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Since the inception of the Academy Awards, the U.S.-based organization behind them has always strived to honor worldwide film achievements. Their extensive roster of competitive acting winners alone consists of artists from 30 unique countries, three of which first gained representation during the 2020s. The last full decade’s worth of triumphant performers hail from eight countries, while 42.1% of the individual actors nominated during that time originate from outside of America.

The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...

The 2024 Oscar race is on, and one film has the potential to accomplish a feat that hasn’t happened in 64 years. “Oppenheimer” leads the nominations with 13, and it’s on track to win several of those categories. If Christopher Nolan‘s epic claims Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy) and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), it will be the first time since 1960 that the same film (“Ben-Hur”) has won those three exact categories. And it would be only the fourth time it’s ever happened.

See Cillian Murphy interview: ‘Oppenheimer’

Since the Best Supporting Actor category was introduced in 1937, only three films have walked away with Best Picture as well as both male acting categories. In 1945, the inspirational musical comedy “Going My Way” not only became the highest-grossing film of 1944, but also won seven of its ten Oscar nominations, making it the big winner of the night. Beside the top prize,...

Look close enough at "The Twilight Zone" and it's clear that events surrounding the making of the show were often as unusual as its otherworldly subject matter. It's not that Rod Serling's science fiction classic was cursed: rather, production of the deeply humane series was often interrupted by deeply human moments. There was that time an episode was improved upon by an actor's injury that forced him to speak out of one side of his mouth, and the fact that veteran Serling named the series without realizing that its title was already an air force term used to describe an especially disorienting moment before landing.

Not every coincidence and unusual set story was serendipitous. In season 1, an actor passed away mid-shoot, and Serling paid out of pocket to reshoot his scenes so he wouldn't appear ill in his final performance. A horrific, preventable accident on the set of "Twilight Zone: The Movie...

Steven Spielberg had tackled serious subjects before, but none of his previous work had the power and artistic vision of “Schindler’s List,” which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Based on the book by Thomas Keneally, “Schindler’s List” relates the true story of Nazi party member and war profiteer Oskar Schindler, who ended up saving 1,000 Jews from the Nazi death camps during World War II. Shot in black-and-white-save for a little girl wearig red coat- ‘Schindler’s List” is often a difficult watch, but it’s message of “Never Forget” is particularly relevant today with the rise of anti-Semitism and the white power movement. The epic stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ben Kingsley as the Jewish manager of Schindler’s factor and Ralph Fiennes, terrifying as a ruthless Nazi commandant Amon Goth.

The reviews were laudatory and despite its length — 3 hours 15 minutes — “Schindler’s List” made over $322 million worldwide. Nominated for 12 Oscars...

NatGeo’s widely acclaimed new limited series “A Small Light” chronicles the heroism of Miep Gies and several other brave Amsterdam residents who hid Anne Frank and her family, as well as four other people from the Nazis in a hidden attic apartment in Otto Frank’s office building. After the eight Jewish residents were arrested and sent to concentration camps in 1944, it was Gies who saved Anne’s diary and kept it in her desk drawer. Otto Frank, who was the only member of the immediate family who survived the camps — Anne died of typhus in March 1945 at Bergen-Belson — returned to Amsterdam, Gies gave him Anne’s diary. And in 1947 “The Diary of a Young Girl” was published in Europe. Five years later, “Diary” made its way to America. It has been translated into over 67 languages.

Anne had received a red checkered autograph book for her 13th birthday on...

Ever since “The Life of Emile Zola” became the first film to win Oscars for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Joseph Schildkraut) in 1938, occurrences of films receiving nominations in both categories have been rather common. Of the 511 features that have contended for the top honor since the supporting awards were first bestowed 86 years ago, 194 (38%) have had at least one performance by a featured male cast member recognized as well. In that time, the double victory initiated by “The Life of Emile Zola” has been replicated by 16 more films, from “How Green Was My Valley” to “Green Book”.

A fair amount of these nearly 200 performances were considered surprise nominees. Some actors, such as Max von Sydow and Jonah Hill were previously thought of as longshots after missing major precursors, while others, like Lakeith Stanfield, truly came from out of the blue. Since all three of these men appeared in Best Picture contenders,...

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“Bob The Barber”

By Raymond Benson

One of actor/comedian Bob Hope’s most cherished films is Monsieur Beaucaire, a 1946 remake of a Rudolph Valentino silent picture from 1924, both of which are based on a 1900 novel by Booth Tarkington. Hope’s version, directed by George Marshall, is certainly a loose adaptation because it turned what was a historical romantic drama into a flat-out comedy.

