Gary Cooper. Joan Fontaine, Mary Astor, and Donald Crisp at the 1942 Oscars.
Continuing our look at good films that were not nominated for best picture, here are 6 films from the 1940s.
Shadow of a Doubt (1943, dir by Alfred Hitchcock)
Amazing, Alfred Hitchcock never won the Best Directing Oscar. In fact, it was rare that his films were even nominated. (Though Rebecca did win Best Picture, it could be argued that film’s style was as much to due to David O. Selznick as it was to Hitchcock.) One of the best of Hitchcock’s unnominated films was Shadow of a Doubt. With its dark sense of humor and wonderful performances from Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright, Shadow of a Doubt was Hitchcock at his best. It was also, perhaps, a bit too darkly subversive for the Academy.
Detour (1945, dir by Edgar G. Ulmer)
The ultimate film noir nightmare, Detour was actually well-received when it was originally released, though it would take a while for the film to be recognized as a true classic. Still, there was no way that the Academy was going to nominate a low-budget B-movie about a guy who hitchhikes across America and manages to accidentally kill two people. Detour was far too nightmarish and surreal for the Academy but it’s remained one of the most influential films ever made.
Gilda (1946, dir by Charles Vidor)
Another classic film noir, Gilda is the film that, for many, will always define Rita Hayworth. Through the film was a financial and critical success, it was ignored by the Academy. The success of this film and the popularity of Hayworth’s performance led to the fourth atomic bomb to ever be detonated being named Gilda. Rita Hayworth was reportedly not happy to hear it.
Black Narcissus (1947, dir by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
One of the most visually stunning films ever made, Black Narcissus won Oscars for Best Cinematography and for Art Design but it received no other nominations, not even for the outstanding performances of Deborah Kerr and Kathleen Byron, as two nuns who have very different reactions to the Himalayas.
Out of the Past (1947, dir by Jacques Tourneur)
A world-weary private investigator (Robert Michum) is hired by a slick and psychotic gangster (Kirk Douglas) and ordered to track down the gangster’s girlfriend (Jane Greer). So beings this rather melancholy and introspective film noir, one that is distinguished by wonderfully shadowy photography and which features one of Mitchum’s best performances. Sadly, the Academy recognized neither the film nor Mitchum’s performance.
Portrait of Jennie (1948, dir by William Dieterle)
This haunting and dream-like fantasy stars Joseph Cotten as a painter who meets, paints, and falls in love with a mysterious woman (Jennifer Jones) who may not be what she seems. The film was apparently not a huge success when it was first released but, seen today, it’s hard not to get swept up in the film’s romantic sadness. Though it received a nomination for Best Cinematography, it was otherwise ignored by the Academy.
Up next, in about an hour or so, the 1950s!
In Montana, four men have infiltrated and taken over a top-secret ICBM complex. Three of the men, Hoxey (William Smith), Garvas (Burt Young), and Powell (Paul Winfield) are considered to be common criminals but their leader is something much different. Until he was court-martialed and sentenced to a military prison, Lawrence Dell (Burt Lancaster) was a respected Air Force general. He even designed the complex that he has now taken over. Dell calls the White House and makes his demands known: he wants ten million dollars and for the President (Charles Durning) to go on television and read the contents of top secret dossier, one that reveals the real reason behind the war in Vietnam. Dell also demands that the President surrender himself so that he can be used as a human shield while Dell and his men make their escape.
Johnny Moon (William Shatner) is a half-breed. His father was white and his mother was a Comanche. Johnny was raised Comanche but he now lives as a white man. He is a good and law-abiding citizen but he has a problem. Johnny has a twin brother named Notah (played, of course, by William Shatner) and, hooked on peyote, Notah keeps holding up stagecoaches, killing white men, and raping white women. Sick and tired of people constantly trying to lynch him, Johnny contacts Notah and demands a final showdown. At the same time, Johnny refuses to tell anyone about Notah’s existence so everyone still wants to kill Johnny. The only person who realizes that Johnny and Notah are not the same is one of Notah’s victims, a showgirl named Kelly (Rosanna Yanni). She sees that good Johnny has blue eyes while bad Notah has black eyes.
Through the Shattered Lens 