Number 54: The French Connection (Best Picture Ranking)

The French Connection is another rather unusual winner in this category since it doesn’t concern itself with war or some social problem, it’s not a musical or a groundbreaking epic – it’s simple an almost old-fashioned crime film about two cops and their fight against heroin smugglers. What’s probably the reason why this movie works so well is the fact that this old-fashioned story is combined with a modern, thrilling, fast and gripping execution.

Thanks to the central character of Jimmy Doyle, The French Connection is also not a traditional good guys vs. bad guys story since Doyle is a loud, foul-mouthed, brutal and feisty cop who is willing to take all measures necessary to fulfil his tasks. Gene Hackman burns up the screen in this part and his Oscar win is also rather unusual since his character, like the movie itself, doesn’t follow the usual ‘formula’ to win an Oscar but Hackman is a true force-of-nature on the screen. It’s maybe debatable if he gives a truly great performance but he creates a truly fascinating character. Roy Scheider gives dependable support while the remaining cast members play their parts satisfactorily.

The French Connection is a movie that constantly sacrifices the whole to focus on its parts – a wise choice since the plot, while inserted nicely into the overall picture, lacks real structure and development. That’s why The French Connection benefits mostly from the way it presents certain scenes, how it focuses on the action and how it creates suspense. Such memorable scenes are Doyle following a smuggler to a subway station and then trying not to be noticed by him, Doyle being shot at and then following the guy in one of the most famous car chase scenes ever until he shots him in the back, Doyle and Russo raiding a bar or the surprisingly dark ending. In some ways, The French Connection is similar to An American in Paris as a triumph of style over substance but The French Connection comes out as the winner since its plot goes definitely deeper than the superficial love story in An American in Paris.

The French Connection benefits from its technical values and its ability to present a lot of scenes in a very captivating way while letting Gene Hackman (and to an extent Roy Scheider) provide the necessary human emotions. It’s a crime thriller on a very high level and never loses its tempo or its suspense while allowing the central characters to shine more than expected.

Number 55: The Lost Weekend (Best Picture Ranking)

After his Double Indemnity failed to win any Oscars in 1944, Billy Wilder was back one year later with The Lost Weekend, a grim tale about two days in the life of an alcoholic, which won Oscars for Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and Actor. A story about addiction and alcohol from the 40s seems to be in great danger of appearing dated and flawed from today’s point-of-view but Billy Wilder’s shocking tale still gives a surprisingly honest and disturbing look at the inner life of writer Don Birnham and how his drinking affects not only himself but also the life of his brother and his girlfriend. Even though some parts of the movie suffer from exaggerated melodrama, The Lost Weekend is a very strong and memorable winner in this category.

Most of all, The Lost Weekend depends on the work of Ray Milland who, up this point in his career, hadn’t been truly able to show his acting abilities. But here, he delivers a stunning tour-de-force of a man who knows that he is slowly walking into his own self-destruction but is unable to stop it. Ray Milland makes Don needy and appalling, charming and strangely appealing at the same time while showing how his desperateness for a drink takes over his whole body more and more, turning him into a shaking, hopeless mess. This is certainly one of the most deserved wins the Best Actor category has ever seen. Apart from Ray Milland, the movie is filled with standard performances which are neither bad but neither remarkable either – apart from Jane Wyman who shines in the obligatory ‘worried but supportive girlfriend’ part.

The Lost Weekend is a succession of experiences that happen to Don while his brother, who usually watches over him, is out of town. The movie tries to combine the fictional story of Don with a documentary-like account on the life of an alcoholic and shows Don hiding the liquor in his bags and later in his apartment, getting money from anyone he can (even stealing it from a woman in a bar) until he finally wakes up in a hospital. The Lost Weekend works particularly well because it didn’t try to turn Don into a character who is a victim of circumstances but instead shows how aware he actually is of his problems and how willingly he lies and cheats – his addiction has taken over his life but Don is still in a position to recognize this himself even if he is too weak to stop it. This creates a rather open ending to the story and it would be believable to see Don either drinking again or ending for good.

