeo and Juliet | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
San Francisco | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The Story of Louis Pasteur | Cosmopolitan | |
A Tale of Two Cities | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Three Smart Girls | Universal | |
1937 | The Life of Emile Zola | Warner Bros. |
The Awful Truth | Columbia | |
Captains Courageous | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Dead End | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
The Good Earth | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
In Old Chicago | 20th Century-Fox | |
Lost Horizon | Columbia | |
One Hundred Men and a Girl | Universal | |
Stage Door | RKO Radio | |
A Star Is Born | Selznick International Pictures | |
1938 | You Can’t Take It with You | Columbia |
The Adventures of Robin Hood | Warner Bros.-First National | |
Alexander’s Ragtime Band | 20th Century-Fox | |
Boys Town | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The Citadel | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Four Daughters | Warner Bros.-First National | |
Grand Illusion | Realization D’Art Cinematographique | |
Jezebel | Warner Bros. | |
Pygmalion | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Test Pilot | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
1939 | Gone with the Wind | Selznick International Pictures |
Dark Victory | Warner Bros.-First National | |
Goodbye, Mr. Chips | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Love Affair | RKO Radio | |
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Columbia | |
Ninotchka | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Of Mice and Men | Hal Roach (production company) | |
Stagecoach | Walter Wanger (production company) | |
The Wizard of Oz | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Wuthering Heights | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
1940 | Rebecca | Selznick International Pictures |
All This, and Heaven Too | Warner Bros. | |
Foreign Correspondent | Walter Wanger (production company) | |
The Grapes of Wrath | 20th Century-Fox | |
The Great Dictator | Charles Chaplin Productions | |
Kitty Foyle | RKO Radio | |
The Letter | Warner Bros. | |
The Long Voyage Home | Argosy-Wanger | |
Our Town | Sol Lesser (production company) | |
The Philadelphia Story | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
1941 | How Green Was My Valley | 20th Century-Fox |
Blossoms in the Dust | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Citizen Kane | Mercury | |
Here Comes Mr. Jordan | Columbia | |
Hold Back the Dawn | Paramount | |
The Little Foxes | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
The Maltese Falcon | Warner Bros. | |
One Foot in Heaven | Warner Bros. | |
Sergeant York | Warner Bros. | |
Suspicion | RKO Radio | |
1942 | Mrs. Miniver | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
49th Parallel (aka The Invaders) | Ortus | |
Kings Row | Warner Bros. | |
The Magnificent Ambersons | Mercury | |
The Pied Piper | 20th Century-Fox | |
The Pride of the Yankees | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
Random Harvest | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The Talk of the Town | Columbia | |
Wake Island | Paramount | |
Yankee Doodle Dandy | Warner Bros. | |
1943 | Casablanca | Warner Bros. |
For Whom the Bell Tolls | Paramount | |
Heaven Can Wait | 20th Century-Fox | |
The Human Comedy | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
In Which We Serve | Two Cities Films | |
Madame Curie | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The More the Merrier | Columbia | |
The Ox-Bow Incident | 20th Century-Fox | |
The Song of Bernadette | 20th Century-Fox | |
Watch on the Rhine | Warner Bros. | |
1944 | Going My Way | Paramount |
Double Indemnity | Paramount | |
Gaslight | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Since You Went Away | Selznick International Pictures | |
Wilson | 20th Century-Fox | |
1945 | The Lost Weekend | Paramount |
Anchors Aweigh | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The Bells of St. Mary’s | Rainbow Productions | |
Mildred Pierce | Warner Bros. | |
Spellbound | Selznick International Pictures | |
1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | Samuel Goldwyn Productions |
Henry V | Two Cities Films | |
It’s a Wonderful Life | Liberty Films | |
The Razor’s Edge | 20th Century-Fox | |
The Yearling | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
1947 | Gentleman’s Agreement | 20th Century-Fox |
The Bishop’s Wife | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
Crossfire | RKO Radio | |
Great Expectations | J. Arthur Rank-Cineguild | |
Miracle on 34th Street | 20th Century-Fox | |
1948 | Hamlet | J. Arthur Rank-Two Cities Films |
Johnny Belinda | Warner Bros. | |
The Red Shoes | J. Arthur Rank-Archers | |
The Snake Pit | 20th Century-Fox | |
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | Warner Bros. | |
1949 | All the King’s Men | Robert Rossen Productions |
Battleground | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
The Heiress | Paramount | |
A Letter to Three Wives | 20th Century-Fox | |
Twelve O’Clock High | 20th Century-Fox | |
1950 | All About Eve | 20th Century-Fox |
Born Yesterday | Columbia | |
