Best Picture and Director 1959

[dws1982]

But to those who would argue this is a great movie, I'd ask the question, when was the last time you watched anything other than the chariot race scene?

I wouldn't necessarily argue for it as a great movie, but I think it is a very good one, and one of the formative movie experiences of my childhood. (One of those where I could never argue myself into disliking it.) But I prefer the ship battle to the chariot race, and always have. And honestly, I prefer the ending sequences (the trial before Pilate through to the ending) to the chariot race too. For a sequences that has to do so much thematic heavy lifting, Wyler handles it quite well and keeps it pretty restrained. Heston gets a lot of crap for being over-the-top, but he plays it pretty close to the vest during that sequence. It helps that he has Finlay Currie--the best and most restrained performer in the film--as his scene partner.

Of the nominees, it's probably my favorite, and the one I'd go to first if I were going to watch one. But for the best, I'd have to go with Anatomy of A Murder, which gets my vote, followed by Room At the Top, which would be a very deserving winner as well.

For Director, I don't really have to consider Wilder, Stevens, and Zinnemann. My brain says to go with Jack Clayton who really does some impressive with material that could've felt like a filmed stage play. It really is one of the best (the best?) of those kitchen sink dramas that were everywhere back then. He was great at these small domestic dramas--The Pumpkin Eater and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne are both excellent, anchored by career-best performances by their leading ladies. He's the kind of director I'd like to see recognized more often. But then I start to think about the very best sequences in Ben-Hur, the way they still impress, twenty years after I first saw them, but in new and in different ways than they did originally, and decide that I'll give Wyler his due.

My favorite movies of 1959, which was a very great year (my top three would probably all make my top thirty of all time):
Best Film:
1- Violent Summer (Valerio Zurlini)
2- Day of the Outlaw (Andre de Toth)
3- Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)
4- Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)
5- Ballad of a Soldier (Grigori Chukhrai)
6- The Human Condition I and II (Masaki Kobayashi)
7- Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger)
8- Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa)
9- Sapphire (Basil Dearden)
10- The Crimson Kimono (Sam Fuller)

[The Original BJ]

A very impressive year. In addition to lamenting Some Like It Hot's egregious exclusion from Best Picture, I'd cite Imitation of Life, North by Northwest, The 400 Blows, and Wild Strawberries as being exceptionally deserving, and that just skims the surface of some very fine pictures both domestically and internationally.

But, this being the Academy, a lot of those exciting movies were relegated to more minor races, though I do rate the overall Best Picture and Director lineups as being superior to last year's list.

My English class in junior high school read the play of The Diary of Anne Frank, and I was overwhelmed by its power. Obviously, it's pretty hard not to find the true story at its center incredibly moving, as well as gripping from a pure narrative standpoint. And, I imagine, in 1959, with the events depicted in the film a very recent memory, the movie version must have seemed even more urgent. But when I saw the film -- after college -- I felt that it dwelled on the sentimental to a far greater extent than I remember the play doing. And George Stevens doesn't really bring much to the table in terms of visualizing a very claustrophobic play in a cinematic way. Given that I voted for Stevens last time, and feel that he deserves, at most, one Oscar, I'll pass this time.

Here is what I will say in Ben-Hur's favor: it is a much better version of the kind of Biblical snoozefest like Quo Vadis and The Robe that Oscar had an obsession with during this period. It's less boring than other films of its ilk and it's reasonably well-mounted by William Wyler, who had a far better grasp on sheer filmmaking craft than a Cecil B. DeMille. But to those who would argue this is a great movie, I'd ask the question, when was the last time you watched anything other than the chariot race scene? Because while that sequence is thrilling, there are HOURS that surround it that don't strike me as anything all that special. It definitely isn't The Bridge on the River Kwai in the nuance department.

The Nun's Story is a reasonably interesting movie about what faith means to some people, and the costs of pursuing a faith-based vocation. It has a strong performance from Audrey Hepburn, and solid support from Edith Evans. And I was genuinely surprised by the decision Hepburn's character makes in the final scenes, and feel that the pleasingly ambiguous ending is thoughtful and delicately handled. But, this is another unnecessarily long movie, without all that much cinematic excitement along the way. Fred Zinnemann is another of those directors, like Wyler, who was definitely intelligent but could sometimes just be too "respectable" so as to be a little dullish, and he, too, has already gotten my vote for better work.

Room at the Top was a bit of a surprise for me. I didn't know much about it at all before I saw it, and was pleased to discover that it was not only a bracing romantic drama, but also a very sharp exploration of class conflict, and very witty to boot. Laurence Harvey usually doesn't do much for me, but here he's in top form, as is the always-reliable Signoret. British kitchen sink realism didn't get much attention from the Academy, but Jack Clayton's work is among the movement's high points, and he visualizes spaces that feel real and lived-in, and commands a story that still packs a punch even half a century after its content was considered shocking. It's my runner-up in both categories.

