2. The Broadway Melody (1929)

Director: Harry Beaumont

Starring: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love

Other Oscar Wins: N/A

Other Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Bessie Love), Best Director

Favourite Line: "Those men aren't going to pay ten bucks to look at your face; this is Broadway!" "Yeah, 'Broad's way'."

Anita Page and Bessie Love in The Broadway Melody.

 The Broadway Melody, the second winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the first all-talking musical picture, is visually beautiful and the score is wonderful, but otherwise I felt the film fell short. The story was rather predictable, and most of the acting is rather cheesy and overdone.

The story is about a sister act that comes to New York, looking to become stars on Broadway. With the help of their friend Eddie, a composer, Queenie and Hank manage to get small roles in a show. However, the beautiful Queenie quickly outshines the more plain and very brash Hank, who is cut from the show. Despite their love for each other, the girls find themselves at odds with one another, both with regard to stardom, and also in romance.

I have to say, in all honesty, the music (composed by Nacio Herb Brown, lyrics by Arthur Freed) is the best part of this film. This opinion is probably helped by the fact that I am a huge fan of Singin' in the Rain (1952), and it was very interesting to hear the songs featured in Singin' in the Rain in their original context of The Broadway Melody. For the most part, the dancing is a little messy, but the point of chorus girls at this time was really just to look good anyway, at which they succeeded. One very impressive moment, which was really the standout moment of the whole film for me, was one chorus girl who tap dances while wearing pointe shoes. That was just so incredible, and I can't imagine how difficult, and not to mention painful, that routine would be.

Art by Olly Moss.

As for acting, Bessie Love who plays Hank, was nominated for the Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and although I think she had some good moments, mostly she did a lot of yelling and bossing people around. I thought that the character of Queenie, played by Anita Page, was a much more interesting character to watch, and she was the only one in the film who I felt never overplayed a moment. She was very truthful in her performance, and she was very interesting to watch.

Overall, The Broadway Melody is a fun and fluffy sort of movie, with nothing too heavy or serious at all, but it was an enjoyable and entertaining piece. Once you get past the huge amounts of cheesy-ness and predictability, it is ultimately just fun.

1. Wings (1927)

Director: William A. Wellman

Starring: Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen, Gary Cooper

Other Oscar Wins: Best Effects

Other Oscar Nominations: N/A

Favourite Line: "All set?" "O.K.!"

Richard Arlen and Charles "Buddy" Rogers in Wings.

Wow. What a stunning picture. This is an incredible feat of dramatic and compelling storytelling. The story is about two World War One fighter pilots who are both in love with the same girl, and also of the girl next door who joins the Women's Motor Corp to be closer to the man she loves, but he does not notice her. Wings is a beautiful film about camaraderie, romance, and war, with an ending that I can honestly say I didn't see coming, and left me a blubbering, sobbing mess.

The movie features some fantastic acting all around, but two particularly impressive roles were had by Clara Bow as Mary Preston and Charles Rogers as Jack Powell. Clara Bow is so fascinating to watch, and just draws you in whenever she is on screen. Charles "Buddy" Rogers gives the most moving performance of the film, which is even more impressive considering that he had to do all his own flying, and was sick after every take in the air.

Artwork by Olly Moss

The special effects, which rightfully won their own Oscar, are very impressive. All the flying and battle scenes are absolutely awe inspiring. When you think about how difficult it would be to film this, and when you consider that those planes are really in the air with the actors, and that it cost about $2 million to make (which was unheard of at the time), it's almost hard to believe the film was even made at all.

A few interesting facts about Wings, not only is it the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, it also contains the first onscreen kiss between two men. The fires on the crashing planes in the battle sequences are in colour, which means they would have to be individually hand-painted. Wings  is also the film that gave Gary Cooper his start. Cooper is often listed as one of the stars of the film, which is quite the feat, considering he is only on screen for a minute and a half before his character is killed. My final fun fact is that the third star of the film, Richard Arlen, was in fact a real pilot with the Royal Canadian Flying Corps in WWI, although he never actually saw combat.

All in all, Wings is an absolutely brilliant picture, which I'm sure I'll watch again, and I would highly recommend it.

Hello, and welcome! My name is Crysania and as a huge fan of the Academy Awards and of movies in general, I have decided to make a little challenge for myself. My Oscar Challenge is to watch all 86 winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture, in order, before the next Oscars. I've started this before, but this time I'm going to do it right, and I will finish. I'm going to write my thoughts on each individual film, even the ones I have seen before, and share my experience with all of you!

Just so you know who I am a little bit, I am a 21 year old Canadian student, going to University in the fall for an Honours BA with Specialization in Theatre. My goal is to become a director of both film and theatre, and who knows? Maybe one day, when they announce the winner of the Oscar for Best Director, it will be me! Hey, it's nice to dream.

To start things off, here is a list of all 86 movies.

1927-28 Wings
1928-29 Broadway Melody
1929-30 All Quiet on the Western Front
1930-31 Cimarron
1931-32 Grand Hotel
1932-33 Cavalcade
1934 It Happened One Night
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty
1936 The Great Ziegfeld
1937 The Life of Emile Zola
1938 You Can't Take It With You
1939 Gone With the Wind
1940 Rebecca
1941 How Green Was My Valley
1942 Mrs. Miniver
1943 Casablanca
1944 Going My Way
1945 The Lost Weekend
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives
1947 Gentlemen's Agreement
1948 Hamlet
1949 All the King's Men
1950 All About Eve
1951 An American in Paris
1952 The Greatest Show on Earth
1953 From Here to Eternity
1954 On the Waterfront
1955 Marty
1956 Around the World in 80 Days
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
1958 Gigi
1959 Ben-Hur
1960 The Apartment
1961 West Side Story
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1963 Tom Jones
1964 My Fair Lady
1965 The Sound of Music
1966 A Man for All Seasons
1967 In the Heat of the Night
1968 Oliver!
1969 Midnight Cowboy
1970 Patton
1971 The French Connection
1972 The Godfather
1973 The Sting
1974 The Godfather Part II
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1976 Rocky
1977 Annie Hall
1978 The Deer Hunter
1979 Kramer vs. Kramer
1980 Ordinary People
1981 Chariots of Fire
1982 Gandhi
1983 Terms of Endearment
1984 Amadeus
1985 Out of Africa
1986 Platoon
1987 The Last Emperor
1988 Rain Man
1989 Driving Miss Daisy
1990 Dances With Wolves
1991 The Silence of the Lambs
1992 Unforgiven
1993 Schindler's List
1994 Forrest Gump
1995 Braveheart
1996 The English Patient
1997 Titanic
1998 Shakespeare in Love
1999 American Beauty
2000 Gladiator
2001 A Beautiful Mind
2002 Chicago
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004 Million Dollar Baby
2005 Crash
2006 The Departed
2007 No Country for Old Men
2008 Slumdog Millionaire
2009 The Hurt Locker
2010 The King's Speech
2011 The Artist
2012 Argo
2013 12 Years a Slave

I have "Wings" on hold at my local library, and then we will get started!

This is an incredible poster for the 85th Oscars, by Olly Moss. I'll include the artwork for all the separate films in each individual post.