Woody Allen has been known to cite early Bob Hope movies as an inspiration for his onscreen persona in the director’s early “zany” comedies like Bananas and Sleeper. When one views something like Monsieur Beaucaire or My Favorite Blonde (1942), the comparison is strikingly apt. Hope creates a persona of nervous mannerisms, lack of self confidence masked by bravado, clumsy but endearing interaction with the opposite sex, and witty one-liners. Beaucaire exhibits Hope in fine form, producing a good...

There are many who champion the idea of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar category honoring traditionally secondary roles and lament the fact that it has fallen out of fashion. Still, plenty of performances short on screen time have prevailed in the category’s 84-year history. Here is a look at the 10 shortest of all time, including the record holder:

10. James Coburn (“Affliction”)

17 minutes, 10 seconds (15.03% of the film)

After a prolific acting career, James Coburn was finally rewarded in 1999 with his first Oscar nomination and win. At 70 years old, he was the oldest acting nominee of the year, as well as the only first time nominee in his lineup. His overdue narrative certainly helped him win, but so did the skillful quality of his performance. After four decades of portraying characters with limited screen time, Coburn made abusive father Glen Whitehouse the role of a lifetime.

9. Hugh Griffith (“Ben-Hur”)

16 minutes, 51 seconds...

CineSavant’s hands-down favorite holiday film, this Ernst Lubitsch classic radiates human kindness in all directions. Nobody is perfect: misunderstandings benign and profound are the gentle impetus for a sweet story that will renew one’s belief that people are basically good. It’s James Stewart’s best pre-war performance, as he fits his character so perfectly; as in last month’s The Mortal Storm he and Margaret Sullavan exude decency and ‘niceness’ even when they’re being rude to each other. Frank Morgan tops his Wizard characterization, and the movie is so generous that it lets the nervy little go-getter William Tracy be the hero of the day. I’m glad this wasn’t re-invented as a sitcom, but they sure ran it through the remake hurdles.

The Shop Around the Corner

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1940 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 99 min. / Street Date December 22, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: James Stewart,...

Oscar voters have proven time and again that they love actors who portray historic people. Maybe it’s because they can make easy comparisons. Or maybe it’s because they are often heroic figures. Whatever the reason, it’s been happening since the introduction of supporting categories in the earliest days of the awards ceremony. Tour our photo gallery above of every single man who has won the Best Supporting Actor category at the Academy Awards for playing a true life character.

The very first person to win the illustrious prize for slipping into a real person’s shoes was Joseph Schildkraut, who portrayed the wrongfully imprisoned Captain Alfred Dreyfus in “The Life of Emile Zola” (1937). Since then, actors as diverse as Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies” in 2015), Christian Bale (“The Fighter” in 2010), Jim Broadbent (“Iris” in 2001), Martin Landau (“Ed Wood” in 1994) and Mahershala Ali (“Green Book”), have all triumphed...

“Avengers: Endgame” might have surpassed 2009’s “Avatar” when it comes to its domestic box-office — besting James Cameron’s sci-fi fantasy’s $750 million handily by taking in $816 million since its opening on April 26. But it is still a far cry from 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” still the champ with $937 million in domestic ticket sales.

But on social media, there has been some discussion beyond the big bucks about whether “Endgame” with its multitudes of Marvel-ous superhero actors might have the most Oscar winners and nominees ever for a cast of a feature film. I know there is an ongoing thread in the forums about just this topic with various permutations on who counts or not. But for my purposes, actors who won or were nominated in categories other than acting do not qualify. Same with honorary trophies.

By that measure, I count seven winners among the names: Brie Larson,...

In 2009 — when the Academy Awards went to 10 Best Picture nominees for the first time since 1943 — the preferential system of voting, which had been used from 1934 to 1945, was reintroduced. The academy did so as it believed this “best allows the collective judgment of all voting members to be most accurately represented.”

We have detailed how the preferential voting system works at the Oscars in the modern era. So, let’s take a look back at those dozen years early in the history of the academy when it first used this complicated counting to determine the Best Picture winner rather than a simple popular vote. (At the bottom of this post, be sure to vote for the film that you think will take the top Oscar this year.)

See Best Picture Gallery: Every winner of the top Academy Award

1934

This seventh ceremony marked the first time that the Oscars eligibility period was the calendar year.

