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The Best Picture Oscar nominees of 1936 contained a few stone-cold classics and a large handful of duds. The Academy nominated 10 films for Best Picture that year, with the top honor going to Robert Z. Leonard's three-hour glitzy musical biopic "The Great Ziegfeld". "The Great Ziegfeld" is visually spectacular but kind of mushy as a melodrama, serving more as a fond farewell to its subject (who died in 1932) than a legitimately great film.

The legit bangers nominated that year included Frank Capra's "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," one of the master director's more notable comedies. Also pretty good were William Dieterle's "The Story of Lois Pasteur" starring Paul Muni, and Jack Conway's delightful screwball film "Libeled Lady" with Powell and Myrna Loy. Conway also directed a serviceable adaptation of "A Tale of Two Cities," which many readers may have watched in their junior high school classrooms.

But...

Although he has personally competed for the Best Picture Oscar as a qualifying producer of just four films, Martin Scorsese is responsible for directing 10 of the top Academy Award category’s nominees, including 2024 contender “Killers of the Flower Moon.” This recent improvement upon his total makes him only the third filmmaker in Oscars history to helm a double-digit amount of Best Picture nominees. Including him, six people who were already credited with directing at least one nominee rose higher in the ranks this year.

The previous Scorsese films that vied for Best Picture are 2007 winner “The Departed” (for which he earned his sole directing trophy) and nominees “Taxi Driver” (1977), “Raging Bull” (1981), “Goodfellas” (1991), “Gangs of New York” (2003), “The Aviator” (2005), “Hugo” (2012), “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2014), and “The Irishman” (2020). Of the 10, he received producing notices for the most recent four and directing bids for all but “Taxi Driver.” The only ones who...

(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we look at Oscars categories from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winners stand the test of time.)

If you were to guess who the most nominated director was in the history of the Academy Awards, who would you guess? Maybe you'd say Steven Spielberg, who has made films for a half-century that have been beloved by millions. Or maybe you're inclination was to guess Martin Scorsese, given his level of simultaneous mainstream acclaim and critical adoration. Or maybe you'd go back to the golden age of Hollywood and guess someone like Frank Capra or John Ford, filmmakers fundamental to establishing what popular American cinema was and directed many films still revered today. In reality, it's not any of these people.

It may come as a surprise to learn that the most nominated director of all time is William Wyler.

Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest movie makers of all time, with titles such as “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” and “The Irishman.” The Academy Awards think that highly of him, too. Scorsese has reaped nine Best Director nominations. That tally ties him with Steven Spielberg. Here’s the breakdown of Best Director bids for both of them:

Scorsese:

“Raging Bull” in 1981 — lost to Robert Redford for “Ordinary People.” “The Last Temptation of Christ” in 1989 — lost to Barry Levinson for “Rain Man.” “Goodfellas” in 1991 — lost to Kevin Costner for “Dances With Wolves.” “Gangs of New York” in 2003 — lost to Roman Polanski for “The Pianist.” “The Aviator” in 2005 — lost to Clint Eastwood for “Million Dollar Baby.” “The Departed” in 2007 — Won. “Hugo” in 2012 — lost to Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist.” “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2014 — lost to Alfonso Cuarón for “Gravity.” “The Irishman” in 2020 — lost to Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.

Celebrated director William Wyler directed 19 feature films in 1927 alone. To put that into perspective, Stanley Kubrick directed 13 in his whole career. 

Wyler is one of the more towering figures in American cinema, holding the record for the greatest number of Oscar nominations for Best Director at 12, and has won three times for "Mrs. Miniver," for "The Best Years of Our Lives," and for "Ben-Hur." Additionally, his films have attracted more Oscar attention than any other filmmaker in history; 13 of them have been nominated for Best Picture, and he directed 14 Oscar-winning performances. If you are playing Trivial Pursuit and the question is about records at the Academy Awards, William Wyler is likely your best guess. 

As one of the tentpoles of Hollywood's Golden Age, naturally, Wyler was afforded access to the best actors and actresses, and seemingly had his run of whatever projects he wanted. Throughout the 1920s, Wyler paid his...

Oscar certainly loves mothers. All five of this year’s Best Actress nominees — Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Penelope Cruz (“Parallel Mothers”), Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”) and Kirsten Stewart (“Spencer”) — play mothers. Ditto four out of five supporting nominees: Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Judi Dench (“Belfast”), Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”) and Aunjanue Ellis (“King Richard”); the fifth contender is Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”).

Actresses love getting maternal sinking their teeth-and sometimes claws-into mother roles whether they be good, bad, ugly or downright evil. Here’s a look at some early memorable mother performances that made Oscars history.

