With just 39 days to go until Hollywood's High Holy Night, let's look back on "Hollywood's Greatest Year" and tell us who had your vote and heart in the historic 1939 Oscar races? My votes are the choice of image ;). The ★ means they won the Oscar.
BEST PICTURE
- Dark Victory
- Gone With the Wind ★
- Goodbye Mr Chips
- Love Affair
- Mr Smith Goes to Washington
- Ninotchka
- Of Mice and Men
- Stagecoach
- Wizard of Oz
- Wuthering Heights
So many great pictures but there's nothing like the Emerald City for this cinephile... easily in the top ten of all time. Endlessly rewatchable. It was such a fine year that other popular pictures like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Babes in Arms, Drums Along the Mohawk, Beau Geste, and Only Angels Have Wings weren't even nominated for the top prize. Other enduring films like The Women, Destry Rides Again, and The Roaring Twenties didn't receive a single Oscar nomination!!!
BEST ACTRESS
- Bette Davis, Dark Victory
- Irene Dunne, Love Affair
- Greta Garbo, Ninotchka
- Greer Garson, Goodbye Mr Chips
- Vivien Leigh, Gone With the Wind ★
Hardcore greatness category. In most years under the sun, I'd vote for my favourite pre All About Eve Bette Davis performance with Garbo's Ninotchka a worthy runner up but... fiddle-dee-dee it's Scarlett's year forever.
BEST ACTOR
- Robert Donat, Goodbye Mr Chips ★
- Clark Gable, Gone with the Wind
- Laurence Olivier, Wuthering Heights
- Mickey Rooney, Babes in Arms
- James Stewart, Mr Smith Goes to Washington
No contest.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Olivia de Havilland, Gone With the Wind
- Geraldine Fitzgerald, Wuthering Heights
- Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the Wind ★
- Edna May Oliver, Drums Along the Mohawk
- Maria Ouspenskaya, Love Affair
With warm regards to Hattie, of course, who was a deserving winner and my vote changes every so often. TIE between the GWTW ladies? But why was Joan Crawford not nominated for The Women? She'd have some sharp-tongued words about that, we're sure.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Brian Aherne, Juarez
- Harry Carey, Mr Smith Goes to Washington
- Brian Donlevy, Beau Geste
- Claude Rains, Mr Smith Goes to Washington
- Thomas Mitchell, Stagecoach ★
OOPS. My clear choice, Frank Morgan's multi-character nimbleness, comedy, wisdom, and heart in The Wizard of Oz wasn't nominated. But in truth this is the 1939 race where I must abstain since I have yet to see Juarez or Beau Geste. You?
WHERE DO YOUR VOTES GO?