Top Ten Oscar Theater Movies Or (The Unexpected Hook of Birdman)
Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 7:00PM 
For the concerns in some quarters that Birdman might be too cerebral or idiosyncratic for Oscar, I offer thisfoolproof rebuttal: It's about the theater!
Oscar has a long history of mad love for theater movies from early musicals which were often about vaudeville through biopics about theater giants and on to today's more playful genre hybrids. Even when the Academy doesn't fully commit to its latest greasepaint and footlights suitor, it will often give him a quick kiss in the form of a nomination or three. Some examples: To Be Or Not To Be (1942 & 1983), Being Julia (2004), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), The Producers (1967), 42nd Street (1934), and The Bandwagon (1953). While it's true there are exceptions that they completely ignore (Stage Beauty, Waiting for Guffman, Opening Night) it's a subject matter that appeals to showbiz people and showbiz people like congratulating their own.
OSCAR'S 10 FAVORITE THEATER MOVIES
Why didn't you include Cabaret, Black Swan or Chicago in this list?: I opted not to include films about cabaret, ballet, opera, etcetera but events more traditionally associated with "the theater" like plays, musicals, revues. I opted not to include Chicago since the vaudevillian references are atmosphere but not really related to the story as told but the story before the story and briefly after it if you will though there's definitely a case for including it. If you do include it it's #3 in this list with 13 nominations and 6 wins.
Honorable Mention: Best Foreign Language Film Winners with a theatrical bent include Hungary's MEPHISTO (1981) and Spain's ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (1999)
Runners Up: The all star actressfest known as STAGE DOOR (1937), discussed earlier this year, received 4 nominations including Best Picture & Mike Leigh's exquisite TOPSY-TURVY (1999) took 4 nominations and a win. And just barely missing the list is THE DRESSER (1983) with 5 nominations including Best Picture. While The Dresser seems to have been all but forgotten (was it not readily available enough for home viewing?) Oscar really went for it this intimate relationship drama at time including a double lead actor nomination (the second to last of its kind - Amadeus closed out the practice for men the following year and category fraud began to run rampant) for Tom Courtenay as the dresser and Albert Finney as the theater star he works for during a production of King Lear.
10 STAR! (1968) 7 nominations
Though this notorious flop, recently discussed in our celebration of Robert Wise's centennial, ended Julie Andrews time as the #1 box office star in the world, The Academy responded with much greater initial enthusiasm than the public to this super long critically massacred biopic about stage star Gertrud Lawrence.
nine more encores after the jump...
09 BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994) 7 nominations | 1 win
Woody Allen's last major Oscar play before the drought that ended with Midnight in Paris (2011), and one of his all time funniest movies featured a group of thespians in rehearsals for a stuffy play "Gods of Our Fathers" written clunkily by Woody proxy John Cusack until the ganster-with-a-gift Chaz Palminterri rewrites to major success. Given its robust nomination tallly, one assumes Bullets just barely lost its Best Picture nomination to Four Weddings and a Funeral, which had one of the lowest Best Picture nomination tallies of all time (prior to the expansion of the category) with only one other nod for Original Screenplay, where it competed directly with Bullets. Both of them lost in that category to Pulp Fiction.
08 FINDING NEVERLAND (2004) 7 nominations including Best Picture | 1 win
I was trying to justify leaving this off the list but had to be honest since there are a few theater scenes and it is at least partially about the creation of the legendary play Peter Pan. But given what else 2004 had to offer it was an embarrassing Oscar crush.
07 THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936) 7 nominations | 3 wins including Best Picture
Surely one of the most maligned of early Oscar wins, this biopic of Florenz Ziegfeld is way too long and doesn't hold a candle to some other nominees that year including the devastasting Dodsworth and the classic screwball My Man Godfrey which somehow missed a Picture nomination despite plentiful Oscar love. But that said Best Actress winner Luise Rainer is a delight, William Powell is William Powell (not complaining) and you can see a rather electric singing cameo by Fanny Brice. Speaking of whom...