The mother of all mothers was Ruth Chatterton. Though she is not as well-remembered as other actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood, she was extremely popular in the late 1920s and early ‘30s. Though no nominations were officially announced for the second annual Oscars,...

Although Ned Beatty’s six-minute performance in “Network” is the shortest to ever be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, eight Best Supporting Actress nominees have boasted even lower screen times. While only 17 performances under 10 minutes have been recognized in the male category, there have been 36 on the female side, from the first ceremony to Laura Dern’s first supporting bid for “Wild” in 2015. Here is a list of the 10 shortest, which has remained unchanged since 1999 (and here are the 10 shortest winners):

10. Geraldine Page (“The Pope of Greenwich Village”)

6 minutes, 6 seconds (5.06% of the film)

Page’s seventh acting nomination and fourth in the supporting category came for her small role as Mrs. Ritter, the mother of a slain police officer. Though she created a memorable character, she lost to first-time nominee Peggy Ashcroft, whose performance in 1984’s “A Passage to India” clocks in at 32 minutes and 16 seconds. The loss made...

When the supporting acting Oscar categories were introduced in 1937, two films (“Dodsworth” and “Romeo and Juliet”) each received one lead and one supporting nomination. A third, “My Man Godfrey,” immediately made Oscar history by scoring a nomination in each of the four categories. In all three cases, the supporting nominees had less screen time than the corresponding leads, as was and continues to be expected.

The opposite did not occur until 1950, when John Ireland was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for a longer performance in “All the King’s Men” than the one given by his co-star, Best Actor-winner Broderick Crawford. Since then, 10 more supporting male nominees have boasted higher screen time totals than their lead-nominated co-stars. Here is a look at each instance, in order from lowest screen time difference to highest.

1997: William H. Macy (“Fargo”) – 27 minutes, 7 seconds

0 minutes, 38 seconds over Frances McDormand

“Fargo” begins as a story about...

Whether a viewer in 1896 or 2020, cinema has always been a dynamic and variable experience. Cinema as an event—as a manifestation of a meeting point between the art of moving images and an audience, big or small—has never fit any one definition, and this last year, so severely disrupted by a global pandemic, has deeply underscored the versatility and resilience of our great love.Our viewing this year, like that of so many, has been strange: compromised, confrontational, escapist, euphoric, painful, revelatory—encompassing all of the reactions one can have to film. How we encountered our favorite movies and most meaningful cinematic experiences of the year was hardly new: A by-now-normal mix of festivals, theatres, various subscription and transactional streaming services, as well as private screener links and gems buried on over-stuffed hard drives. But for most of the year, the communal experience shrunk to living rooms and glowing screens.

With a screen time total of 18 minutes and 36 seconds, Laura Dern’s 2020 Best Supporting Actress-winning performance in “Marriage Story” was noted for its brevity. However, it ranks as the 24th shortest to ever win in the Oscar category, proving the academy’s particular and everlasting fondness for smaller supporting female roles. Here is a look at the 10 winners with the least amount of screen time. (And here’s the equivalent list for Best Supporting Actor.)

10. Jo Van Fleet (“East of Eden”)

15 minutes, 4 seconds (12.82% of the film)

After a decade of stage acting, Tony winner Jo Van Fleet earned an Oscar for her film debut as child abandoner and brothel operator Kate Ames. Many of the votes she received were likely in honor of her body of work in 1955, since she also had roles in two other Oscar-nominated films that year (“I’ll Cry Tomorrow” and “The Rose Tattoo”). Her few scenes in “East of Eden,...

Walter Huston and May Astor in Dodsworth is currently available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering information can be found Here

” Love has got to stop some place short of suicide. “

Based on the best-selling novel by Sinclair Lewis, this “handsome, intelligent film” (Los Angeles Times) garnered seven Academy Award ® nominations, winning one*, and is “one of the authentic masterpieces of the 1930s” (Filmex Guide). Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) is a small-town rags-to-riches millionaire who finds that his money cannot bring him happiness. His unsatisfied wife, Fran (Ruth Chatterton), seeking glamour and sophistication, persuades him to take her on a grand tour of Europe, where she promptly deserts him for a romantic but penniless baron. Brokenhearted, Sam meets Edith (Mary Astor), an understanding widow who arouses passions he never thought he had and sets him on a collision course with his wife, unleashing a torrent of desire, betrayal and shocking revelations.

