Mrs Miniver is a 1942 film about life back in England during the Second World War. It won 6 oscars including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director. Greer Garson, the English actress who won the Best Actress award gave the longest ever acceptance speech of 5 1/2 mins. The film is historically interesting as…
How Green was my Valley is a 1941 film based on the book of the same name about life in a Welsh mining community in the valleys at the turn of the 20th century. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won 5 including Best Picture , somehow beating fellow nominees including oft-considered ‘best…
Rebecca is a 1940 Hitchcock film based on the Daphne Du Maurier novel. It was Hitchcocks first American film and won 2 Academy Awards in 1940 including Best Picture and was nominated in 11 categories. Laurence Olivier stars as Maxim De Winter. This has to be one of the best suspense films I’ve seen, streets…
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 film based on the novel of the same name and is considered by some to be one of the greatest and most popular films of all time, ranking 7th in the AFI’s 2007 list of 100 greatest American films. The film tells the tale of a love affair…
You Can’t Take it With You is a 1938 comedy directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart. It won the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards in 1938 and was the highest grossing film that year in the US. The pair went on to work again on the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful…
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 biographical film about, funnily enough, the life of Emile Zola, French author and friend of Paul Cezzane who started a revolution with words. It won Best Picture at the 1937 Academy Awards and starred Paul Muni, who was one of the most respected actors of the time,…
The Great Ziegfeld is an incredibly long (186 mins) biopic of the musical director Florenz Ziegfeld. It won Best Picture in 1936, along with 2 other Oscars. The film traces the life of Ziegfeld, from his days managing cabaret style circus types, moving on to documenting his flamboyant large scale dance shows, to his eventual…
Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1935 film staring “King of Hollywood” Clark Gable and Charles Laughton. It tells the true story of the mutiny on the ship the Bounty, and won the Academy Award for Outstanding Production (now Best Picture) in 1935. Clark Gable was familiar with the ceremony, after starring in the winner…
It Happened One Night is a 1934 romantic comedy directed by Frank Capra and staring Clark Gable. It won 5 academy awards including Best Picture, Actor and Actress at the 1934 Academy Awards ceremony. Frank Capra went on to direct the classics It’s a Wonderful Life, You Can’t Take it With You and Mr Smith…
Cavalcade is a 1933 film based on the Noël Coward play of the same name. Set in London it shows the lives of a rich family and their servants over a 30 0dd year period from 1899 to 1932 (present day at the time). The film manages to shoe horn its characters into a remarkable number…
Grand Hotel is a 1932 film about the comings and goings of a luxury Berlin hotel in the 1920′s. It won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1932. Stars included Drew Barrymore’s grandfather John Barrymore (an alcoholic who died 9 years later), his brother Lionel Barrymore, Greta Garbo (one of the most famous actresses of…
Cimarron is a 1931 film about the Oklahoma land rush 1888 and subsequent development of the city, with the focus on a single family. The film won the award of Outstanding Production (later to become known as Best Picture) as well as Best Writing, Adaptation and Best Art Direction at the 1931 Academy Awards. Cimarron certainly…
All Quiet on the Western Front is a 1930 war movie set during the First World War and based on the novel of the same name. It won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture (then known as Outstanding Production) in 1930. This is a war which occurred during the infancy of cinema, even sound…
The Broadway Melody is a 1929 musical set in 1920′s Broadway, New York. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929, and according to Wikipedia was the first film with sound to win the award. In reality, it was the first film of any kind to win a single ‘Best Picture’ award, this…
Sunrise is a 1927 silent film about 2 lovers, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production in 1929. This award went on to become the Best Picture award, and the winner for 1929 was considered to be both Sunrise and Wings. This film became an instant favourite of mine, I…
Wings is a 1927 silent film about the first world war. It won the award of Most Outstanding Production at the first Academy Awards in 1929, this award then became Best Picture in 1931, combining it another award this year won by the film Sunrise. You could say there were 2 Best Picture winners, Wings…