While the direction of Billy Wilder doesn’t seem very special, it is still to his credit that a movie about a single person, working his way from one drink to another is not only shocking but also thrillingly entertaining. Of course, there are some flaws – the scene when Don visits an opera and suddenly all the singers on the stage turn into trench coats with liquor hiding in their pockets is involuntarily funny and even worse is the infamous scene when a drunk Don starts to hallucinate about a bat and a mouse in his apartment – the bat couldn’t look more fake in a homevideo and the fact that the whole scene had already been predicated by a male nurse in the hospital gives the whole plot a sudden artificiality that is more disturbing than haunting.

Overall, The Lost Weekend is not flawless but is still very strong in its honest and observing moments when the viewer follows the character of Don on an unsettling and alarming route.

Number 56: A Man for all Seasons (Best Picture Ranking)

For a while it seemed as if no movie from 1966 would truly be inside the Academy’s comfort zone – until A Man for all Seasons opened, the story of Sir Thomas Moore who refuses to endorse the marriage of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn out of his religious feelings until he is beheaded in the end for staying by his principles. Based on the stage production of the same name, A Man for all Seasons is expectedly a very wordy movie and offers little true action – but thankfully the dialogue and the plot are presented very smartly and the talented cast helps perfectly to bring the story to live.

Paul Scofield reprised his Tony-award-winning role and won himself an Oscar, too, for portraying the main character who is more concerned about his immortal soul than his mortal life. His performance is a wonderful example of how an actor can use dialogue to the greatest results and how powerful subtlety, quietness and dignity can burn up the screen. Mostly sitting in a chair and talking in a soft, controlled way that reflects the construction of the dialogue, Paul Scofield achieves the greatest possible results in a role that could have become too saint-like – everything in A Man for all Seasons wants to worship its main character but Paul Scofield thankfully never overdid this aspect in this performance (even though he is sometimes close to it) and simply focused on the single struggle of a single man. But even though A Man for all Seasons is basically a One-Man-Show, it still allows a strong supporting cast to impress, too. Robert Shaw is a wonderful scene-stealer as King Henry VIII, Wendy Hiller gives a dignified portrayal of a woman who doesn’t understand the principles of her husband, Susannah York lights up the screen as Moore’s daughter, John Hurt is immensely unlikable as Richard Rich and Orson Welles is an overpowering presence in his single scene. And even Vanessa Redgrave manages to shine in her wordless cameo.

Basically, A Man for all Seasons is an actor’s dream since it offers a lot of strong parts but the screenplay is just as responsible for the overall success of the production as the cast. Even though it provides nothing but constant conversations around the same topic, it still finds constantly new angles and new observations. Fred Zinnemann may have won an Oscar for his Direction but this may actually be the weakest point of the whole story since he gives the movie a very ‘staged’ feeling and I also can’t quite forgive him for cutting away from Paul Scofield during the only moment in the whole movie in which he finally raises his voice to his opponents. This feeling of a staged play combined with the sometimes limited plot are also the main reason why A Man for all Seasons didn’t get a higher position this ranking even it has definitely reached an impress position, nonetheless.

Overall, A Man for all Seasons has the ability to appear timeless and since it lets various characters speak on the manner of principles, it catches different views on the topic without ever appearing like a lecture. It never forces the viewer to ask himself or herself ‘How would I react in a situation like this?` but instead constantly presents the life and the fate of Sir Thomas Moore as his own choice, as his free will which needn’t to be a rolemodel for everyone else. This way A Man for all Seasons luckily never feels forced in its storytelling but, surprisingly, rather entertaining and provoking in its own way.

Number 57: An American in Paris (Best Picture Ranking)

Usually considered a masterpiece and one of the best movie musicals of all time, this position in my ranking may seem a bit surprising for the legendary Gene Kelly-movie An American in Paris. To be honest, when I first started to rank the winners, it had an even lower position and there was a time when I considered it one the worst movie musicals I had ever seen. Well, my opinion has changed in some ways and by now, I do admire all the effort and technical brilliance that made it into this movie but overall, I always consider An American in Paris a triumph of style over substance.

