The Oscar Project #39: A Man for All Seasons (1966)

by Chris Marshall:

At the risk of inserting too much Real Life into this post, I feel compelled to mention that I’ve just finished writing a final for hierarchical linear modeling class, so if this is of a lower quality than usual, it’s because I’m having trouble switching over from multilevel statistical analysis mode to let’s write about movies mode.

So yeah, A Man for All Seasons! I hadn’t seen many of the winners from the 1960s before I started the project, but I was at least familiar with all of them, save for this and Tom Jones. I had a vague idea that it was based on a play, but that was really about it. Pauline Kael once wrote about how the first questions anybody asks upon hearing of a movie are “what’s about it” and “who’s in it,” and I didn’t have the answer to either of those.

Well, Orson Welles is in it, but don’t get your hopes up that he hangs around for very long. After that you get a brief appearance from Vanessa Redgrave as Anne Boleyn, and John Hurt appears in his very first film role. Oh, and Paul Scofield won Best Actor for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More.

The Oscar Project #38: The Sound of Music (1965)

by Chris Marshall:

As was the case with West Side Story, I watched The Sound of Music several years ago in a high school music class, so I didn’t exactly relish the idea of watching it again. It’s a good movie, but I don’t love it to the degree that many others do. Fortunately, I found that it was still enjoyable upon a second viewing.

It’s hard to imagine a movie star more likeable than Julie Andrews. At the time this movie was released, she was in the middle of a spectacular run. She won Best Actress for being Mary Poppins, won a Golden Globe for The Sound of Music, and was nominated for another Golden Globe for Thoroughly Modern Millie. Add the box office receipts for these films to her critical acclaim, and you have a pretty successful four year period.

If you’re the type of person to read The Oscar Project, you almost certainly know the plot already. Andrews, a nun, becomes governess for the Von Trapp family (she specializes in child rearing, apparently), falls in love with the man of the house, and then helps the family escape the Nazis. Oh, and everybody still knows all the musical numbers today, 47 years later.