This is my choice (choices) for Best Picture for the year 1934. My criteria is that I can only use films that are on the 1001 list. To make it a little easier on myself, I am using the rules of the first Academy Award and name a winner for Best Picture (won by Wings for 1927-1928) and Best and Unique and Artistic Picture (won by Sunrise from 1927-1928). .
And the nominees on the entries from every edition of 1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die are...
It's a Gift
Triumph of the Will
L'Atalante
The Black Cat
Judge Priest
It Happened One Night
The Thin Man
The Goddess
It's a Gift
Triumph of the Will
L'Atalante
The Black Cat
Judge Priest
It Happened One Night
The Thin Man
The Goddess
And the winner for the Best Picture of 1934 is…It Happened One Night
It Happened One Night
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night is the romantic comedy prototype for all romantic comedies that followed. The plot has a spoiled runaway heiress (Claudette Colbert) and a cynical newspaper (Clark Gable) reporter finding each other on the road. She wants to get to New York. He wants a story. They bicker. They bond. They fall in love. My favorite scenes are the ones in the auto camp where the two begin to bond and conspire to avoid detectives on their trail. A must for film buffs. There are certainly contenders on this list (It's a Gift is my favorite W. C. Fields movie), but I can't quite knock It Happened One Night out of the slot it actually won for 1934.
It Happened One Night
And the Award for Unique and Artistic Picture of 1934 is...Triumph of the Will
Leni Riefensthal's documentary Triumph of the Will was commissioned by the Nazi Party and filmed at the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremburg and included excerpts of speeches from high ranking Nazi officials as well as showing off the power of the Third Reich and how the people so gleefully (at least that's the way it was presented) accepted them. Understanding that Triumph of the Will is a propaganda piece, the film still is a record to a horrifying moment in time that needs to be seen. L'Atalante or The Goddess are definitely contenders here, but the significance and execution of Triumph of the Will puts this one over the top.
Triumph of the Will
Interesting choice to pick Triumph of the Will. Not sure I would have the guts. My favorite of this year is The Thin Man. Just not certain which category to place it in.
ReplyDeleteThe Thin Man would have been a top contender as well. Triumph of the Will would not have been my choice in a lot of years. It's still something people need to see and learn how easily Fascism spreads with the right propaganda pieces.
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