Yes, An American in Paris is great to look at – I simply adore those Parisian sets even though they are clearly fake but at the same time there is so much love for detail and careful attention that the results are absolutely gorgeous. Costumes, cinematography and all the other technical aspects are beautiful, too. And what about the songs? As I wrote in my review for Judy Garland in A Star is Born, there was a time when I wanted my musical songs more traditional and more ‘Broadway’ and so it’s no surprise that I disliked the style of An American in Paris at first. By now, I appreciate the score much more – to some extent. It’s mostly the instrumental music that accompanies the famous ballet sequence that truly achieves a level of greatness. But also most of the songs, like ‘Our love is here to stay’, ‘Tra-la-la’, ‘S Wonderful’ or ‘Stairway to Paradise’ are extremely memorable and easy to admire. ‘I got’ may be one of the most famous songs but I have to be honest – I never worshipped a dancing Gene Kelly as much as everybody else does. ‘By Strauss’ features a lovely melody, but seriously – they are in Paris and all they could come up with is a song about Strauss and the Kaiser? And also the whole presentation of this song is rather annoying and it’s hard to understand why somebody thought it would be a good idea to have Gene Kelly use a tablecloth as a bandanna.

So, from a technical point-of-view, An American in Paris is certainly a triumph. And I didn’t even get to the ballet yet – well, I keep that for last because it perfectly sums up everything that is both good and not so good about this movie. First, let’s take a look at the cast. Gene Kelly, of course, is charming, delightful and irresistible as always. Oscar Levant and Georges Guétary give some nice support while Nina Foch takes the real acting crown as the lonely, maybe desperate society woman. Leslie Caron made her film-debut as Gene Kelly’s love interest but it was rather rocky start – while Leslie Caron is usually a gorgeous woman, in An American in Paris she has to be one of the most undesirable objects of affection ever presented in a movie. I know beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder her haircut and her teeth make her look rather like a 12-year-old boy than a woman who would make a man fall in love with her in just one moment.

It’s no surprise that An American in Paris didn’t receive a single nomination for any of the actors since they are constantly overshadowed by the movies' production values and none of them is presented with a truly challenging character. This brings me right to the biggest problem of An American in Paris which I already addressed at the beginning by calling the movie a triumph of style over substance. Because underneath all the costumes, the sets and the songs, An American in Paris is shockingly empty. I don’t mind simple plots but An American in Paris has almost no plot at all. It’s just a succession of various scenes that are loosely strung together by the central love story but it’s all so shallow and rushed that, no matter how beautiful the movie is, it negatively affects the overall quality of the picture. Characters are not developed, other are almost unnecessary and even some of the songs serve no purpose in context of the story. An American in Paris tries to be very light and easy-going but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it needs to be empty.

The famous last sequence, the 18-minutes ballet number brings all the qualities and flaws together. It’s beautiful to look at, a feast for the eyes and ears and this scene alone is probably enough to justify the status of An American in Paris but at the same time this scene also again feels incredibly out-of-place, meaningless and unessential. Of course, not everything that happens in a movie needs to have a deeper point or must serve any purpose apart from entertaining the audience but An American in Paris doesn’t know how to keep a right balance.

It’s a beautiful and wonderful movie on the one side, empty and shallow on the other one. Still, the positive aspects manage to outweigh its flaws more often than not and helped it to achieve this position in this ranking.

Number 58: Tom Jones (Best Picture Ranking)

Another movie that is usually regarded as one of the worst choices by the Academy – but back in 1963, Tom Jones was a real sensation, winning practically every award leading up to the big night. Considering that Tom Jones is a frivolous comedy about a young man who enjoys the opposite sex, this may seem rather surprising but it mixes its plot with a lot of originality and energy, features a strong cast of British actors and knows how to entertain by (mostly) keeping a rather fast tempo.

Most importantly, Tom Jones achieves the task to never feel forced – a lot of movies that so desperately try to be different, new, original only feel extremely mannered in their attempts to do so. But somehow everything that is so unique about Tom Jones keeps a very welcome and refreshing feeling of never overdoing it. Characters looking into the camera, talking into the camera, silent movie scenes, a rhyming narrator and unusual use of score, editing and cinematography only help to create a maybe weird but still strangely captivating movie.

In the title role of Tom Jones, Albert Finney may seem like an unusual choice for a womanizing heartthrob but his easy-going, charming and uproarious performance carries the movie well and he is able to let Tom Jones be completely winning and unlikable at the same time. I was somehow convinced that Susannah York was Oscar-nominated for her beautiful turn as Tom’s love interest but the three supporting ladies that Oscar chose were others. Diane Cilento could have easily been replaced with Susannah York since she really doesn’t do a lot as the wild daughter of the gatekeeper. Joyce Redman is a step up and she brings just as much playfulness and humour to her role as Albert Finney to his. But the show-stealer is Edith Evans who could not only show a plunging neckline at the age of 75 that would put a lot of 20-year-olds to shame but who also has the wonderful talent to insert sarcasm, irony and clever wit into every remark she makes while always upholding a façade of British superiority. The scene in which she decisively chases a gangster away is a true highlight. Also Oscar-nominated was Hugh Griffith and rumour has it that he was always drunk during the filming but given the character he plays, this works very well.

Tom Jones mostly benefits from this cheerful ensemble but the story and the direction add a lot to its overall charm, too. The story itself may not be too exciting in itself and obviously the movie lacks a lot of depth or true development but Tom Jones never pretends that it wants any of these – instead, it proudly carries its lightness and unconcern. I admit, the movie not always delivers on a high level – it begins to move rather slowly after the first 30 minutes and also the last 20 minutes could have been better and yes, overall, the movie could have been shorter since 128 minutes are quite an exaggeration. But still, there is enough in Tom Jones to turn it into a curious but ambitious little movie – the surprising honesty of the hunting scene, the dialogue between Edith Evans and Hugh Griffith with all the farm animals as ‘spectators’ or the famous dinner-scene between Albert Finney and Joyce Redman.

Tom Jones is an enjoyable and interesting movie which may not be the height of sophistication in any way but sometimes, a little silliness, playfulness and creativity is just as good.

Number 59: The Great Ziegfeld (Best Picture Ranking)

The Great Ziegfeld doesn’t hold a very high reputation among critics or Oscar fans and is usually considered one of the weaker decision in the Academy’s history which can only be explained by its love for grand spectacles. And it’s true that 1936 certainly offered stronger and much more memorable pictures than this musical about the life of the legendary Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld – but this doesn’t mean that The Great Ziegfeld isn’t a pretty great movie itself.

Considering the length and old-fashioned story-telling, combined with various dated aspects, The Great Ziegfeld could feel like a giant bore today, but it miraculously overcomes all obstacles and still knows how to entertain on a high level. The story basically repeats itself constantly as Ziegfeld either charms a beautiful woman, produces a hit-show or becomes broke again but it’s all done with such love for detail and entertainment that it still feels surprisingly fresh and worthwhile. Of course, The Great Ziegfeld never feels like a biography – it may be about the life of Florenz Ziegfeld but it is the kind of movie that still feels like an invented story nonetheless. If never really creates the aura of actually telling something about its main character but is mostly interested in presenting his life as entertaining as possible – which it does.

In the role of Florenz Ziegfeld, William Powell is completely delightful and charming and convincingly meets all the challenges of the script – he captures the spirit of a true showman who could sell hot air to the devil, who could both have success and failures the whole time. Myrna Loy got second billing for her role as Ziegfeld’s second wife even though she only enters the movie during the last third of the running time. But she, too, brings a lot of emotional honesty to her part. But, of course, the real star of the picture is Oscar-winner Luise Rainer as Ziegfeld’s first wife Anna Held. The part lacks length, depth and almost everything else but Luise Rainer becomes a whirlwind of emotions, creating a diva full of eccentricities and insecurities, heartbreaking drama and hilarious comedy. The screen comes alive whenever she appears and she single-handedly turned The Great Ziegfeld from a mere succession of musical numbers into a moving human drama. Other secondary characters get their chances to shine, too, and Fanny Brice shows a lot of similarities to Barbra Streisand who would portray her 30 years later.

The Great Ziegfeld also offers some wonderful songs and engaging musical numbers. The famous ‘A pretty girl is like a melody’-number is a true spectacle but this is one of the few instances when everything actually becomes too big. Other numbers that focus on one or two singers impress much more.

The movie mostly shines in the time span of Ziegfeld’s life that involves Anna Held. Even the scenes that don’t feature Luise Rainer, The Great Ziegfeld still feels much more energetic and alive. After her famous telephone scene, The Great Ziegfeld begins to move much slower and even the musical numbers aren’t as captivating any more but William Powell and Myrna Loy still provide a lot of beautiful moments together.

