The Oscar Project Interlude #4: Best of the 1960s

by Chris Marshall:

Here we are, on the brink of the 1970s. I couldn’t be more excited. The musical-heavy 1960s weren’t as bad as I expected, but I’m still glad they’re over, if only so I can get into what promises to be the best decade of Oscar winners from top to bottom. There are individual winners in other decades that may match up, but no time period matches the overall quality of the 1970s.

The 60s were somewhat uneven, but in addition to the musicals, which I’ve talked about ad nauseum, there was also a glut of British-made films: Lawrence of Arabia, Tom Jones, and A Man for All Seasons. Between 1961 and 1968, In the Heat of the Night was the only American-made non-musical Best Picture winner. As opposed to the 1970s, which contains 10 American-made non-musical winners.

The Oscar Project #23: All About Eve (1950)

by Chris Marshall:

The 1950s are here at last! That means we’re about halfway through the Hays Code era, and we’re moving toward a period where there’s more innovation and risk-taking in cinema than ever before. But not as far as the Oscars are concerned! I’m in for two decades dominated by musicals (An American in Paris, Gigi, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Oliver!) and huge, sprawling epics (The Greatest Show on Earth, Around the World in 80 Days, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia). The good news is that it will lead into the 1970s, perhaps the finest of all Oscar decades.

More good news is that 1950’s winner, All About Eve, is an absolute classic, and although I’d seen it before, it was a pleasure to watch again. In some ways, it feels like a (better made) companion piece to All the King’s Men. Both Willie Stark and Eve Harrington rise to power—in politics and theatre, respectively—and along the way they both abandon all scruples, assuming they had any to begin with.

Despite all the villainy that Willie Stark was responsible for, though, I believe that Eve is actually the more sinister of the two. In his early years, Stark was portrayed as an honest, genuine man, one who actually believed in the ideals he promoted; he was just particularly susceptible to the trappings of power. Eve, on the other hand, was sinister and manipulative from the very beginning. From the moment she first met Margo Channing (Bette Davis), she was plotting her rise to the top.