06 FUNNY GIRL (1968) 8 nominations including Best Picture | 1 win
Fanny Brice would later be interpreted by Barbra Streisand to a Best Actress win and several other Oscar nods. Funny Girl is a weirdly bifurcated affair, the first half being utterly perfect and the second sloggy, but it's practically the definitive example of a Star Vehicle so it earns its place in history.
05 MOULIN ROUGE! (2001) 8 nominations including Best Picture | 2 wins
Nicole Kidman, the whore with the heart for gold, wants to go legit by becoming "a real actress" in this wildly beloved new classic that will always hold a special place in our hearts for its part in the evolution of The Film Experience to a destination site for movie fans. Since Moulin Rouge! is so jam-packed with everything it's easy to forget that it is totally a theater movie, since a good deal of the plot revolves around the converting of the titular dance hall into a grand theater for the production of the "Spectacular! Spectacular!" musical. That musical also functions as the climax during its first and sadly only performance.
04 YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942) 8 nominations including Best Picture | 3 wins
An early example of "playing against type" to win Oscar gold since James Cagney, best known for playing nasty fellows, won his Oscar for a smiling song & dance man in this biopic about playwright and performer George M Cohan
03 ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) 9 nominations including Best Picture | 4 wins
"it's showtime, folks". From its very first audition sequence which reeks of authenticity to its gonzo funereal farewell which is all fantastical, All That Jazz is a miracle movie. It's heavily inspired by Federico Fellini's 8½ with a new stage musical taking the place of that earlier movie's new film from an egomaniacal director looking back at his life... but it's somehow a one of a kind picture despite their similarities. 1979 was an incredible Oscar year (see also Kramer vs. Kramer and Apocalypse Now) but it still managed to win 4 statues including the much deserved editing trophy.
02 SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) 13 nominations | 7 wins including Best Picture
Another maligned winner - only this one deserves a far better reputation because, put bluntly, it's better than the more generic movie everyone bitched about it triumphing over. But this is a comedy and that one is a drama so people freaked out (it isn't just Oscar that's anti-comedy when it comes to naming things "Best"... it's also audiences. This Tom Stoppard scripted romance was a huge hit with the acting branch and one of very few "light" pictures to win the top prize.
01 ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) 14 nominations (previously discussed) | 6 wins including Best Picture
One of the greatest movies about showbiz. Scratch that. One of the greatest movies, full stop. Bette Davis is a grande dame theater diva being usurped (i.e. replaced) by a younger hungrier rival. It's about the theater but it's so good it could double for any wing of showbusiness simply by changing the setting.
Reader Comments (27)
Nat: I like Private Ryan WAY more than you, but I'm firmly in the The Thin Red Line camp over either "side" of the firestorm.
ALL ABOUT EVE is probably my favorite movie of all time with the possible exception of ANNIE HALL. Both of them are just as funny without their visuals, and that says a lot about the quality of the scripts. In fact, I've read the screenplays to both and I can only say that about a handful of films.
I could watch ALL THAT JAZZ at any time as well, and tend to watch it about once a year. Ditto FUNNY GIRL which has that killer Barbra performance.
All That Jazz is so larger than life and overwhelmingly seductive that even that bloated last number w/ Ben Vereen feels earned and fitting. I can't get enough of it! and for as much as one can argue that it borrows from Fellini's autobiographical 8½, which is, in its own right, a respectable film and a classic, I think 8½ doesn't hold a candle to the vibrancy, the creativity, the attitude and even the indulgence of All That Jazz.
Jazz and All About Eve are my personal favorites on the list, but I haven't seen the Dresser or The Great Ziegfeld, and Yankee Doodle Dandy hardly left an impression.
Stage Door!!
Opening Night!
All About My Mother. (Would that count?)
A little correction. 4 weddings and a funeral was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original screenplay
Cris -- i counted it in the post as an honorable mention.
tombeet - christ, i dont know what wrong with me lately. fixed.
Hmm... My favorite movie about the theater is ALL ABOUT EVE, but then again that movie is my favorite movie about everything about movies and love and lust and life itself. Such an amalgam of humanity.
