How on earth did this not win Best Picture at the Oscars
Now THAT is one I bet the voters would like to have back, with all due respect to GOING MY WAY
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MovieChat Forums > Double Indemnity (1944) Discussion > How on earth did this not win Best Pictu...
I think it is mostly because the Academy didn't want to reward a film about morally corrupt people. If you look back at the Best Picture winners, few (if any) had questionable protagonists. We're a bit more comfortable with the subject matter today (emphasis on "a bit").
Sweet merciful crap!
It's just tea! *sips* Needs more gin.
You are absolutely correct @Rahrah14 , and even today it is very, very hard for a film to win Best Picture that you would consider "dark" or featuring "morally corrupt" people. Off the top of my head I can think of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE GODFATHER PART I & II, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, MIDNIGHT COWBOY??, ALL ABOUT EVE, maybe UNFORGIVEN....
Not many in the grand scheme of things...
I hadn't thought about All About Eve but I can see, now that you mention it, that the plot is about some unsavory goings-on. All the examples you gave are great examples...I would also include On the Waterfront.
Sweet merciful crap!
It's just tea! *sips* Needs more gin.
I don't know how Fred MacMurray was denied an Oscar nomination which probably would have lead to a win. Bing Crosby was okay in "Going My Way" but Fred MacMurray was terrific as Walter Neff. It would have been two Paramount contract players pitted against each other and the pity is that MacMurray remained underrated throughout his career.
shareYeah, seriously, seven nominations and no wins? Should have won Best Picture, Best Actress (Stanwyck), Best Director (Wilder) and Best Screenplay (Chandler/Wilder). Going My Way? Oh puleeze.
shareAll you need to know about the Oscars, or just about every other award for film and television, is that they have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with excellence in the field. It's a prom, and a popularity contest, where a prom queen and king are nominated and selected. Sure, yes, the films and actors and sound and SFX and all that is acknowledged is excellent, generally speaking, but that's not what this is all about. Indeed, you might notice that comedies never get much attention, if at all, than any other genre from the Academy. This is because dramas, especially message movies, are safer than comedies; what you found funny might not be considered so by the rest of the industry, and you might alienate yourself that way.
shareIt's not that simple, folks. There was a WORLD WAR going on (and people
were still scarred from the FIRST World War in the late teens of the 20th
century). Cornball Crosby Caressed everyone's fears, and the highly
forgettable "Going My Way" licked the competition.
People seem to forget that 1944 also boasted the incredible "Meet Me in
St. Louis", "Laura" and "Lifeboat"...all, of which, deserved Oscar nods
for Best Picture, and ALL of which...remain classics today.
Nobody today gives two s*&ts for that Crosby movie.
The Oscars don't mean zilch.
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Because the Academy Awards are run by idiots. It has become worse in the last few years.
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