The 1940s began with America going to war and it ended with the world entering the Atomic age.  It was an interesting decade for the movies, as visions of optimistic patriotism and downbeat noir often went head to head at the box office and at the Oscars.

Here are 6 times that the Academy got it right in the 1940s!

1. Casablanca Wins Best Picture

You knew that this was going to be the first thing that I was going to list.  In 1943, Casablanca won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  Though the film’s victory obviously had a lot to do with its anti-Nazi theme, it’s also one of the best acted and most quotable films ever made.  Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman were never better.  Claude Rains was never more charming.  And Conrad Veidt perfectly embodied everything that the Allies were fighting against in Europe.  This one of the rare Oscar victories that no one can complain about.

2. James Stewart wins Best Actor For The Philadelphia Story

He deserved it for the scene where he sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow.  This is award is usually cited as the first instance of the Academy giving someone an award to make up for an earlier snub, in this case Stewart not winning for Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.  That’s probably true but still, it’s a charming performance and how can you not be happy about Jimmy Stewart receiving an Oscar?

3. Edmund Gwenn wins Best Supporting Actor For 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street

He is Santa Claus!

4. Orson Welles Wins Best Original Screenplay for Citizen Kane

Yes, I realize he had to share it with Herman Mankiewicz and I realize that there’s a lot of people who think that they’re an expert on what happened because they sat through Mank.  The fact of the matter is that Citizen Kane is an Orson Welles film.  To give all of the credit to Mankiewicz is to ignore all of the talent and vision that Welles brought to shaping the film.  Even if we accept Mank‘s dubious claim that the majority of the script was Mankiewicz’s, Welles was the one who made the film into a portrait of America at its best and worst as opposed to just the bitter ramblings of an old alcoholic.  Citizen Kane and Welles deserved more than one Oscar but considering just how many powerful people in Hollywood tried to stop Citizen Kane, I’m a little amazed that the Academy even gave Welles one Oscar.

5. Crossfire Is Nominated For Best Picture

Even though 1947’s Crossfire lost the award to Gentleman’s Agreement, it still made history as the first “B” movie to receive a nomination for Best Picture.  Crossfire holds up quite well today as a portrait of the evil that comes with prejudice.

6. The Best Years of Our Lives and It’s A Wonderful Life Are Nominated For Best Picture

In 1946, two of the best films made about postwar America were nominated for Best Picture.  The Best Years Of Our Lives won, while It’s A Wonderful Life went on to become a holiday perennial and a cultural touchdown.  Both of them are powerful portraits of Americans trying to find themselves in the years directly after the end of World War II.  Both deserved their nominations.  It’s a shame that both couldn’t win.

Up next: The 1950s!

In previous years, I’ve used Oscar Sunday as a chance to write about what the Academy has gotten wrong over the years, the snubbed classics and the unworthy winners.  This year, though, I want to do something a little different.

I want to take a look at the time that the Academy made the right decision, either by picking the best film for Best Picture or even just by giving a nomination to someone who actually deserved it.  Consider this to be my attempt to add some positivity to what has otherwise been a pretty negative awards season!  We all love to criticize the Academy and goodness knows that much of that criticism has been deserved over the years but occasionally, they do get it right!

Here are 4 times the Academy got it right during the 1920s!

(Before anyone thinks that I’m condemning the Academy with faint praise, the first Oscars were handed out in 1928 so, for this decades, there are really only a handful of winners and nominees to choose from.)

1. All Quiet On The Western Front Wins Best Picture

All Quiet On The Western Front was the third film to win the Oscar for Best Picture and it was the first truly great film to win the award.  If Wings and Broadway Melody were rewarded largely because of internal politics, All Quiet On The Western Front won because it truly deserved it.

2. Sunrise Wins The Academy Award For Unique And Artistic Picture

At the first Oscar ceremony, two awards for Best Picture were given out.  Best Picture went to Wings, which is good but not great.  The award for Unique and Artistic Picture, however, went to F.W. Munrau’s sublime Sunrise.

3. The Racket Is Nominated For Best Picture

The Racket was one of the three films to be nominated for the very first Best Picture Oscar in 1928.  It’s nearly forgotten today but it still remains significant because it was the first gangster film to be nominated for Best Picture and it was also the first genre film.  The Racket started a long tradition of American movies about organized crime, one that includes The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Irishman, and so many other films.  As well, The Racket was long considered to be a lost film until someone stumbled across the last remaining copy in the 70s.  Never stop searching for those lost films!

4. Warner Baxter Win Best Actor For In Old Arizona

The 2nd Academy Awards ceremony was a strange one, largely because only the winners were announced and no one is quite sure how the Academy settled on those winners.  That said, Warner Baxter’s award for starring in In Old Arizona does feel historically significant.  He was the first actor to win for appearing in a western and he won for playing not a lawman but an outlaw.  In fact, his amoral character served as a template for many of the characters who would populate the Spaghetti westerns of the 60s and the 70s.

Up next: the 1930s!