Best Actress Oscar Winners

By the time the Oscars started, narrative movies had already been around for roughly two decades. And this was the last big year for silent pictures. This film impressed me because the acting is less over-the-top than earlier silents, the story is good, and the camera work and use of tints to suggest different locations and emotions made for visual interest.

The part I found most interesting was when the couple goes to the city. Seeing the train ride, the city life, and the rural man and woman's unease with the ways of the city is such a rare view into the past. Very romantic story as well.

Hilarious! It deserved all the Oscars it got. Iconic dialogue and scenes that bring images of Loony Tunes to mind.

The use of color and the grandness of scale of this movie is still amazing. I can hardly imagine what the original audiences must have thought in '39. I have heard some people say they do not like the main characters, so they cannot enjoy the movie. The main characters are flawed, but I found them intriguing to watch and still very much enjoyed the movie.

I also seem to be attracted to movies about people with disabilities or special abilities. This movie shows how recently people didn't understand deafness. One teacher takes the time to show that Belinda can communicate, that Belinda is a whole human being who can take care of herself in many ways, and that she will protect her son like any mother would.

Funny, funny movie! And smart. Holliday is the ultimate platinum blond ditz without any social grace that all future ones are based on. William Holden is also a favorite of mine. I love the characters he plays including this one.

Storyline is kind of similar to It Happened One Night, which is a movie I like much better. I can believe the romance that forms between the journalist and heiress in that picture. This movie shows you a lot of the beauty of Rome, has some cute moments that make you chuckle, and just a couple touching moments. In this case it is a princess and an enterprising journalist so the princess leads an even more sheltered life and the two are from totally opposite worlds. They run wild for awhile then the sudden kiss and tears come not so much from a deep need for each other, as from the realization that this one day stand or temporary fun has come to an end. The holiday is fun while it lasts and Peck is honorable by deciding not to exploit the relationship, but the movie is a passive, empty piece of fluff.

The last great Spencer Tracy Katherine Hepburn pairing. And another performance from Sidney Poitier that I love. I have a scene from this movie saved to my favorites here; I don't remember it making such an impact when I watched the whole film, but it's a very important monologue given by Mr. Poitier that I think reveals a great truth about the generation gap.

This movie version is a little psychedelic at times, but the music is good and the themes are important to understanding how Naziism came to power in Germany during this time.