1945 - The year the industry embraced the alcoholic

1940's cinema like many of the earlier decades for cinema features my least amout of films seen because most of what I've seen in cinema is the more modern cinema due to my age and also places I can view film. 1945 like many of the years from it's decade is underseen with me really only have seen two films prior to my revisit. Lucky one of those films I'd seen prior was the big winner at the academy awards themselves. The Lost Weekend Billy Wilder's follow up picture to Double Indemnity while a good film is in no way top tior Wilder for me. Ray Milland is marvelous in the film and the film itself is a milestone in the cinematic landscape due to it's themes and matter of fact approach to them. For a film to so unapologethically approach the nature of alcoholism like this film does is a marvel. The film is however let down by it's age and certain parts of the film have not aged well (i.e. Jane Wyman's problematic performance). However I do consider the film a worthwhile watch. The other films nominated for picture in 1945 include Anchors Aweigh, The Bells of St. Mary's, Mildred Pierce and Spellbound. Anchors Aweigh would've been my choice for picture because I find the film a purely delighful film featuring Gene Kelly in one of his signature performances. St. Mary's the worst of the bunch and as a followup to Going My Way from the year before even to a lackluster film like the previous one this sequel of sorts was an awful experience to watch. Mildred Pierce is iconic for a reason and Crawford does wonders in the role, even if moments fall flat there's so much in the film to like that I find it endlessly watchable. The final nominee Spellbound is one of the Hitchcock films from this period while I like is not a game changing or endlessly watchable as his others that I have to sort of not agree with the choice of this film even though I love most of it.

The year may've not been properly remembered by the best picture nominees but there are some great films to discuss that came out this year. My favourite film and best overall from 45 is Elia Kazan's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Kazan as I've mentioned previously has a way with actors and the ensemble from the youngest child actor to oldest adult actor are so strong that they make the material which could've been too small so engrossing that I find it to be one of Kazan's best. In the film I need to give special mention to Peggy Ann Garner my choice for best actress an actress young in her age but under Kazan's direction gives a magicial turn that I can't really think of a young performance so well thought out that I've seen since (there has been a lot of great child performances since but nothing like Garner's). Anchors weigh is my runner up and I just have to mention again how special Gene Kelly was to cinema and this might be my favourite performance of his because he clearly enjoys every second he is on screen. Spellbound while not top tior Hitchcock is a film I love. It mainly comes down to the trior of actors Hitchcock assembled including the sublime Ingrid Bergman, eye catching Cary Grant and respectable Michael Chekhov. The film your typical 40's thriller is made better by their inclusion. My next choice would by The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Powell and Pressburger so impecable during this period hit it strong again with Colonel Blimp for me. Handling a film telling a multi timeline story with such care and attention is a feat in itself. Actually making a film with a love to say on life and death as the title suggests is what added to making this dynamic duo as special as they were. My final choice for picture would've been The Story of G.I. Joe. A war film was nothing new during this period of world war II but I just really found myself taken by Joe, this may be due to Robert Mitchum who in every role I've seen him in has been like no actor I've seen on screen before. Mitchum is both the most masculine person in the room while also being the emotional person to walk across the screen. The film around Mitchum is also great.

31 is the amount of films I've seen from this year and while the films I rank highest are especially strong for the most part the year is a lot weaker than I was expecting. This is clearly shown in the academies choices but below is what I would've chosen to make the year look a lot stronger.

OUTSTANDING PICTURE:

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Produced by Louis D. Lighton)

2. Anchors Aweigh (Produced by Joe Pasternak)

3. Spellbound (Produced by David O. Selznick)

4. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Produced by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)

5. The Story of G.I. Joe (Produced by Lester Cowan)

6. The Lost Weekend

7. Dillinger

8. Fallen Angel

9. Leave Her to Heaven

10. Mildred Pierce

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:

Alfred Hitchcock for Spellbound

Elia Kazan for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

George Sidney for Anchors Aweigh

Billy Wilder for The Lost Weekend

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:

Gene Kelly as Joseph Brady in "ANCHORS AWEIGH"
Ray Milland as Don Birnam in "THE LOST WEEKEND"

Robert Mitchum as Lieutenant Walker in "THE STORY OF G.I. JOE"

Edward G. Robinson as Christopher Cross in "SCARLET STREET"

Lawrence Tierney as John Dillinger in "DILLINGER"

OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:

Ingrid Bergman as Dr. Constance Petersen in "SPELLBOUND"

Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce in "MILDRED PIERCE"
Peggy Ann Garner as Francie Nolan in "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN"

Deborah Kerr as Edith Hunter / Barbara Wynne / Johnny Cannon in "THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP"

Dorothy McGuire as Katie Nolan in "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Michael Chekhov as Dr. Alexander Brulov in "SPELLBOUND"
James Dunn as Johnny Nolan in "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN"

Edmund Lowe as Specs Green in "DILLINGER"

J. Carrol Naish as Devers in "THE SOUTHERNER"

Lloyd Nolan as Officer McShane in "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN"

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Ann Blyth as Veda Pierce in "MILDRED PIERCE"

Joan Blondell as Sissy Edwards in "A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN"

Doris Dowling as Gloria in "THE LOST WEEKEND"