One of the first full Technicolor features is a romantic fantasy about an innocent beauty’s encounter with an equally innocent fugitive monk … all surrounded by sensuous, confected Hollywood exotica, courtesy of producer David O. Selznick. Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer steam up the screen, but dancer Tilly Losch steals the show with just one scene.

The Garden of Allah

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1936 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 79 min. / Street Date January 9, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey Smith,

Tilly Losch, Joseph Schildkraut, John Carradine.

Cinematography: W. Howard Greene

Film Editor: Hal C. Kern

Art Directors: Edward G. Boyle, Sturges Carne, Lansing C. Holden, Lyle R. Wheeler

Original Music: Max Steiner

Written by W.P. Lipscomb, Lynn Riggs, from the novel by Robert Hichens

Produced by David O. Selznick

Directed by Richard Boleslawski

David O. Selznick’s personally produced movies combine canny commercial judgment...

Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.

Norma Shearer films Note: This article is being revised and expanded. Please check back later. Turner Classic Movies' Norma Shearer month comes to a close this evening, Nov. 24, '15, with the presentation of the last six films of Shearer's two-decade-plus career. Two of these are remarkably good; one is schizophrenic, a confused mix of high comedy and low drama; while the other three aren't the greatest. Yet all six are worth a look even if only because of Norma Shearer herself – though, really, they all have more to offer than just their top star. Directed by W.S. Van Dyke, the no-expense-spared Marie Antoinette (1938) – $2.9 million, making it one of the most expensive movies ever made up to that time – stars the Canadian-born Queen of MGM as the Austrian-born Queen of France. This was Shearer's first film in two years (following Romeo and Juliet) and her first release following husband Irving G.

Constance Cummings in 'Night After Night.' Constance Cummings: Working with Frank Capra and Mae West (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Actress Went from Harold Lloyd to Eugene O'Neill.”) Back at Columbia, Harry Cohn didn't do a very good job at making Constance Cummings feel important. By the end of 1932, Columbia and its sweet ingenue found themselves in court, fighting bitterly over stipulations in her contract. According to the actress and lawyer's daughter, Columbia had failed to notify her that they were picking up her option. Therefore, she was a free agent, able to offer her services wherever she pleased. Harry Cohn felt otherwise, claiming that his contract player had waived such a notice. The battle would spill over into 1933. On the positive side, in addition to Movie Crazy 1932 provided Cummings with three other notable Hollywood movies: Washington Merry-Go-Round, American Madness, and Night After Night. 'Washington Merry-Go-Round...

Glenda Jackson: Actress and former Labour MP. Two-time Oscar winner and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson returns to acting Two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson set aside her acting career after becoming a Labour Party MP in 1992. Four years ago, Jackson, who represented the Greater London constituency of Hampstead and Highgate, announced that she would stand down the 2015 general election – which, somewhat controversially, was won by right-wing prime minister David Cameron's Conservative party.[1] The silver lining: following a two-decade-plus break, Glenda Jackson is returning to acting. Now, Jackson isn't – for the time being – returning to acting in front of the camera. The 79-year-old is to be featured in the Radio 4 series Emile Zola: Blood, Sex and Money, described on their website as a “mash-up” adaptation of 20 Emile Zola novels collectively known as "Les Rougon-Macquart."[2] Part 1 of the three-part Radio 4 series will be broadcast daily during an...

'San Andreas' movie with Dwayne Johnson. 'San Andreas' movie box office: $100 million domestic milestone today As the old saying (sort of) goes: If you build it, they will come. Warner Bros. built a gigantic video game, called it San Andreas, and They have come to check out Dwayne Johnson perform miraculous deeds not seen since ... George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, released two weeks earlier. Embraced by moviegoers, hungry for quality, original storylines and well-delineated characters – and with the assistance of 3D surcharges – the San Andreas movie debuted with $54.58 million from 3,777 theaters on its first weekend out (May 29-31) in North America. Down a perfectly acceptable 52 percent on its second weekend (June 5-7), the special effects-laden actioner collected an extra $25.83 million, trailing only the Melissa McCarthy-Jason Statham comedy Spy, (with $29.08 million) as found at Box Office Mojo.* And that's how this original movie – it's not officially a remake,...

'The Fixer' movie with Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde and Ian Holm (background) 'The Fixer' movie review: 1968 anti-Semitism drama wrecked by cast, direction, and writing In 1969, director John Frankenheimer declared that he felt "better about The Fixer than anything I've ever done in my life." Considering Frankenheimer's previous output – Seven Days in May, the much admired The Manchurian Candidate – it is hard to believe that the director was being anything but a good P.R. man for his latest release. Adapted from Bernard Malamud's National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (itself based on the real story of Jewish brick-factory worker Menahem Mendel Beilis), The Fixer is an overlong, overblown, and overwrought contrivance that, albeit well meaning, carelessly misuses most of the talent involved while sadistically abusing the patience – and at times the intelligence – of its viewers. John Frankenheimer overindulges in 1960s kitsch John Frankenheimer...

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the release of "Crash" (on May 6, 2005), an all-star movie whose controversy came not from its provocative treatment of racial issues but from its Best Picture Oscar victory a few months later, against what many critics felt was a much more deserving movie, "Brokeback Mountain."

The "Crash" vs. "Brokeback" battle is one of those lingering disputes that makes the Academy Awards so fascinating, year after year. Moviegoers and critics who revisit older movies are constantly judging the Academy's judgment. Even decades of hindsight may not always be enough to tell whether the Oscar voters of a particular year got it right or wrong. Whether it's "Birdman" vs. "Boyhood," "The King's Speech" vs. "The Social Network," "Saving Private Ryan" vs. "Shakespeare in Love" or even "An American in Paris" vs. "A Streetcar Named Desire," we're still confirming the Academy's taste or dismissing it as hopelessly off-base years later.

Miklos Laszlo, a Jewish émigré from Hungary, penned his play Illatszertar in 1936 before he fled Europe in 1938 for New York City. Acquired by producer-director Ernst Lubitsch and brilliantly adapted for the screen as The Shop Around the Corner (1940) by the immortal Samson Raphaelson (who wrote nine screenplays for Lubitsch including Trouble in Paradise, The Merry Widow and Heaven Can Wait), the sublime cast included James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut and Felix Bressart. It represents perhaps the very pinnacle of transcendent romantic comedy in cinema: precise, subtle, intricately intimate. The material was remade as a

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Wallace Beery from Pancho Villa to Long John Silver: TCM schedule (Pt) on August 17, 2013 (photo: Fay Wray, Wallace Beery as Pancho Villa in ‘Viva Villa!’) See previous post: “Wallace Beery: Best Actor Oscar Winner — and Runner-Up.” 3:00 Am The Last Of The Mohicans (1920). Director: Maurice Tourneur. Cast: Barbara Bedford, Albert Roscoe, Wallace Beery, Lillian Hall, Henry Woodward, James Gordon, George Hackathorne, Nelson McDowell, Harry Lorraine, Theodore Lorch, Jack McDonald, Sydney Deane, Boris Karloff. Bw-76 mins. 4:30 Am The Big House (1930). Director: George W. Hill. Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Leila Hyams, George F. Marion, J.C. Nugent, DeWitt Jennings, Matthew Betz, Claire McDowell, Robert Emmett O’Connor, Tom Wilson, Eddie Foyer, Roscoe Ates, Fletcher Norton, Noah Beery Jr, Chris-Pin Martin, Eddie Lambert, Harry Wilson. Bw-87 mins. 6:00 Am Bad Man Of Brimstone (1937). Director: J. Walter Ruben. Cast: Wallace Beery, Virginia Bruce, Dennis O’Keefe. Bw-89 mins.

Charlton Heston movies: ‘A Man for All Seasons’ remake, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ (photo: Charlton Heston as Ben-Hur) (See previous post: “Charlton Heston: Moses Minus Staff Plus Chariot Equals Ben-Hur.”) I’ve yet to watch Irving Rapper’s melo Bad for Each Other (1954), co-starring the sultry Lizabeth Scott — always a good enough reason to check out any movie, regardless of plot or leading man. A major curiosity is the 1988 made-for-tv version of A Man for All Seasons, with Charlton Heston in the Oscar-winning Paul Scofield role (Sir Thomas More) and on Fred Zinnemann’s director’s chair. Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Thomas More’s wife in the TV movie (Wendy Hiller in the original) had a cameo as Anne Boleyn in the 1966 film. According to the IMDb, Robert Bolt, who wrote the Oscar-winning 1966 movie (and the original play), is credited for the 1988 version’s screenplay as well. Also of note,...

