The 98th Academy Awards are on the way and while I have been going through my watchlist to fill out the ballot I have also been digging into Oscars lore. The Academy at its best is a place to celebrate artists and honor those who have done outstanding work in film. It is a record that lets all of us know what films are to be held in the highest esteem and who made them. At its worst…well it’s pretty bad. There is a history of a lack of diversity in its voting body and winners. Of course you have the mile high list of films beloved by all with very little to no recognition by the Academy. Plus, well, Harvey Weinstein.
So needless to say the Oscars are far from perfect. I think that frustration around the awards and the show is what keeps many of us who love movies coming back.
The first bit of true angst around the Academy Awards in terms of what we now call “snubs” could very well be around the Best Actress nominees in 1935.
When Bette Davis was shown the screenplay for Of Human Bondage she knew immediately she was perfect the role. The story goes that she begged Jack Warner to put her on loan to RKO so that she could be in the movie. At that time actors signed exclusive deals with one of the “Big Eight” studios and were only allowed to work at the others with the permission of who ever they were signed with.
In retrospect I think it made a lot of sense that Davis would want the role. It equally makes a lot of sense that her home studio wouldn’t want her to take it. The description of the movie on Letterboxd reads simply:
“A young man finds himself attracted to a cold and unfeeling waitress who may ultimately destroy them both.”
The point is Mildred Rogers, the character Davis wanted to play, is a real piece of work. For Davis it would be a pretty big departure from the work she was doing. An opportunity to play a “real” character and show the world just how well she could act. As for the studio they had seen a lot in Davis and she was a good enough actress for the work they asked her to do. She had been in a number of movies up to this point and the idea of her playing such an unattractive character for another studio was a risk for them. The last thing they wanted was her to damage her persona and relationship to the audience.
Nevertheless Warner and RKO got together and struck a deal. Davis to RKO and Irene Dunne to Warner for a role in Sweet Adeline. The movie was made and released in June of 1934.
I watched Of Human Bondage as part of my film studies class in college and while I couldn’t put the performance into context I can remember just how electric Davis was. She runs through co star Leslie Howard like a hurricane and delivers some moments that I haven’t forgotten since.
While Bette Davis was wrapped up in this role another movie was on its way to incredible heights in 1934. I think a lot of people recognize Frank Capra’s name now because you see it every Christmas when your parents make you watch It’s a Wonderful Life.
In 1934 his movie It Happened One Night was an instant hit. If you read books or watch shows about movie history at some point they’ll talk about how the American audience was into slap stick humor at the expense of the wealthy in movies because of the Great Depression. In this movie Claudette Colbert plays a runway heiress who is in over her head on the road. Her travel companion is none other than Clark Gable who plays a news reporter in desperate need of a big story. Gable had to be among the top if not THE top movie star of the era. He would star in three of the Best Picture winners of the decade.
So as these two characters run into each other on the road their journey turns into a classic “will they won’t they” back and fourth that becomes the template for the romantic comedy pretty much forever after. I don’t think this movie invented it but it is one of the oldest movies I’ve seen that have it and nobody did it better than these two.
There are a ton of moments that have become iconic. “The Walls of Jericho” bit that happens throughout is the most famous. It is a masterclass in acting but also film directing. Capra, as all the greats do, understands that you don’t have to show an audience everything. By keeping us with Gable behind the curtain he set up we are provided a far sexier scene than if he had tried anything else.
It Happened One Night crushed the nominations for the 7th Academy Awards. But Bette Davis was nowhere to be found. The negative response was so intense that the Academy actually allowed write in ballots for the voting only one of two times this happened. Claudette Colbert certain that this rule change would clear a path for Davis to win was apparently so distraught that she waited for a train back to New York when the show began.
Little did she know It Happened One Night dominated the evening becoming the first movie to “sweep” the Academy Awards. It did so by winning what they call the big five categories. Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay. Since then only two other movies One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991) have accomplished that feat.
As a result of the write in ballots Bette Davis finished in 4th for Best Actress. It has been said that the Warner studio didn’t push for her as hard as they otherwise would’ve because of the movie being a RKO production.
Davis would get the last laugh however. She would become a fixture at the Oscars winning her first the following year in what many consider the first “make up” Oscar win we’ve ever had. It was part of a run of seven consecutive nominations and she ended her career with eleven and two wins. She was nominated in four decades over the course of her career.
The Ambassador Almanac 