Anne Revere as Clara Mills in "FALLEN ANGEL"

Jessice Tandy as Louise Kane in "THE VALLEY OF DECISION"

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Philip Yordan for Dillinger

Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Frank Butler, John Steinbeck & Frank Butler for A Medal for Benny

Muriel Box & Sydney Box for The Seventh Veil
Leopold Atlas, Guy Endore & Philip Stevenson for The Story of G.I. Joe

OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

Screenplay by Jo Swerling; Based on Leave Her to Heaven by Ben Ames Williams, Leave Her to Heaven

Screenplay by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder; Based on The Lost Weekend by Charles R. Jackson, The Lost Weekend

Screenplay by Ranald MacDougall; Based on Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce

Screenplay by Angus MacPhail & Ben Hecht; Based on The House of Dr. Edwardes by Hilary Saint George Saunders & Francis Beeding, Spellbound
Screenplay by Frank Davis, Tess Slesinger & Anita Loos; Based on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:

Art Direction by Maurice Ransford & Lyle Wheeler; Set Design by Thomas Little for Leave Her to Heaven

Production Design by Alfred Junge for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Art Direction by Anton Grot; Set Design by George James Hopkins for Mildred Pierce
Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons & Hans Peters; Set Design by Edwin B. Willis for The Picture of Dorian Gray

Art Direction by Lyle Wheeler; Set Design by Thomas Little for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:

Ann Blyth (Mildred Pierce)

Peggy Ann Garner (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

Deborah Kerr (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp)

Jessica Tandy (The Valley of Decision)

Lawrence Tierney (Dillinger)

OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Leon Shamroy for Leave Her to Heaven

Georges Perinal for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Ernest Haller for Mildred Pierce

Harry Strandling for The Picture of Dorian Gray

George Barnes for Spellbound

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:

Irene for Anchors Aweigh

Kay Nelson for Leave Her to Heaven

Joseph Bato for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Milo Anderson for Mildred Pierce

Valles for The Picture of Dorian Gray

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:

The Bells of St. Mary's (Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Travers, William Gargan, Ruth Donnelly, Joan Carroll, Martha Sleeper, Rhys Williams, Richard Tyler, Una O'Connor)

Leave Her to Heaven (Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Mary Philips, Ray Collins, Gene Lockhart, Reed Hadley, Darryl Hickman, Chill Wills)

Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Butterfly McQueen, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, Moroni Olsen, Veda Ann Borg, Jo Ann Marlowe)

The Story of G.I. Joe (Burgess Meredith, Robert Mitchum, Freddie Steele, Wally Cassell, Jimmy Lloyd, John R. Reilly, William Murphy)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Dorothy McGuire, James Dunn, Peggy Ann Garner, Ted Donaldson, Joan Blondell, Lloyd Nolan, James Gleason, Ruth Nelson, John Alexander, B.S. Pully)

OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:

Adrienne Fazan for Anchors Aweigh

John Seabourne for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Doane Harrison for The Lost Weekend

Hal C. Kern for Spellbound

Dorothy Spencer for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:

George Blackler & Dorrie Hamilton for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Jack Dawn for The Picture of Dorian Gray

Perc Westmore for Mildred Pierce

Dillinger

Ben Nye for Leave Her to Heaven

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE:

Miklós Rózsa for The Lost Weekend

Max Steiner for Mildred Pierce

Herbert Stothart for The Picture of Dorian Gray

Werner Janssen for The Southerner

Miklós Rózsa for Spellbound

OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:

Anchors Aweigh, "We Hate to Leave" (Music by Julie Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn)
Anchors Aweigh, "I Fall in Love Too Easily" (Music by Julie Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn)

The Bells of St. Mary's, "Aren't You Glad You're You" (Music by Jimmy Van Heausen; Lyrics by Johnny Burke)

Love Letters, "Love Letters" (Music by Victor Young; Lyrics by Edward Heyman)

The Story of G.I. Joe, "Linda" (Music and Lyrics by Ann Ronell)

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:

Ingrid Bergman (The Bells of St. Mary's, Spellbound)

Linda Darnell (Fallen Angel, The Great John L., Hangover Suite)

Dorothy McGuire (The Enchanted Cottage, The Spiral Staircase, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

J. Carrol Naish (Getting Gertie's Garter, A Medal for Benny, The Southerner, Strange Confession)

Gregory Peck (Spellbound, The Valley of Decision)

OUTSTANDING SOUND RECORDING:

Douglas Shearer for Anchors Aweigh

Desmond Dew & C.C. Stevens for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Douglas Shearer for The Picture of Doriam Gray

Richard De Weese for Spellbound

Frank McWhorter for The Story of G.I. Joe

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS:

W. Percy Day & Jason Richardson for The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Mark Davis for The Picture of Dorian Gray

Jack Cosgrove for Spellbound

Barney Wolff for The Story of G.I. Joe

A. Arnold Gillespie, Donald Jahraus, R.A. MacDonald & Michael Steinore for They Were Expendable

It's been a while since I revisited a modern cinema year but next I'm going to go onto 2008 when Slumdog Millionaire meant to be a DVD went onto to win best picture. Did the film deserve all the love come back on the 9th and see if I agree.