Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

I am completely jealous of Phileas Fogg. Why do I not have the means to drop everything else in my life and go for a jaunt around the world? My dreams are far bigger than my wallet.

Around the World in 80 Days is a cute movie but I would have thought it was more of a children's movie than an adult's type of film. Perhaps I am associating it with the fact that Disney remade this movie recently. My dislike of Disney could be tainting it somehow as well.

I am not exactly sure why but Frank Sinatra made a cameo in this movie as a piano player in a bar in San Francisco. He did not eve have any lines. He just turned around and was there for a few, fleeting seconds. Shirley MacLaine played the Indian princess in this film. I had no idea it was her until I read a post online about her being there. Sure enough, I took a closer look and there she was in the earlier phase of her current life.

Wings (1927/1928)

It took Netflix quite some time to get the very first Best Picture winner as a part of their DVD collection. Alas, they have it now and I have been able to see the film that started it all.

2011 has a silent film nominated for Best Picture. Wings is also a silent picture with full organ music through the entire thing.

The film follows the plot that Pearl Harbor stole many years later. There are two pilots in love with the same woman. While Ben Affleck's "masterpiece" took place during the Second World War, Wings took place during WWI. The fighting sequences are spectacular. I cannot even imagine how they filmed such scenes in the 1920s.

Perhaps one of the saddest stories in Oscar associated history is that of Clara Bow. Her secretary was stealing from her so she took her to court. The secretary made up lies about Clara's sex life and the lies ultimately ruined the actress. She suffered a mental breakdown and died at the age of 60. Knowing rumors could ruin a career during those early years of film is ironic when you acknowledge that now it would make a career bigger.

Oliver! (1968)

"Oom Pah Pah, Oom Pah Pah, that's how it goes." I have not been able to stop humming that song since I viewed the film. Oliver! was the last musical to win the Best Picture award until Chicago came along in 2002. The story of little, orphan Oliver is based on Dickens' book Oliver Twist. After being kicked out of a workhouse for wanting "MORE?!" food, Oliver finds himself entangled with pick pockets and their leader/teacher. There is also the mean, brute of a man, played by Oliver Reed, who I feel sure may be Javier Bardem's biological father. This awful man has a girlfriend, Nancy, that is not all bad.

Oliver is accused of a crime he did not commit and he ends up being cared for by the wrongful accuser. The gang of ruffians realize they must return Oliver to their hideout or he could give away their location and the illegal activities in which they are partaking. As complete coincidence would have it, the man who brought Oliver into his mansion, is the uncle of Oliver's mother. A mother who died during childbirth.

The actor who played the artful dodger was extremely talented. I found that Jack Wild was 15-16 when the movie was being made but he does look much younger. His acting, dancing, and singing were all superb. I really think he was the best part of the movie. Other than one of the catchiest songs ever!

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

I really enjoy movies that are set during a war but show what life at home was like for those not fighting the battles. Mrs. Miniver follows a middle class British family through the early months of World War II. It is also interesting to see what life was like in the 1940s because it gives me a better understanding of what my grandparents may have experienced. Or at the very least, I can watch movies they may have watched when they were my age.

I preferred The Best Years of Our Lives but I really liked this movie as well. Greer Garson is just gorgeous! She resembles Maureen O'Hara so much that I was convinced for years it was her in this movie.

The two main actresses won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscars for their work in this film. There is interesting trivia to tack on with this film: Ms. Garson's Oscar was destroyed in a house fire and the Academy sent her a replacement. She also holds the record for the longest acceptance speech in Oscar history at 5 1/2 minutes. Garson also married her co-star, Richard Ney, who played her son in the film.

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

After viewing Lawrence of Arabia, I have now seen 60 Best Picture winners. Again, this is a film that is considered a treasure. Why must all these epic films take hours to tell a story? Is it really necessary?

The film follows the story of a real British soldier during World War I. For hours we watch him ride around the desert in Arabia with Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif. They also blow up some train tracks and after Lawrence is tortured, he snaps ever so slightly.

This movie feels like it is one that would be loved by men. I do not mean that as disrespectful to the film but it's military, it's long, and rather dry (much like the desert). If they would cut the time riding through the desert in half, the movie would have been 45 minutes long.

In all fairness, the movie had a lovely score. It was my favorite part of the entire experience. That and watching the camels run around. Seeing thousands of camels running at the same time is not something a person sees that often, not even in film.

The Broadway Melody (1928/1929)

The Broadway Melody was the second movie to win "Best Picture" at the Academy Awards. It was interesting to see how movies looked and felt compared to ones made a few years later. The story was not exactly something different and the entire movie felt very simplistic. However, as one of the very first musicals ever made, it was cute.

As an older sister of a younger sister, I really hated how this movie ended. The older sister has been a man's top choice for years. Then when he sees her younger sister all grown up, he prefers her. In the end, the older sister basically forfeits the guy so her sister will not end up with a sugar daddy. There is a point to being a good older sibling but ruining your own chance at happiness is crossing a line.