An American In Paris (1951): 24th Winner for Best Picture

An American In Paris (1951)

Date Viewed: 24 August 2014

What an amazing musical! So artistic, creative and quirky. The choreography was incredible and the music by Gershwin was the icing on the cake for me!

This was the first colour film we have viewed since Gone With The Wind, and it was the kind of film that needed colour to capture the artistic scenery of Paris.

This was my first viewing of this film and I had my mouth open the whole time in awe of its splendour as a musical. If you like musicals (or even if you can sit through one) sit through this!

Why did it win Best Picture? The colour that captured the essence of Paris and its creativity within would have definitely been a good reason this film won. Gershwin's fusion of jazz and classical composition would have helped its profile too and the choreography to go with!

All About Eve (1950): 23rd Winner for Best Picture

All About Eve (1950)

Date viewed: 24 August 2014

In short this film was basically a cat fight in the theatre featuring a young Marilyn for a cameo appearance. (Obviously Marilyn became for famous in later years).

Okay, maybe a bit more than a cat fight - there was some good character development with the main character.

I have to admit that it was also a good portrayal of the negative attitudes that theatrical actors had toward what would have been the 'boom' in TV and film actors in Hollywood at that time. In a sense it was kind of ironic that it made it to the movie screen.

Why did it win Best Picture? The only things I could pick would be good character development with the main character as well as the TV and film actor 'boom' portrayal that would have been quite relevant at the time.

All The King's Men (1949): 22nd Winner for Best Picture

All The King's Men (1949)

Date viewed: 3 August 2014

This was quite a peculiar film about love, politics and family. It seemed quite ordinary at the start of the film, but as the story progressed it turned darker.

Other than this fascinating storyline, it was a film that seemed quite ordinary to me and failed to have any other outstanding features.

Why did it win Best Picture? Possibly for the political story that was portrayed through the good times and the bad. The story line's darker side may have made it a winner as well. It was also a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, so it was most likely to also be a relevant tale for its time.