I guess it’s this combination of human stories, brought to life by a wonderful cast, extravagant splendour and memorable musical numbers that turn The Great Ziegfeld, even if it may be rather simple underneath all the glitter, into a very engaging motion picture.

Number 60: Driving Miss Daisy (Best Picture Ranking)

Driving Miss Daisy managed to receive the acclaim of the Academy as being the best picture of the year – but apparently it wasn’t even among the five best directed. Bruce Beresford’s director snub is certainly surprising considering that the Academy has given Director nominations for much less.

Anyway, Driving Miss Daisy is the sentimental, moving and also amusing story of an old widow and her black chauffeur and how they slowly end up spending years and years together while becoming friends. Driving Miss Daisy seems mostly as a movie about racism and prejudices but these are actually themes are hardly touched and it mostly focuses on the relationship between Miss Daisy and Hog. This was a wise decision and while it is frustrating that Hog as a character is never as explored as Miss Daisy, the whole movie still keeps a nice balance between those two characters and use the, maybe, simple themes that shape their relationship as its driving force.

As a result, Driving Miss Daisy completely depends on the performances by Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman – and both are first-class. Jessica Tandy’s Miss Daisy is stubborn, determined and rather unlikable at the first look but she manages to create an overall captivating, loveable and touching character. Morgan Freeman adds humour and dignity to his role as Hog and never lets him turn into a black saint who spends his life serving a white lady but instead turns him into a full three-dimensional character. But even more important than the singular performances is the chemistry that these two actors develop since they are onscreen together for most of the time – and again, they both succeed. From their first moments that are marked by open rejection by Miss Daisy to their last moments together, the two actors both shine and create a truly magical on-screen relationship. Dan Akroyd offers some nice support (but an Oscar nomination was surely an exaggeration). And then there is even Patti LuPone (yes, that Patti LuPone!) as Miss Daisy’s annoying daughter-in-law – she’s too over-the-top sometimes but still manages to be somewhat entertaining.

Maybe it was an exaggeration to say that Driving Miss Daisy completely depends on the actors – because it has more to offer. The screenplay is extremely touching and manages to tell this small story without ever feeling empty or banal. Then there’s the wonderful, catchy score by Hans Zimmer which so perfectly accompanies the story.

Overall, Driving Miss Daisy beautifully captures the friendship between two unlikely characters without ever appearing too sentimental – all the effective moments are never overdone but only hinted it, even the final scene between Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy avoids any cheap sentimentality and feels surprisingly honest instead. Besides this, there are many other beautiful and moving scenes – Miss Daisy teaching Hog how to read at the graveyard, the two driving to the birthday party of her brother or cooking together. Driving Miss Daisy doesn’t provide any truly big moments or tackles grand themes but underneath its simple story is still hints at some greater truth without becoming preachy or sentimental.

Number 61: The Sting (Best Picture Ranking)

The Sting was the feel-good winner of 1973, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman and providing one of the most famous melodies of all time. It’s a movie that, unlike the two previous ranked winners Mrs. Miniver and Gentleman’s Agreement, doesn’t offer some important message or tackles a serious social problem but only wants to entertain and tell a good story – a goal it does fulfil, even if not completely.

The Sting gives the audience a lot of twists and turns, always coming up with new ideas and plots but the fact that it so completely depends on these twists makes it lose a lot of its appeal after the initial viewing. But thankfully The Sting also gives a lot else to enjoy – costumes, art direction, clever dialogue but most of all an inspired and entertaining cast that plays this light story with just the right touch of playfulness and charm. Robert Redford did receive an Oscar nomination for his performance but the truth is that, while all the actors know how to entertain, none of them ever reaches a level of thespian excellence – Robert Redford is charming and runs well but never more. Paul Newman’s role is rather secondary compared to Redford’s but he is much more memorable and amusing and knows how to steal a scene without ever stealing the show. The always wonderful Eileen Brennan shines with the little she gets to do and Robert Shaw is quite terrific as a mob boss.

