Welcome to my new series: Classic Oscars.
Reason #1 for Classic Oscars:
It’s true. Oscar nominations are generally announced toward the beginning of the year, and the ceremony is then held by March. That’s a mere three months at most to try and see well-over twenty freaking films.
And many of them won’t even have even hit theaters in my area; others are lost in that stupid, senseless no-man’s-land between theater and DVD release; some never come to theaters and are as yet STILL awaiting a DVD release date. This phenomenon encompasses many independent or foreign films.
And, bee.tee.dubs, that shit sucks.
It’s very frustrating.
But also exhilarating. There is a certain degree of importance lent to the air, as charts are created, lists updated, items ticked off or moved from one section to another.
I am the Keeper of the Oscars .
But I want to fill this position year-round, not just seasonally. So I have made it into a full-time position.
Reason #2 for Classic Oscars:
Because my hubz misses out on the regular season.
Yeah, he has one of those shitty Real Job things that forces him to skip out on movie nights during the regular winter Oscar Rush. And he loves watching films with me, so it’s really quite heartbreaking.
I told him I’d keep a separate list of Oscar nominated films just for US, so we could mark them off together as we see them. This means I get to re-watch movies I’ve just seen within the last few months – even the ones I really disliked – which, if you know me at all, is very distasteful. I hate re-watching movies! Even my favorites!
My family members could watch movies over-n-over again. Ugh.
*shudders*
I need at least a year between viewings, and usually even THAT ain’t long enough.
One of the most awesome movies I’ve seen in recent years is PAN’S LABYRINTH, which came out in 2006. That means I probably saw it in early 2007. We bought it shortly after its DVD release in May of that year, and watched it again at home. I haven’t seen it since.
One of my favorite movies of ALL TIME – and I haven’t watched it in almost seven years!
Are you getting me now? I don’t do repeats. Done is bloody DONE.
Reason #3 for Classic Oscars:
Because I am curious about the early Oscar days. The first ceremony was held in 1929. That’s like 500 years ago!
Okay, obviously I’m slightly exaggerating. But with regard to movie making, it kind of feels like five centuries. The very first movie to win Best Picture – or, excuse me, “Outstanding Film” – is a silent film.
Wrap your lizard brain around THAT for a minute!
Thus the Classic Oscars series is born.
Plus?
The winners had already been notified three months before the ceremony! None of that nail-biting suspense as audience members wondered who got to take home a statue .
That’s a lot different from how things are run these days – the ceremony only honors films released the prior year, and winners are never notified before the ceremony.
Another difference?
Back then, the president of the Academy presented the awards. Now, the presenters are various hand-picked popular celebrities. My, how the times do change!
Here’s yet another nifty note:
The first year, awards could be for a single achievement, for several achievements, or for the whole body of work during the year.
That’s kind of cool, actually. I wonder why that is no longer an option?
In 1927, the average cost of a movie ticket was 25 cents.
Yikes, talk about inflation! My hubz and I just attended a movie at regular price, and it cost $11.50 per person. That’s insane! Luckily we had a gift certificate which covered our total. Otherwise we would have visited our local dollar-saver theater, where “It pays to wait”. And it does pay to wait. Seriously. We ain’t gotta keep up with all you crazy Joneses. I don’t mind seeing a film six months to a year after it’s been out. There is plenty to keep me occupied on Netflix.
Classic Oscars #1
Wings – 1927
The first film to win Best Picture {or Outstanding Film, as the category was called back then}, was WINGS – the only silent film to win an Oscar for that category. My hubz and I watched it with our daughter a few weeks ago and it was a trip!
First, the premise:
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fellow fighter pilots in World War I, where their rivalry grows into a wary friendship.
Here’s what it doesn’t say:
It’s a comedy! It’s a tragedy! It’s epic!
Silent films are funny.
They can’t help it. They just are.
The people are talking and no sound is coming forth from their mouths. Instead, there is only music and silly sound effects. Then, after each wordless scene, there is white print on a black background. Usually the text is unnecessary, and sometimes that fact is used to comedic effect.
Silent films can also be tragic.
There was one scene that came pretty close to drawing out my tears. And I think being forced to read the text during or between such scenes really drives home the message.
Just as powerful?
When there is no text at all… only silence. It was pretty amazing how much could be done sans speech.
Silent films are surprisingly awesome.
One thing we didn’t expect was to get so drawn in. But by their mere setup, silent films are quite cerebral. Viewers are forced to extrapolate and use context clues to keep up with not only the main plot, but also several subplots. The text and the music and the sound effects all lend a hand – but even at that, sometimes these additions actually run counter to what is truly happening on the screen.
Our 9-year-old daughter was fairly immersed in the movie for the majority of its length. Part of that is because I read the text aloud for mutual benefit. She could easily have read it herself, but reading it aloud made it go more quickly and erased any doubts as to pronunciation due to unfamiliarity.
And there was a lot of unfamiliarity – even for me! Plenty of terminology that was quite outdated or technical that none of us understood and had to guess at.
Which, of course, only added to the fun!
One final note about the epic nature of silent films:
The use of symbolism is astounding! I think it’s easy to think of ourselves, in 2014, as so much “smarter” or more advanced than people in previous decades. That’s definitely a fallacy of logic, but understandable when we consider that washing hands or drinking water instead of beer were such revolutionary concepts. Still – it’s not like people in older times were DUMB. They weren’t. Watching how much thought went into the making of this film really brought that home for me.
{And it’s another reason I adore classic books – they serve as reminders that people have always been capable of higher reasoning throughout history.}
Here is a chart of the other movies nominated in 1929. The movies highlighted in yellow and crossed out are ones that we cannot get from Netflix and which appear to be unavailable altogether. I’ll be highlighting in GREEN all the films we have seen. I think next up will be TEMPEST as it appears to be the only one available via Netflix instant streaming.
*Oscar Noms – 1929*
- Have you seen WINGS?
- Are you a fan of silent films?
- What do you think of my new Classic Oscars series?
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