It’s ‘Marriage Story’ circa 1936. Talk about older shows that still pack a dramatic wallop… William Wyler’s most celebrated ’30s film is this Sinclair Lewis adaptation. The Production Code frowned on disrespecting the institution of marriage, but Wyler & writer Sidney Howard keep the divorce theme intact — their well-off couple learn more about each other and simply grow apart. Industrialist Walter Huston gets pushed a little too far. His social-climbing wife Ruth Chatterton doesn’t appreciate what she’s got, while luscious Mary Astor is the Depression equivalent of a Malibu Earth Mother.

Dodsworth

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1936 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 101 min. / Street Date March 24, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, David Niven, Gregory Gaye, Maria Ouspenskaya.

Cinematography: Rudolph Maté

Film Editor: Daniel Mandell

Original Music: Alfred Newman

Written by Sidney Howard from his play of the novel by Sinclair Lewis...

The year’s best-curated selection of cinema begins this Friday at Film at Lincoln Center: the New York Film Festival. Now in its 57th edition, the event will kick off with one of its most high-profile world premieres in years, Martin Scorsese’s 3.5-hour crime epic The Irishman. What will follow is 17 days of the finest world cinema has to offer.

Since you are surely aware of their more high-profile selections–including Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or winner Parasite, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, and a certain jokester–in our preview we’ve sought out to highlight some films that are either flying a bit under the radar or go beyond their Main Slate selections. Check out 12 films to see, along with all reviews thus far, and return for our coverage. See the full schedule and more here.

Atlantics (Mati Diop)

Somewhere along the stretch of Senegalese coastline where...

William Wyler would’ve celebrated his 117th birthday on July 1, 2019. The three-time Oscar winner crafted several classics during Hollywood’s Golden Age, adapting his style to a wide variety of genres. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1902 in Germany, Wyler immigrated to the U.S. when his cousin, Universal Studios chief Carl Laemmle, hired him as an errand boy. He quickly moved up the ranks, directing shorts during the silent era before transitioning into features. It was with the advent of sound that he hit his stride, displaying an ear for dialogue that would serve him well in lofty literary adaptations produced by his longtime partner, independent mogul Samuel Goldwyn.

SEEBette Davis movies: 15 greatest films ranked from worst to best

Wyler quickly became an Oscar mainstay, earning a record-breaking 12 nominations for Best Director: “Dodsworth...

William Wyler and a trio of fantastic actors make indelible movie history from a grim story by Henry James. How much of love is bald opportunism? How many successes married their way into money? And what’s a lovesick woman to do when a beau may not be true? This may be the key Wyler picture, with the strongest ‘staircase’ scene of them all.

The Heiress

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 974

1949 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 116 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date , 2019 / 39.95

Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown.

Cinematography: Leo Tover

Film Editor: William Hornbeck

Original Music: Aaron Copland

Written by Ruth and Agustus Goetz from their play, from the book by Henry James

Produced and Directed by William Wyler

One of Hollywood’s finest directors, William Wyler turned out a high percentage of bona fide classics, distinguished adaptations of books and plays.

In 2009 — when the Academy Awards went to 10 Best Picture nominees for the first time since 1943 — the preferential system of voting, which had been used from 1934 to 1945, was reintroduced. The academy did so as it believed this “best allows the collective judgment of all voting members to be most accurately represented.”

We have detailed how the preferential voting system works at the Oscars in the modern era. So, let’s take a look back at those dozen years early in the history of the academy when it first used this complicated counting to determine the Best Picture winner rather than a simple popular vote. (At the bottom of this post, be sure to vote for the film that you think will take the top Oscar this year.)

See Best Picture Gallery: Every winner of the top Academy Award

1934

This seventh ceremony marked the first time that the Oscars eligibility period was the calendar year.

Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This December will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.

To sign up for a free two-week trial here.

Friday, December 1

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World*: Criterion Collection Edition #692

Stanley Kramer followed his harrowing Oscar winner Judgment at Nuremberg with the most grandly harebrained movie ever made, a pileup of slapstick and borscht-belt-y one-liners about a group of strangers fighting tooth and nail over buried treasure. Performed by a nonpareil cast, including Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Spencer Tracy, Jonathan Winters, and a boatload of other playing-to-the-rafters comedy legends, Kramer’s wildly uncharacteristic film is an exhilarating epic of tomfoolery. Supplemental Features: an audio commentary featuring It’s a Mad,...

