I officially started this project back in November 2010, and I’m pleased to announce today that I recently finished watching all of the winners from the 1940s.
Winners from that decade included Rebecca (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Casablanca (1943), Going My Way (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Hamlet (1948) and All the King’s Men (1949).
I have to admit that I’d never seen any of these movies prior to this project, and they were all very good. Which of these movies is the best is a hard question to answer, but what follows is my ranking of the Best Picture winners from 1940 to 1949.
No. 1 – Casablanca: Based on the unpublished play, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s” by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, this oft-quoted movie starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Bogart plays American Rick Blaine, who owns a nightclub in Morocco during World War II. His world gets turned upside down when he has to help an ex-girlfriend and her new husband escape from Nazis.
No. 2 – The Best Years of Our Lives: This movie is about three WWII veterans who return to small-town life and deal with their experiences during the war. This movie stars Harold Russell, a real-life WWII vet, who became one of only two non-professional actors to receive an Academy Award for acting. He enlisted in the Army the day after Pearl Harbor only to lose both of his hands when a defective fuse caused an explosive to go off in his hands. In “The Best Years of Our Lives” he plays Homer, a Navy vet who lost both of his hands in the war.
No. 3 – Going My Way: I don’t usually care for musicals, but I have to admit that this one was pretty good. It stars Bing Crosby in the role of Father O’Malley, who is sent to a New York City parish to take over for an old, cantankerous priest. If this light-hearted comedy doesn’t make you smile at least once, you’re made of stone.
No. 4 – Gentleman’s Agreement: Based on the 1947 novel by Laura Z. Hobson, this movie stars Gregory Peck, who plays a journalist who poses as a Jew in order to write an expose about bigotry. I’ve read that this movie was very controversial at the time of its release, but I thought it was interesting that Peck starred in another movie that dealt with prejudice.
No. 5 – Rebecca: The only Alfred Hitchcock movie to win an Oscar for Best Picture, this movie starred Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, who finds himself at the center of a mystery involving the death of his first wife. This movie, which is based on the 1937 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier, made me want to read that book and watch all of Hitchcock’s other movies.
No. 6 – All the King’s Men: Based on the famous 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren, this movie stars Broderick Crawford in the lead role of Willie Stark. Stark starts off as a model politician only to become corrupted by the system he’s trying to reform. This movie also made me want to read the original novel.
No. 7 – The Lost Weekend: Based on the 1944 novel by Charles R. Jackson, this movie starred Ray Milland in the lead role of alcoholic writer Don Birnem. Birnem’s girlfriend and brother try to help him quit drinking, but like the worst kind of addict he won’t let anyone help him. Just last year, this movie was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry.
No. 8 – How Green Was My Valley: Based on the 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, this movie starred a very young Roddy McDowall and recounts 50 years in the lives of his Welsh coal-mining family. To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this movie at first, but I can assure you that this is an awesome movie. It was selected for the National Film Registry in 1990.
No. 9 – Mrs. Miniver: The title character is based on a fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther for a series of 1937 newspaper columns, which were later compiled in book form. In the movie, actress Greer Garson plays the title role, and the movie is about how her family overcomes the hardships of war. Miniver is one tough housewife, and she even single-handedly captures a German pilot to crashes near her home.
No. 10 – Hamlet: Based on the play by William Shakespeare, this movie stars Laurence Olivier as Hamlet, a young prince in 15th century Denmark. Thanks to high school English, most of us are somewhat familiar with the plot. Hamlet’s out to avenge his regal father’s murder, but a whole lot of carnage ensues along the way. As an added bonus, there’s a creepy ghost in this movie.
Half the fun of doing a ranking like this is hearing how readers in the audience would have ranked the same movies? Which of the movies listed above is you favorite and why? How would you rank them one through ten? Let us know in the comments section below.
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