Cinematography 1939-1966

1927/28 through 1997
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Black-and-White Cinematography one week and Color another or both together?

Black-and-White one week and Color the following week
5
36%
Both together, separated by category
9
64%
 
Total votes: 14

Big Magilla
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Big Magilla »

I went over the nominations for Cinematography for the years in question, and found that that there are very few films I either haven't seen or don't remember much about. Most of the nominees within this period had easy to recall vivid imagery.

For completists, most of the nominees can be found if you look hard enough.
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Big Magilla »

I didn't cast a vote because I don't have a preferance one way or the other. It's a close one at 7-5 in favor of doing both together, so that's what we'll do but we may want to allow two weeks between polls to allow everyone who wants to catch up on the nominees to have enough time to do so.
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Precious Doll »

Whilst I voted for both together, seperate would be fine as well.

However, as we progress there will be less to say because more of the nominees become generic to a degree. I bet we spend more time talking about all the omissions. Like all those Dietrich/von Sternberg films for which only one film (Morocco) was nominated and that no Douglas Sirk films ever received a cinematography nomination.

Two misgivings about this category in the earlier years (pre 1950s):

1. I don't remember some of the films at all;

2. I watched a number of the films on TV, Pay TV, VHS or less than pristine prints at repertory cinemas.

So ones judgement of the quality of cinematography is going to be flawed. I really wish DVD/Blu Ray had been around decades ago.
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Reza »

Big Magilla wrote:
Reza wrote:
Big Magilla wrote:Ah, 1963 - color, another Leo McCarey moment - the right guy may have won, but they gave it to him for the wrong film!
Surely you mean Leon Shamroy?

So you think he should have won for The Cardinal instead of for Cleopatra?
In lieu of Walter Lassally not being nominated for Tom Jones, yes.
Oh I see.
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Big Magilla »

Reza wrote:
Big Magilla wrote:Ah, 1963 - color, another Leo McCarey moment - the right guy may have won, but they gave it to him for the wrong film!
Surely you mean Leon Shamroy?

So you think he should have won for The Cardinal instead of for Cleopatra?
In lieu of Walter Lassally not being nominated for Tom Jones, yes.
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Reza »

If any of you are on Facebook please search for a page called "Paul's MOVIE Collection" and like that page. It has a huge collection of classic and new films which can be watched for free. Most of what you are missing on these lists we are voting for are available there. If not you can request for it, and if available, a link will be provided.
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Reza »

Big Magilla wrote:Ah, 1963 - color, another Leo McCarey moment - the right guy may have won, but they gave it to him for the wrong film!
Surely you mean Leon Shamroy?

So you think he should have won for The Cardinal instead of for Cleopatra?
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Big Magilla »

Ah, 1963 - color, another Leo McCarey moment - the right guy may have won, but they gave it to him for the wrong film!
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by The Original BJ »

As we get into these years, I know I won't be able to participate as much. There are certain years where I've seen all the nominees in one category, or am only missing one film, so it won't be a problem to fill in that gap. But there are also categories where I'm missing most of the slate, and some of those films aren't THAT easy to track down either. Which is to say, I still plan on participating as much as I can, but will probably spend more time as observer than participant, even if I remain very interested in what Big Magilla/Mister Tee/Precious Doll/anyone else has to say.

As others have said, there are good arguments either way. I wouldn't want to go so quickly that folks who want to comment feel like they can't keep up, but I also hear Magilla's point that dragging this all out when participation is going to start to dwindle may not be of much value either. I also think there's value in thinking about how much even those who have seen the films will want to say about some of them -- for instance, under Color Cinematography '63, I basically just want to write "NO." So it may just be that getting through ten a week won't be much of a burden, and no one's really going to fall that far behind because those folks just weren't going to keep up in the first place.
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Big Magilla »

Mister Tee wrote:I think the color categories go back to 1939, not 1947.
You're right, they do. I'll change the verbiage on my initial post.
Mister Tee wrote:The pro two-at-a-time case: There are going to be years where one category or another will contain films many haven't seen, especially in the black-and-white categories in the 60s, where pickings got slim (a quick look shows I'm missing at least one candidate every year from '63-'66), and the color candidates in the earlier years (when the Cinemascope epic type films many of us avoid dominated nominations). A lot of these films won't be that easy to track down, so, discussion in these years may be limited. At least doing both categories together will give us something to opine about each year.

The anti: Discussing ten films per page, including some obscurities, may be more than people want to deal with.
Good points. I don't have a preference one way or another, but one thing to consider may be that in separating the categories from 1939-1966 we are adding 27 weeks to this or a total of 65 weeks to get through the whole thing vs. 38 if we combine them.

As for not seeing all the nominees, that shouldn't be a hindrance except for purists. There are films that are impossible to find especially in those years in which there were ten nominees. Case in point: 1940's Spring Parade which I think is the only Deanna Durbin movie I've never seen. But does anyone think it might be serious competition for Rebecca or Foreign Correspondent or Waterloo Bride or The Letter?
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Re: Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Mister Tee »

I think the color categories go back to 1939, not 1947.

This is probably something we should debate pros and cons on.

The pro two-at-a-time case: There are going to be years where one category or another will contain films many haven't seen, especially in the black-and-white categories in the 60s, where pickings got slim (a quick look shows I'm missing at least one candidate every year from '63-'66), and the color candidates in the earlier years (when the Cinemascope epic type films many of us avoid dominated nominations). A lot of these films won't be that easy to track down, so, discussion in these years may be limited. At least doing both categories together will give us something to opine about each year.

The anti: Discussing ten films per page, including some obscurities, may be more than people want to deal with.

I'm not taking a side here. I'd genuinely like to hear how people feel before casting a vote.
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Cinematography 1939-1966

Post by Big Magilla »

In two weeks we will begin the discussion of the cinematography awards for the pre-1967 era, which we will do from the newest back to the oldest.

As you know, the cinematography awards between 1939 and 1966 were given separately in black-and-white and color categories. The question is, do we want to do both together, or do one one week, and the other the following week.

Please check the box of your preference. As always, feel free to comment as well.
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