But I will be casting my vote for the lone nominees in Picture and Director. I think Anatomy of a Murder is the clear best of the Picture nominees. It's just got a whole package of appealing elements -- a twisty legal plot that engages throughout the film's nearly three-hour running time, thematically complex ideas about the rape and murder subjects at its core, a terrific ensemble of actors, and a lot of dark humor that keeps the proceedings from ever turning into a leaden issue movie. It's definitely one of Preminger's finest hours, and it's a bit of a shame that he was the excluded Director out of this lineup, for such quintessential work.

But Some Like It Hot is an even greater movie, and Billy Wilder gets my vote for the third time in Best Director. I remember before I saw the movie, in film school, a classmate of mine warned me not to get my hopes up, that it wouldn't live up to the "funniest movie ever" reputation it essentially owns in popular culture. But I wasn't disappointed at all. I think Some Like it Hot is so, so funny, full of great one-liners, humorous sight gags, and hilarious acting asides from Lemon, Curtis, Brown, and even Marilyn Monroe. It's paced phenomenally well, too, with energy that never lets up from that opening gangster massacre to the iconic final line. No, it's maybe not the deepest movie ever. But I think the sheer joy that it radiates from every element -- the buoyant performances, the clever writing, and the lighter-than-air direction -- makes it a supremely enjoyable entertainment. Nobody's perfect...but Billy Wilder sure comes close with this gem.

[bizarre]

My Picture nominees:

Ballad of a Soldier
* Floating Weeds
The 400 Blows
The Savage Eye
Violent Summer


My Director nominees:

Grigori Chukhrai … Ballad of a Soldier
Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers & Joseph Strick … The Savage Eye
* Yasujirō Ozu … Floating Weeds
Tomu Uchida … Chikamatsu’s Love in Osaka
Valerio Zurlini … Violent Summer

[Reza]

Voted for Ben-Hur and Wilder

Best Picture
1. Ben-Hur
2. Some Like It Hot
3. North By Northwest
4. Room at the Top
5. The 400 Blows

The 6th Spot: Violent Summer

Best Director
1. Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot
2. Alfred Hitchcock, North By Northwest
3. Jack Clayton, Room at the Top
4. Francois Truffaut, The 400 Blows
5. Valerio Zurlini, Violent Summer

The 6th Spot: William Wyler, Ben-Hur

[Sabin]

Because I have not seen enough of the competition (including Ben-Hur), I can't yet vote for Anatomy of a Murder and Billy Wilder.

[Big Magilla]

There was a religious fervor in 1959 following the election of a new Pope (John XXIII) in October, 1958 after the long, dour reign of Pius XII (1939-1958) so it's not surprising that there were a number of films with religious themes that were produced during his reign which only lasted until 1963. Three of the five films nominated for Best Picture of 1959 reflected this theme which embraced all religions to some extent. William Wyler's biblical epic Ben-Hur was subtitled A Tale of the Christ. Fred Zinnemann's The Nun's Story was the true story of a nun who left the convent, something that was quite rare at the time. The Diary of Anne Frank was about the Nazis' persecution of the Jews. Otto Preminger, whose Anatomy of a Murder was also nominated would next direct The Cardinal. Jack Clayton, who directed the fifth nominee, Room at the Top, would end his film career with The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne in which Maggie Smith in arguably her greatest performance loses her religion in 1950s Dublin.

Billy Wilder's Best Director nomination zeroes in on the year's biggest mystery - why wasn't Some Like It Hot, now generally regarded as the year's best film, not nominated for Best Picture? Also missing: Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and Douglas Sirk's remake of Imitation of Life.

All of the nominees have their strengths. Room at the Top was the outstanding British kitchen sink drama popular at the time, though it's the performances, particularly of Simone Signoret as Laurence Harvey's discarded mistress that you remember.

The Diary of Anne Frank is a poignant story that has been re-done for television several times. Millie Perkins is a bit bland in the lead but supporting players Joseph Schildkraut, Gusti Huber, Shelley Winters, Lou Jacobi and Ed Wynn all turn in memorable performances.

Anatomy of a Murder was a landmark film at the time, using adult language in a court trial that was shocking to contemporary audiences but commonplace today on just about every police procedural and practically every news program. It, too, holds up thanks largely to its performances led by James Stewart at his folksy best.

Ben-Hur still impresses with its grandeur, particularly in the chariot race, but dramatically its only occasionally moving.

The Nun's Story with its unsentimental approach to a life of devotion is the best of the lot thanks to Audrey Hepburn's career best performance and the sturdy support of Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Mildred Dunnock and a who's who of actresses of a certain age.

The Nun's Story easily gets my vote in the absence of Some Like It Hot but Billy Wilder gets my vote for Best Director.