(See previous post: Fourth of July Movies: Escapism During a Weird Year.) On the evening of the Fourth of July, besides fireworks, fire hazards, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, if you're watching TCM in the U.S. and Canada, there's the following: Peter H. Hunt's 1776 (1972), a largely forgotten film musical based on the Broadway hit with music by Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, who was recently on TCM talking about 1776 and a couple of other movies (A Thousand Clowns, Dodsworth), has one of the key roles as John Adams. Howard Da Silva, blacklisted for over a decade after being named a communist during the House Un-American Committee hearings of the early 1950s (Robert Taylor was one who mentioned him in his testimony), plays Benjamin Franklin. Ken Howard is Thomas Jefferson, a role he would reprise in John Huston's 1976 short Independence. (In the short, Pat Hingle was cast as John Adams; Eli Wallach was Benjamin Franklin.) Warner...

After falling into the public domain, Phil Karlson’s 1952 film noir Kansas City Confidential became unfairly lumped into B-grade bracket, a disservice considering the title’s odd narrative and eventual influence on contemporary filmmakers. Karlson, who would eventually turn to mainstream efforts starring the likes of Dean Martin and Elvis Presley in the 1960s and 1970s, contributed several enjoyable minor noir efforts in the 1950s. These would include 1952’s Scandal Sheet with Donna Reed and Broderick Crawford, Kim Novak casino heist effort 5 Against the House, and that same year’s Tight Spot with a peculiar role for Ginger Rogers. But none have enjoyed the staying power of this particular heist drama, now restored with its most accomplished transfer yet.

Kansas City delivery man Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is at the wrong place at the wrong time when he’s nabbed by the cops as the driver of a heist involving...

Teresa Wright-Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty end (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock Heroine in His Favorite Film.") Whether or not because she was aware that Enchantment wasn't going to be the hit she needed – or perhaps some other disagreement with Samuel Goldwyn or personal issue with husband Niven Busch – Teresa Wright, claiming illness, refused to go to New York City to promote the film. (Top image: Teresa Wright in a publicity shot for The Men.) Goldwyn had previously announced that Wright, whose contract still had another four and half years to run, was to star in a film version of J.D. Salinger's 1948 short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." Instead, he unceremoniously – and quite publicly – fired her.[1] The Goldwyn organization issued a statement, explaining that besides refusing the assignment to travel to New York to help generate pre-opening publicity for Enchantment,...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

With the DGA Award in hand, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has become a frontrunner in the best director Oscar race for Birdman.

Only seven winners of the DGA Award have not won the best director Oscar in the 66 years that the Directors Guild of America has given the award. The most recent case was two years ago, when Ben Affleck wasn’t even nominated for the best director Oscar for Argo, which won best picture.

No American has won for best director since 2011 and if Inarritu, who is from Mexico, takes the Oscar this year, the trend will continue. Inarritu could become the second Latin American director to win for best director, following Alfonso Cuaron’s win last year.

In the 86 years since the Academy Awards’ inception, 89 Oscars have been given for best director. Twenty-six awards (29 percent) went to non-American born directors.

At the first annual...

Laura Linney is taking a well-deserved break.

The Emmy-winning star (she just earned her fourth for her role in "The Big C" last month) has had a varied, decades-long career, with award-worthy roles in theater, film, and television. Her latest movie, "The Fifth Estate," which chronicles the rise of divisive free-speech activist Julian Assange and his website, WikiLeaks, opens this Friday. When we spoke to Linney recently, we learned that she's been enjoying some deliberate down time.

So what does Laura Linney do when she's doing nothing? Like the rest of us, she binge-watches "Breaking Bad." And when she's not immersed in Walter White's crystal meth-cooking drama, she's talking to us about taking on the WikiLeaks story, changing a pivotal moment in "Love Actually," and the gender-bending role she'd love to play.

Bill Condon said he felt an initial pang of "terror" when he took on "The Fifth Estate." What...

As the Academy celebrates 85 years of great films at the Oscars on February 24th, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is set to take movie fans on the ultimate studio tour with the 2013 edition of 31 Days Of Oscar®. Under the theme Oscar by Studio, the network will present a slate of more than 350 movies grouped according to the studios that produced or released them. And as always, every film presented during 31 Days Of Oscar is an Academy Award® nominee or winner, making this annual event one of the most anticipated on any movie lover’s calendar.

As part of the network’s month-long celebration, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has graciously provided the original Academy Awards® radio broadcasts from 1930-1952. Specially chosen clips from the radio archives will be featured throughout TCM’s 31 Days Of Oscar website.

Hollywood was built upon the studio system, which saw nearly ever aspect...

Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Dodsworth William Wyler: Record-Setting Oscar Director for Actors Pt.1 Ah, William Wyler also happens to be the director with the most Academy Award nominations: twelve in all. For the record, those are: Dodsworth, 1936; Wuthering Heights, 1939; The Letter, 1940; The Little Foxes, 1941; Mrs. Miniver, 1942; The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946; The Heiress, 1949; Detective Story, 1951; Roman Holiday, 1953; Friendly Persuasion, 1956; Ben-Hur, 1959; and The Collector, 1965. He won the Best Director Oscar for three films — none of which is among his best: Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Ben-Hur. Considering the changes that have taken place in the American film industry following the demise of the studio system, barring a miracle Wyler will remain the Oscars' top director for actors for as long as there are Oscars. (See full list below.) William Wyler died of a heart attack in July 1981 in Los Angeles. William Wyler-directed movies: thirty-six acting nominations; fourteen wins.

William Wyler was one of the greatest film directors Hollywood — or any other film industry — has ever produced. Today, Wyler lacks the following of Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Frank Capra, or even Howard Hawks most likely because, unlike Hitchcock, Ford, or Capra (and to a lesser extent Hawks), Wyler never focused on a particular genre, while his films were hardly as male-centered as those of the aforementioned four directors. Dumb but true: Films about women and their issues tend to be perceived as inferior to those about men — especially tough men — and their issues. The German-born Wyler (1902, in Alsace, now part of France) immigrated to the United States in his late teens. Following a stint at Universal's New York office, he moved to Hollywood and by the mid-'20s was directing Western shorts. His ascent was quick; by 1929 Wyler was directing Universal's top female star, Laura La Plante in the...

It now appears to be more likely than not that Hailee Steinfeld, the 14-year-old actress who makes her big screen debut in the Coen brothers’ critically and commercially successful Western “True Grit,” will score an Oscar nomination — and perhaps even a win — in one category or another for her film-stealing performance. Consequently, some of you may be wondering if any other newcomer has ever earned that kind of recongition over the 82 year history of the Academy Awards. The answer is yes — in fact, it has happened precisely 47 times, 16 in lead and 31 in supporting.

Some of those women were famous before they received their nods (i.e. Jennifer Hudson and Barbra Streisand); most were not (i.e. Mary Badham and Gabby Sidibe). Some never made another movie after they received their nods (i.e. Jocelyne Lagarde); some made a few and then dropped off the face of the earth (i.e.

Chicago – “Conviction” tells the true story of siblings Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) and Kenny (Sam Rockwell) Walters, and the quest of Betty Anne to free her brother from a prison sentence for murder. Oscar nominee Juliette Lewis lends her talent as key prosecution witness Roseanna Perry, and the film is directed by Tony Goldwyn.

Featured star Lewis and Director Goldwyn were in Chicago recently to promote the film. HollywoodChicago.com sat down for interviews with both of them, talking about the general themes of Conviction and their expansive careers.

Juliette Lewis, Roseanna Perry in “Conviction”

Juliette Lewis is a familiar presence in the Hollywood canon of the last twenty years. Beginning her career as a teenager in the 1980s, she had a transcendent breakthrough as Danielle Bowden in Martin Scorsese’s remake of “Cape Fear” (1991). From that point to the end of the decade, Lewis worked with directors as diverse...

Silver Screen

The Big Picture still waiting on the (nonexistent) trailer for Avatar.

Do You Have a Flag? remembers The Virgin Suicides. Mmm, pretty pictures.

Big Screen Little Screen Melissa Leo going back to series television.

Mnpp James Franco (I nearly spit out my coffee. Lol)

Getty Should Julia Roberts get a restraining order?

Film Addict remembers Ruth Chatterton in Dodsworth. Dodsworth is one of my all time favorites. For some reason I have yet to surmount my block about writing it up.

/Film is Skarsgård picking up Thor's hammer? And do we need a Thor movie? Remember how that little girl in Adventures in Babysitting was obsessed with the Norse god and how totally random and weird that was?

Oscar and the City reveals his "most anticipated performances" list.

The Inciting Incident How cool must it be to be a Pixar intern? I imagine very.

Disney Blog Seems The...

The movie lists that get the most attention these days are sadly fan-pandering lists from major movie publications (EW, Empire, etcetera) that cater to the last 25 years or are overly worried about mainstream relevance and DVD sales (AFI)... forgetting that the most noble purpose of 'all time lists' is not to pat people on the back for what they love but to inspire them to dig deeper. "Great" lists should be filling up our rental queues. Best book lists are not best seller charts after all but encouragements to read. Best music lists are often about new discoveries, too. What haven't you heard? So I'm totally excited to study They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? reworked "Top 1000 Films of All Time" list.

I am powerless against a good list. Here's two samples from their top 1000. First, the top 20 and I've picked two that I really insist that you see right now...