Best Picture: #15Original Release Date: June 4, 1942Rating: Not RatedRuntime: 2 hours, 14 minutesDirector: William Wyler Quick Impressions:Neither my daughter nor I could muster much enthusiasm for the idea of watching Mrs. Miniver, which sounded like just another tedious, black-and-white, war-related film standing between us and Casablanca. Then we watched …
Best Picture: #14Original Release Date: November 26, 1941Rating: Not RatedRuntime: 1 hour, 58 minutesDirector: John Ford Quick Impressions:This Best Picture project I’m doing with my daughter has revealed staggering gaps in my own film viewing history. I honestly never realized before how many Best Picture winners I had not seen. …
Best Picture: #13Original Release Date: April 12, 1940Rating: PassedRuntime: 2 hours, 10 minutesDirector: Alfred Hitchcock Quick Impressions:My daughter and I already watched Rebecca together two years ago when her summer project was Alfred Hitchcock. (We had intended to watch classic films of a variety of stars and directors, each in …
Best Picture: #12Original Release Date: December 15, 1939Rating: PassedRuntime: 3 hours, 58 minutesDirector: Victor Fleming (and George Cukor) Quick Impressions:Probably the biggest mistake the South ever made was fighting to preserve a way of life that was not sustainable through moral methods. The second biggest mistake the South ever made …
Best Picture Winner: #11Original Release Date: September 29, 1938Rating: PassedRuntime: 2 hours, 6 minutesDirector: Frank Capra Quick Impressions:I first saw Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You when I checked it out of the public library at seventeen, and I hated it. Here’s why. When I was fifteen, I …
The Life of Emile ZolaBest Picture Winner: #10Original Release Date: October 2, 1937Rating: PassedRuntime: 1 hour, 56 minutesDirector: William Dieterle Quick Impressions:This film fell flat for us, and I’m still struggling to figure out why. It isn’t a bad movie, by any means. The thing is, you watch and think, …
Best Picture Winner: #9Original Release Date: April 8, 1936Rating: Not RatedRuntime: 2 hours, 56 minutesDirector: Robert Z. Leonard Quick Impressions:I love William Powell and Myrna Loy. When I first started dating my husband and introduced him to classic movies, The Thin Man series charmed him immediately, and we tried to …
Best Picture Winner: #8Original Release Date:Rating: Not RatedRuntime: 2 hours, 12 minutesDirector: Frank Lloyd Quick Impressions:“Have you seen this movie before?” my daughter asked as we started. “I’ve definitely seen Bugs Bunny do it,” I replied. Surely at some point during my childhood, I must have seen at least part …
Best Picture Winner: #7Release Date: February 22, 1934Rating: ApprovedRuntime: 1 hour, 45 minutesDirector: Frank Capra Quick Impressions:On July 3, I was consumed by the desire to watch Hamilton as soon as possible. Apparently, I mentioned that seven or eight…hundred…thousand times. My mother remarked that a friend of hers had mentioned …
Best Picture Winner: #6Release Date: April 15, 1933Rating: PassedRuntime: 1 hour, 52 minutesDirector: Frank Lloyd Quick Impressions:Until my daughter and I started this project, I did not realize there were so many Best Picture winners I knew nothing about. I knew Cavalcade won, but for some reason, I thought it …