Father of the Bride | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
King Solomon’s Mines | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Sunset Boulevard | Paramount | |
1951 | An American in Paris | Arthur Freed |
Decision Before Dawn | Anatole Litvak and Frank McCarthy | |
A Place in the Sun | George Stevens | |
Quo Vadis | Sam Zimbalist | |
A Streetcar Named Desire | Charles K. Feldman | |
1952 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Cecil B. DeMille |
High Noon | Stanley Kramer | |
Ivanhoe | Pandro S. Berman | |
Moulin Rouge | John Huston, John Woolf and James Woolf | |
The Quiet Man | John Ford and Merian C. Cooper | |
1953 | From Here to Eternity | Buddy Adler |
Julius Caesar | John Houseman | |
The Robe | Frank Ross | |
Roman Holiday | William Wyler | |
Shane | George Stevens | |
1954 | On the Waterfront | Sam Spiegel |
The Caine Mutiny | Stanley Kramer | |
The Country Girl | William Perlberg | |
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | Jack Cummings | |
Three Coins in the Fountain | Sol C. Siegel | |
1955 | Marty | Harold Hecht |
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing | Buddy Adler | |
Mister Roberts | Leland Hayward | |
Picnic | Fred Kohlmar | |
The Rose Tattoo | Hal B. Wallis | |
1956 | Around the World in 80 Days | Michael Todd |
Friendly Persuasion | William Wyler | |
Giant | George Stevens and Henry Ginsberg | |
The King and I | Charles Brackett | |
The Ten Commandments | Cecil B. DeMille | |
1957 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Sam Spiegel |
12 Angry Men | Henry Fonda and Reginald Rose | |
Peyton Place | Jerry Wald | |
Sayonara | William Goetz | |
Witness for the Prosecution | Arthur Hornblow Jr. | |
1958 | Gigi | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Arthur Freed |
Auntie Mame | Jack L. Warner | |
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Lawrence Weingarten | |
The Defiant Ones | Stanley Kramer | |
Separate Tables | Harold Hecht | |
1959 | Ben-Hur | Sam Zimbalist |
Anatomy of a Murder | Otto Preminger | |
The Diary of Anne Frank | George Stevens | |
The Nun’s Story | Henry Blanke | |
Room at the Top | John Woolf and James Woolf | |
1960 | The Apartment | Billy Wilder |
The Alamo | John Wayne | |
Elmer Gantry | Bernard Smith | |
Sons and Lovers | Jerry Wald | |
The Sundowners | Fred Zinnemann | |
1961 | West Side Story | Robert Wise |
Fanny | Joshua Logan | |
The Guns of Navarone | Carl Foreman | |
The Hustler | Robert Rossen | |
Judgment at Nuremberg | Stanley Kramer | |
1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | Sam Spiegel |
The Longest Day | Darryl F. Zanuck | |
The Music Man | Morton DaCosta | |
Mutiny on the Bounty | Aaron Rosenberg | |
To Kill a Mockingbird | Alan J. Pakula | |
1963 | Tom Jones | Tony Richardson |
America America | Elia Kazan | |
Cleopatra | Walter Wanger | |
How the West Was Won | Bernard Smith | |
Lilies of the Field | Ralph Nelson | |
1964 | My Fair Lady | Jack L. Warner |
Becket | Hal B. Wallis | |
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb | Stanley Kubrick | |
Mary Poppins | Walt Disney and Bill Walsh | |
Zorba the Greek | Michael Cacoyannis | |
1965 | The Sound of Music | Robert Wise |
Darling | Joseph Janni | |
Doctor Zhivago | Carlo Ponti | |
Ship of Fools | Stanley Kramer | |
A Thousand Clowns | Fred Coe | |
1966 | A Man for All Seasons | Fred Zinnemann |
Alfie | Lewis Gilbert | |
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming | Norman Jewison | |
The Sand Pebbles | Robert Wise | |
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Ernest Lehman | |
1967 | In the Heat of the Night | Walter Mirisch |
Bonnie and Clyde | Warren Beatty | |
Doctor Dolittle | Arthur P. Jacobs | |
The Graduate | Lawrence Turman | |
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner | Stanley Kramer | |
1968 | Oliver! | John Woolf |
Funny Girl | Ray Stark | |
The Lion in Winter | Martin Poll | |
Rachel, Rachel | Paul Newman | |
Romeo and Juliet | Anthony Havelock-Allan and John Brabourne | |
1969 | Midnight Cowboy | Jerome Hellman |
Anne of the Thousand Days | Hal B. Wallis | |
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | John Foreman | |
Hello, Dolly! | Ernest Lehman | |
Z | Jacques Perrin and Ahmed Rachedi |
Check back in to see which films have been reviewed! If they have, the title will be a link to the post.
*****
Sources:
Wow, they really racked up the nominees in the 30s and early 40s, didn’t they? Good luck!
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And here I was all set to vote for “Sunset Boulevard” right now!!
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I’m with you, Liz! So many good ones that year, too. Not sure how I will end up ranking them!
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😀
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This is a wonderful project, one I never would have –but should have – considered. Have fun! Looks like a lot of terrific viewing ahead. 🙂
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It’s been real fun so far! Definitely an excuse to see films I probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to see otherwise. Feel free to join in!!! I officially extend the challenge to all! 😉
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