The screenplay is witty and clever and uses the possibilities of its plot well while never trying to be more than it really is or outsmart the audience – instead, it keeps the action going quite nicely and knows when to take a new turn. Director George Roy Hill can be mostly applauded for bringing the screenplay to live with the exact right amount of playfulness and charm. The whole atmosphere of the movie also works very well – the past seems to come alive right in front of our eyes and the movie is never too funny or too dramatic but keeps an engaging balance.

Thanks to the cast and the direction it also doesn’t matter that, even at a first viewing, a lot of the storylines are already clear right from the beginning – The Sting does never truly surprise but it’s the kind of movie that manages to entertain nonetheless. Actually, the plot of the story becomes less and less important with each viewing while other aspects, little looks between the characters, certain words or simply the chemistry between Newman and Redford get more and more important.

The Sting is maybe one of the most unusual Best Picture winners simply because it lacks the usual feeling of importance that a lot of these winners have. It’s the kind of movie that maybe expected to receive a few technical Oscar but didn’t really try for the big one. This gives it a nice feeling of easiness, of being playful without being silly, of never trying to achieve more than it should.

Of course, it’s not a perfect movie and while the screenplay and the actors are far from average, the story sometimes lacks some life and makes you wonder if, even though the story serves its purpose, a little more character development or a little bit more interaction between the characters wouldn’t have been better. It’s a movie that is very easy to like and can even be admired in some parts but it’s not necessary to overrate it for being witty and charming. This wit and charm helped it to achieve this number in my ranking but the lack of various other aspects prevented it from getting any higher.

Number 62: Gentleman's Agreement (Best Picture Ranking)

Gentleman’s Agreement, a movie about anti-Semitism in America’s society after World War II presents, like Mirs. Miniver, a powerful and important message that made it impossible for Academy voters to deny it the Best Picture Oscar. After the horror of the Holocaust, the message of Gentleman’s Agreement may have been more important than ever but the movie suffers from a lot of dated aspects which hurt its overall quality but its story has still enough merit to carry it to this position in my ranking.

The movie focuses on the interesting idea of a Christian reporter pretending to be Jewish to have a personal look at the prejudices of the people around him. Like Mrs. Miniver, Gentleman’s Agreement features various characters that all stand for the possible reactions to his ‘new’ religion. His fiancée knows that he isn’t really Jewish and she tries to her best to appears as open-minded and tolerant as possible but it becomes clear very quickly that she could never stand it if Phil was actually Jewish – Cathy is not prejudiced herself but she fears the reactions of the people around her, she is one of those people that silently condemn any prejudiced behaviour but never speak out against it. Anne, a co-worker of Phil, is rather the opposite, she isn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind and she sees no problem at all in Phil being Jewish. Other secondary characters demonstrate the various degrees of prejudice or even hate that Phil now has to endure.

The topic of Gentleman’s Agreement may be (unfortunately) timeless but the movie itself isn’t. Gregory Peck carries the movie adequately but he is too stiff in his acting while Dorothy McGuire also plays her role with dignity and competence but suffers from too much melodramatic and superficial acting choices. Even John Garfield, usually praised for his modern acting style, seems to sleep-walk through the picture, barely changing his facial expression or body language. It’s mostly up to Anne Revere, an expert in playing the understanding mother, and especially Oscar-winner Celeste Holm to add some truly memorable acting moments. Celeste Holm almost alone more than once rescues the production from collapsing under its own seriousness and superiority with her fresh, funny but also moving performance. Eliza Kazan may have won an Oscar for Directing and he usually produced very daring, alive and gripping tales but in Gentleman’s Agreement, he didn’t seem to do more than point the camera at some people and yell ‘Action!’. This turned Gentleman’s Agreement in an overall very stagey and stiff movie that is never really memorable for what it displays but rather for what it hints at.

The already mentioned character of Cathy wonderfully displays the problem of group pressure and the inability to stand up against open hate and prejudices out of fear to become a victim, too. Phil’s secretary changed her own name to hide the fact that she is Jewish and is very practical about it. Overall, Gentleman’s Agreement shows how a topic that actually shouldn’t matter at all suddenly turns the life of everyone involved around.