Films that Oscar liked and you ignored I don't remember... But you can add these three that Oscar didn't bite:
Venus in Fur
Synecdoche New York
Me and Orson Welles
Wonderful list! I watch several of these time and again.
I don't understand the shut out of Opening Night, the movie itself is a messy affair but contains great performances from Gena Rowlands and Joan Blondell, both worthy of nods.
One small correction-It's Fanny Brice not Bryce in Funny Girl and The Great Ziegfeld.
cabaret is a form of theatre....
I'm with most people: on the plus side, "All About Eve," "All That Jazz," the non-lachrymose half of "Funny Girl," the witty bits of "Shakespeare in Love."
On the negative side, I know I saw "Finding Neverland," but can't for the life of me remember anything about it, except maybe Johnny Depp and a little boy on a park bench. I hope it wasn't about pederasty. I can't believe it beat out "Eternal Sunshine" and "Before Sunrise" for a Picture nomination. And "Yankee Doodle Dandy." I have no desire to see it. Is it any good? It looks like another biopic about someone who created something I'm completely uninterested in.
"Before Sunset," I mean.
Topsy-Turvy perfectly captures the feeling of imminent failure that you get when you're in rehearsals.
Fanny BRICE, Nat. ;-)
Cabaret would be stretching it, but point taken, par.
The Band Wagon, with its three Oscar nominations, doesn't make the cut. Neither does Children of Paradise, nominated for Best Original Screenplay. But I had to mention them.
(I think I've seen Yankee Doodle Dandy a half dozen times. It was always on TV when I was a kid, and I was mesmerized by Cagney's dancing style—like a self-operated, agile marionette.)
Worth noting that some of these films were Oscar over-performers. The Dresser and All That Jazz were solid contenders for lead acting nominations in their years, but few saw them as in line for picture/director nods (the DGA didn't cite either). Bullets over Broadway was definitely thought to be in for Wiest, Palmintieri and the screenplay, but Tilly and director were Nominations Day shocks. And of course we all know what happened with Shakespeare in Love.
So, maybe we should expect Birdman to do even better than imagined with AMPAS.
There's a fantastic list of films about theatre here: https://mubi.com/lists/films-about-theatre
But I wonder could you also stretch is to films about ballet, a certain kind of theatre? Red Shoes and Black Swan would surely have to feature.
Wonder if you count Peking opera as a form of theater, if yes then "Farewell My Concubine" deserves to be on that list.
Wonder if you count Peking opera as a form of theater, if yes then "Farewell My Concubine" deserves to be on that list.
Oops... bad internet connection made me accidentally send my comment four times, sorry for spamming...
Star! (7 noms)
and an argument could be made for Tootsie. (10 noms)
I need to watch Bullets Over Broadway. Queen of Live Mariah Carey said that it was her favorite movie.
I agree that Cabaret should be here. And Chicago too.
I purposely didn't include Cabaret, solo concerts, or opera or that sort of thing. I was trying to stick to the traditional definition of full scale theatrical productions: plays/musicals/revues meant to have multiple performances.
In that case, even though it isn't the topic of the film, Goodbye Girl includes that wonderful, pink Richard the III. (5 noms, 1 win)
The Broadway Melody actually won best picture. Shouldn't it be on this list?
«All about Eve» is so good nobody cares Baxter is doing Colbert (originally cast) instead of La Davis.
Cash - i was going by nomination count.
I love your list - from Star! to "All About Eve", I agree to everything. About Julie Andrews' Star!, I think it is an outstanding musical ahead of its time,.It surely was a flop, but what a glorious flop that happened to be! A flop that any actress should be proud of. An amazing tour de force by Julie, who is simply gorgeous, dazzling, magnificent in every scene. That Jenny number is amazingI I admire her courage to play against type in a moment when people were thinking they were going to see something like The Sound of Mary Poppins . I daresay it is the only movie in the history that had the guts to thoroughly depict the love affair between an actress and the theatre - men played second fiddle in this pic.