Day 33:Best Years of Our Lives

The Best Years of Our Lives: 1946: Winner of the 19th Academy Award

Starring:

Myrna Loy as Milly Stephenson

Fredric March as Technical Sergeant Al Stephenson

Dana Andrews as Captain Fred Derry

Teresa Wright as Peggy Stephenson

Virginia Mayo as Marie Derry

Cathy O'Donnell as Wilma Cameron

Hoagy Carmichael as Uncle Butch

Harold Russell as Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parish

Gladys George as Hortense Derry

Roman Bohnen as Pat Derry

This movie was spectacular. I absolutely loved it, maybe it was Dana Andrews or the fact that it wasn’t a about war. Well not all of it actually. The movie is about returning war veterans and the hardships they encounter when they come home to unfinished lives. I demand particular attention to the drunk scene which is perhaps the first scene of the movie but so worth it. The three stories all different are united by the ideal of a war veteran returning to a broken country. I won’t lie to you the story of the last, the youngest soldier irked me some .  Him not being able to accept his hook handedness, there was just something so annoying about him, maybe the fact that everyone has accepted the fact that he has no hands but he has not. HE can’t accept love from anyone. That was the only part of the movie that annoyed me. However I very much love the old couple. They were the best. I loved how they tried to rekindle  there loving taking off right where they had left. I can see why this movie won best picture , it was three faces about a reality and even if it was romanticized it was still awesome.

It also won awards for

Best Director:William Wyler

Best Actor :Fredric March

Best Writing (Screenplay):Robert E. Sherwood

Best Supporting Actor :Harold Russell

Best Film Editing:Daniel Mandell

Best Music (Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture):Hugo Friedhofer

Honorary Award:To Harold Russell

Day 8: The Great Ziegfeld

The Great Ziegfeld:1936:Winner of the 9^th Academy Awards

Starring:

William Powell as Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.

Myrna Loy as Billie Burke

Luise Rainer as Anna Held

Frank Morgan as Jack Billings

Fanny Brice as Herself

Virginia Bruce as Audrey Dane

Reginald Owen as Sampson, Flo's frequently-nervous bookkeeper

Ray Bolger as Himself

Ernest Cossart as Sidney, Billing's valet, who is hired away by Flo

Joseph Cawthorn as Dr. Ziegfeld

Nat Pendleton as Eugen Sandow

Harriet Hoctor as Herself

Jean Chatburn as Mary Lou

Paul Irving as Erlanger, Billing's later partner

Herman Bing as Costumer

Buddy Doyle as Eddie Cantor

The Great Ziegfeld is a stunning masterpiece! I truly mean it! I was so awed by the stage show that I wish I had a transport machine to take me to the 20’s and be present to one of his shows. The Ziegfeld Follies and to have been able to see them in their hayday! Ahh what a wish, however I could have done without the back story. Ziegfeld going up, Ziegfeld coming down… blah blah blahitty blah. I did like Fannie Brice’s bit though she was funny. Truthfully this is  the movie I thought I would like best from the three and since one I haven’t seen and one I think is kind of awesome “The Broadway Melody” I say watch this only for the shows. Skip the talking and the politics … unless you like to be bored. What I can also say is this, half of the “Wizard of Oz” is in the movie. The Wizard Oz, The  Scarecrow, and The Good Witch of the North. But seriously, this film bleh!

It also won awards for:

Academy Award for Best Actress - Luise Rainer

Academy Award for Best Dance Direction - Seymour Felix - For "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody".