Did They Get it Right? – Best Picture – Oscars 1951

Here are the five nominees: (Winner in Bold)

An American in Paris

Decision Before Dawn

A Place in the Sun

Quo Vadis

A Streetcar Named Desire

Biggest Snub:

The African Queen

My Overall Thoughts:

Four of the five nominees are great films and any of them could have won this year, but for some reason, the Academy members chose to go with the “safe” choice and voted for a mediocre musical instead.

My Rankings:

Movies

• 5. – An American in Paris – Very mediocre movie since it has a very thin plot and just tries to get by with music from Gershwin.
• 4. – Quo Vadis – Great sword and sandal epic film that tells an interesting story which explains so much about how Christianity became a popular religion at the time. Cast is great and the amount of actors needed for some of these scenes are astounding.  The story itself feels a bit preachy tho and later films of this genre were much better at keeping things more objective.
• 3. – A Place in the Sun – Really liked the way that this films story plays out. Great performances by Clift, Taylor and Winters.  Really does a great job discussing the moralities of thoughts vs. actions.  Enjoyed the way that a film made during the era of censorship of movies was able to still give us a genuine feeling love story that defies many of the issues that weren’t discussed so openly at the time.
• 2. – Decision Before Dawn – Excellent story that focuses on themes that are not really explored so much.  Loved getting things from the side of a German POW and we see a perspective on things that is quite unique.  Excellent cast, and Werner is especially superb here.  They do a great job explaining why an enemy soldier would take on such a task and I found the whole thing to be quite thrilling and realistic.
• 1. – A Streetcar Named Desire – Great performances, excellent script by Tennessee Williams’ award winning play. What’s unfortunate about this movie is the fact that due to censorship laws in place, many scenes were cut or changed since they were deemed inappropriate at the time since they dealt with rape, promiscuity and homosexuality.

Do I agree with the Oscar winner? – Not at all!  AAiP is an interesting musical, but any of the other nominees would have been better choices here.

Let me know what you think about these films and my rankings!