Like Night of the Hunter, Tod Browning’s Freaks or Leonard Kastle’s The Honeymoon Killers, The Road to Yesterday can be ranked among the UFOs of cinema. It’s place in the heart of Cecil B. DeMille’s work proves to be in itself very distinctive. We know that, during his entire life, DeMille had virtually only one producer—Paramount (the former Famous Players Lasky)—just like Minnelli was MGM’s man and Corman American International’s. Sixty-three of his films (out of seventy) were produced at Paramount. And, oddly enough, it is among the seven outsiders, situated within a brief period from 1925 to 1931, that his best activity is to be found (I’m thinking of Madam Satan, The Godless Girl, and The Road to Yesterday)–his most audacious undertakings. To top it off, for this uncontested king of the box office, his best films were his biggest commercial failures.

Roman Polanski‘s next movie will be D, described as a political thriller based on the infamous Dreyfus Affair. Polanski (photo), 79 next August 18, will once again work with The Ghost Writer‘s novelist / screenwriter Robert Harris. The Dreyfus Affair revolved around French army captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish man who was sentenced to life in prison for passing military secrets to the Germans in 1894. Though eventually proven innocent, Dreyfus languished for several years in solitary confinement on Devil’s Island. Partly as a result of the efforts of progressive novelist Émile Zola and others outraged by widespread corruption and bigotry within the ranks of France’s military establishment, Dreyfus was pardoned in 1899. Seven years later, he was officially exonerated of all charges. "I have long wanted to make a film about the Dreyfus Affair, treating it not as a costume drama but as a spy story,” Polanski was quoted as saying in a statement.

Writing about Emma Thompson possibly reprising her role as human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce made me remember comments I've read about the 1993 Academy Awards. In early 1994, Thompson was nominated for two Oscars: as Best Actress for James Ivory's social/psychological drama The Remains of the Day (photo) and as Best Supporting Actress for Jim Sheridan's family melodrama / political & prison drama In the Name of the Father. That same year, Holly Hunter was another double nominee — the first (and to date only) time two performers have been in the running in two acting categories in the same year. Hunter was up for the Best Actress Oscar for Jane Campion's The Piano (photo) and as Best Supporting Actress for Sydney Pollack's The Firm. She eventually won for The Piano; she and Thompson lost in the Best Supporting Actress category to The Piano's Anna Paquin. Some have claimed...

Ralph Bellamy, Greer Garson, Sunrise at Campobello Ralph Bellamy was what many would call a "dependable" player: always there (nearly 100 movies), always capable, (almost) always losing the girl. Why Bellamy never became a major movie star is beyond me — especially considering that guys like James Stewart, Fred MacMurray, Dick Powell, Don Ameche, Joseph Cotten, etc. were top leading men of that era. Perhaps Bellamy was just both too good-looking and too intelligent-looking to keep Ginger Rogers from Fred Astaire (Carefree), Irene Dunne and Rosalind Russell from Cary Grant (The Awful Truth and His Girl Friday, respectively), and Anna Sten from Gary Cooper (The Wedding Night). All four films — in addition to 11 other Ralph Bellamy movies — will be presented on Turner Classic Movies on Sunday, August 14, as part of TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" film series. [Ralph Bellamy Movie Schedule.] Unfortunately, there are no TCM premieres, but included are a few lesser-known titles, e.g.

With such inherently dramatic source material, George Stevens's cameo-packed 1965 dramatisation of the life of Jesus Christ still manages to be long, plodding and unintentionally funny

Director: George Stevens

Entertainment grade: E

History grade: C

Jesus of Nazareth is believed by Christians to have been the son of God.

Violence

The film begins in the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4Bc. (This is the reason that many historians date the birth of Jesus to between 11 and four years before himself.) Told by three magi that a new king has been born in Bethlehem, Herod orders a massacre of local children. This massacre appears only in Matthew's gospel and is not mentioned in any non-biblical sources, such as Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews, which details Herod's murderous record at some length. John's gospel implies that Jesus was born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem. This doesn't put the film off.

George Stevens. powerful film is given a new anniversary edition adding some new special features, but still showing that the film hasn.t lost any of the emotional power it displayed in 1959. In 1942, the Nazis invade and occupy Amsterdam. The Frank family, Otto (Joseph Schildkraut), Edith (Gusti Huber), and their daughters Margot (Diane Baker), and the young Anne (Millie Perkins), the van Daan family, Petronella (Shelley Winters), Hans (Lou Jacobi), and their son Peter (Richard Beymer), and Mr. Dussell (Ed Wynn) enter into hiding because the Nazis are rounding up all the Jews. The Franks have a secret loft over their factor and are aided in their confinement by Kraler (Douglas Spencer) and Miep (Dodie Heath). They...