Just like Mrs. Miniver, Gentleman’s Agreement also suffers from the fact that it is not always able to bring its message across without various flaws. The character of Phil is presented so saintly and morally perfect that it’s not hard to agree with Cathy when she accuses Phil of misunderstanding her later. Besides this, a lot of moments in the movie feel incredibly slow and lifeless, either because of an overwritten and too eager screenplay, unimaginative direction or stiff actors. An important message doesn’t necessarily produce a great movie but Gentleman’s Agreement is still a powerful story that shows that, even though the Holocaust had just happened, prejudice against Jews is still an almost normal part of society. It manages to take a serious and often surprising look at this topic while often being too heavy-handed. Still, it’s an commendable effort that not only provokes but also, at least, sometimes, entertains.

Number 63: Mrs. Miniver (Best Picture Ranking)

Back in 1942, Mrs. Miniver was seen as a strong part of the Allied propaganda to convince people in the USA of the necessarity of the war against Hitler’s Germany. While World War II may be long over, Mrs. Miniver is still a strong and also entertaining tale about a middle-class family (well, maybe not really middle-class since new cars, expensive hats, a big house, a maid and more are not really a problem for them) and how its members are affected by war, air raids and Germans in their kitchen.

Even though Winston Churchill was among the people who considered Mrs. Miniver first-class propaganda for the Allied cause, the movie never truly felt like that to me. It’s a well-made and gripping tale but Mrs. Miniver obviously lost some of its impact over the years. Today, it seems mostly interesting from a historic point-of-view and, even though the glorification of the Minivers as the ideal family might be a bit annoying, shines mostly as a human drama about the changes of life in extraordinary circumstances.

It’s not given that the movie is called Mrs. Miniver – she may be the most central character but she is not really its deciding force. Mrs. Miniver gives various characters the chance to develop their own storylines and their own fate in this troubled time. Greer Garson fills her part with the expected grace, charm but also to much melodrama that most performances from the 40s tend to inhabit. Her exquisite screen presence may prevent her from truly becoming an ‘every-woman’ and William Wyler obviously wants to put her on a podium of superiority but she still fulfils the tasks given to her with competence and while she may not have been my own choice for Best Actress, I don’t begrudge her win. Another acting Oscar went to Teresa Wright as he daughter-in-law and while my overall affection for her performances has cooled down a bit, she is still a charming and lively presence. Dame May Whitty gives one of her usual ‘heart of gold behind a gritty façade’-performances but she certainly knows how to do it. The men of Mrs. Miniver can't really catch up to the work of these three ladies – Walter Pidgeon may have been Greer Garson’s favourite screen partner and the audience back then apparently couldn’t get enough of them, but there is never much chemistry between them, especially since Pidgeon is often too wooden and limited in his role. Richard Ney as Greer Garson’s son feels too inexperienced in most of his scenes but he has a natural charisma that gives the movie some sparks nonetheless.

These actors carry the story and portray the change that goes through England’s society with the begin of the war. Greer Garson displays the worries and fears of a mother and wife during wartime, Walter Pidgeon’s storyline gets him to Dünkirchen, Richard Ney shows how a rather snobbish and pseudo-intellectual young man can turn into a fighter for his country, Teresa Wright is the young war-bride who must fear that every moment with her husband might be the last while Dame May Whitty has to accept that the days of different classes come to an end and that, to fight against a powerful enemy, all people have to work together. All these ideas and thoughts are certainly interesting but unfortunately the movie often is too simple in its presentation. The rose contest, while an appropriate presentation of England’s friendly society and the opportunity for Dame May Whitty to open up her character more, still comes across as too banal in its execution. The Minivers may appears a loving, average family but it still seems rather unbelievable that, on the eve of World War II, not a single word about politics is ever uttered between them, letting them appear rather naïve and ignorant. Overall, Mrs. Miniver is most powerful in certain scenes and not in its overall plot – Greer Garson and the German soldier in her kitchen, her final scenes with Teresa Wright, the tender love between Carol and Vin or the shocking scenes during the air raid. In these moments, Mrs. Miniver becomes a powerful lecture on the horror of war without ever appearing preachy (certainly quite an achievement considering it was made right in the middle of the war it portrays) but other moments like the drunk maid, the annoying other two children or overly sentimental scenes destroy a lot of the effects of these more powerful events.

Mrs. Miniver is a completely logical choice for the win and it still carries a powerful message but at the same time suffers from various flaws which prevent it from becoming a truly great movie.