For the end of the year episode of The George Sanders Show a few weeks ago, we did a 1933 year in review, with awards and top 5s and reviews of a couple of films from that year. We had so much fun with it that we’re planning to do the same thing this year, for 1984. In the meantime, I figure I’ll go through the rest of the years ending in ‘4’ that I can reasonably give awards to, starting now with 1934. In the Endy Awards Index you can find entries for 2011, 1932, 1939, 1964, 1957, 1994, and 1933, along with a bunch of much older, less good award posts. Eligibility is determined by imdb date and by whether or not I’ve seen the movie in question. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order and the winners are bolded. And the Endy goes to. . .

Best Picture:

1. L’Atalante
2. Man of Aran
3. No Greater Glory
4. The Scarlet Empress
5. Twentieth Century

Best Director:

1. Jean Vigo, L’Atalante
2. Robert Flaherty, Man of Aran
3. Frank Borzage, No Greater Glory
4. Josef von Sternberg, The Scarlet Empress
5. Howard Hawks, Twentieth Century

Vigo was a winner in 1933 for his short film Zéro de conduite. This is a posthumous Endy as the immensely talented young director died of tuberculosis shortly after L’Atalante was released.

Best Actor:

1. Clark Gable, It Happened One Night
2. WC Fields, It’s a Gift
3. Will Rogers, Judge Priest
4. William Powell, The Thin Man
5. John Barrymore, Twentieth Century

Best Actress:

1. Ruan Lingyu, The Goddess
2. Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night
3. Marlene Dietrich, The Scarlet Empress
4. Myrna Loy, The Thin Man
5. Carole Lombard, Twentieth Century

Colbert also starred in John M. Stahl’s acclaimed Imitation of Life this year, but I haven’t seen it yet (it just missed the cut for an Unseen Film nomination) and Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra, which I have seen. Dietrich and Loy both won Endys in 1932, Loy in the Supporting Actress category. This was Lombard’s for a long time, and then I saw The Goddess.

Supporting Actor:

1. Michel Simon, L’Atalante
2. Boris Karloff, The Black Cat
3. Stepin Fetchit, Judge Priest
4. Peter Lorre, The Man Who Knew Too Much
5. Sam Jaffe, The Scarlet Empress

Supporting Actress:

1. Anne Dvorak, Heat Lightning
2. Glenda Farrell, Heat Lightning
3. Louise Dresser, The Scarlet Empress
4. Chôko Iida, The Story of Floating Weeds
5. Yoshiko Tsubouchi, The Story of Floating Weeds

A kind of a make-up Endy for Glenda Farrell as this is the third year in a row she has been nominated in this category, losing to Myrna Loy in 1932 and Ginger Rogers in 1933. The nomination for Stepin Fetchit is highly controversial, of course, as picketers protest that the star actor puts his comic gifts to use perpetuating horribly demeaning stereotypes, while supporters argue that Fetchit’s persona is in fact subversive of those same stereotypes. The Endy ultimately goes to Karloff because the Endy Committee are cowards.

Original Screenplay:

1. Jean Vigo & Albert Riéra, L’Atalante
2. Robert Riskin, It Happened One Night
3. Charles Bennett & DB Wyndham-Lewis, The Man Who Knew Too Much
4. King Vidor, Elizabeth Hill & Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Our Daily Bread
5. Yasujiro Ozu & Tadao Ikeda, A Story of Floating Weeds

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Irvin S. Cobb, Dudley Nichols & Lamar Trotti, Judge Priest
2. Jo Sewerling, No Greater Glory
3. Eleanor McGeary, The Scarlet Empress
4. Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich, The Thin Man
5. Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur, Twentieth Century

1934 is the breakthrough year for the screwball comedy, and three of the best examples of the genre see their screenplays nominated, with wins in both categories. This is the first (but surely not the last) win for Ben Hecht, who was nominated in 1932 for Scarface and 1933 for Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.

Non-English Language Film:

1. L’Atalante (Jean Vigo)
2. The Goddess (Wu Yonggang)
3. Liliom (Fritz Lang)
4. A Story of Floating Weeds (Yasujiro Ozu)
5. Street Without End (Mikio Naruse)

Short Film:

1. The Goddess of Spring (Wilfred Jackson)
2. The Grasshopper and the Ants (Wilfred Jackson)
3. The Big Bad Wolf (Burt Gillett)

Unseen Film:

1. Chapaev (Georgi & Sergei Vasilyev)
3. Le grand jeu (Jacques Feyder)

Film Editing:

1. L’Atalante
2. The Gay Divorcee
3. Man of Aran
4. The Man Who Knew Too Much
5. Our Daily Bread

Cinematography:

1. Boris Kaufman, L’Atalante
2. John J. Mescall, The Black Cat
3. Robert Flaherty, Man of Aran
4. Bert Glennon, The Scarlet Empress
5. Inokai Suketaro, Street Without End

Original Score:

1. Dames
2. The Gay Divorcee
3. Liliom
4. Our Daily Bread
5. The Scarlet Empress

Original Song:

1. “I Only Have Eyes For You”, Dames
2. “The Continental”, The Gay Divorcee

Soundtrack:

1. The Black Cat
2. Dames
3. The Gay Divorcee
4. The Merry Widow

Art Direction:

1. L’Atalante
2. The Black Cat
3. Cleopatra
4. The Merry Widow
5. The Scarlet Empress

Costume Design:

1. Cleopatra
2. The Goddess
3. Les misérables
4. The Scarlet Empress
5. The Thin Man

Make-up:

1. The Black Cat
2. Cleopatra
3. The Scarlet Empress

Sound Mixing:

1. Dames
2. Man of Aran
3. The Merry Widow
4. The Scarlet Empress
5. Twentieth Century

Sound Editing:

1. Dames
2. The Gay Divorcee
3. The Lost Patrol
4. The Merry Widow
5. No Greater Glory

Visual Effects:

1. The Black Cat
2. Cleopatra
3. Liliom

1. Design for Living
2. Duck Soup
3. Gold Diggers of 1933
4. Hallelujah, I’m a Bum
5. Japanese Girls at the Harbor

Best Director:

1. Ernst Lubitsch, Design for Living
2. Leo McCarey, Duck Soup
3. Hiroshi Shimizu, Japanese Girls at the Harbor
4. Fritz Lang, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
5. William Wellman, Wild Boys of the Road

Best Actor:

1. Groucho Marx, Duck Soup
2. James Cagney, Footlight Parade
3. Al Jolson, Hallelujah, I’m a Bum
4. Claude Rains, The Invisible Man
5. Spencer Tracy, Man’s Castle

Best Actress:

1. Barbara Stanwyck, Baby Face
2. Miriam Hopkins, Design for Living
3. Loretta Young, Man’s Castle
4. Henrietta Crosman, Pilgrimage
5. Greta Garbo, Queen Christina
Supporting Actor:

1. Franchot Tone, Bombshell
2. Harpo Marx, Duck Soup
4. Harry Langdon, Hallelujah, I’m a Bum
3. Frank Morgan, Hallelujah, I’m a Bum
5. Ned Sparks, Lady for a Day

Supporting Actress:

1. Sumiko Mizukubo, Apart from You
2. Margaret Dumont, Duck Soup
3. Ginger Rogers, Gold Diggers of 1933
4. Glenda Farrell, Mystery of the Wax Museum
5. Elsa Lanchester, The Private Life of Henry VIII

Original Screenplay:

1. Gene Markey & Katheryn Scola, Baby Face
2. Burt Kalmar & Harry Ruby, Duck Soup
3. Ben Hecht & S. N. Behrman, Hallelujah, I’m a Bum
4. Tôma Kitabayashi & Mitsu Suyama, Japanese Girls at the Harbor
5. Frank Craven, Sons of the Desert

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Rian James & James Seymour, 42nd Street
2. Ben Hecht, Design for Living
3. Jo Swerling, Man’s Castle
4. Barry Connors & Philip Klein, Pilgrimage
5. Sonya Levien & Paul Green, State Fair

Non-English Language Film:

1. Apart From You (Mikio Naruse)
2. Japanese Girls at the Harbor (Hiroshi Shimizu)
3. Passing Fancy (Yasujiro Ozu)
4. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang)
5. Zéro de conduite (Jean Vigo)

Short Film:

1. The Three Little Pigs (Walt Disney)
2. Zéro de conduite (Jean Vigo)

Unseen Film:

1. Alice in Wonderland (Norman Z. McLoud)
2. The Emperor Jones (Dudley Murphy)
3. Liebelei (Max Ophuls)
4. Morning Glory (Lowell Sherman)
5. The Power & the Glory (William K. Howard)
Film Editing:

1. 42nd Street
2. Dragnet Girl
3. Japanese Girls at the Harbor
4. King Kong
5. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Cinematography:

1. Sol Polito, Gold Diggers of 1933
2. Taro Sasaki, Japanese Girls at the Harbor
3. Edward Linden, J. O. Taylor & Vernon L. Walker, King Kong
4. Karl Vash & Fritz Arno Wagner, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
5. Boris Kaufman, Zéro de conduite

Original Score:

1. 42nd Street
2. Duck Soup
3. Gold Diggers of 1933
4. Hallelujah, I’m a Bum
5. King Kong

Original Song:

1. “42nd Street”, 42nd Street
2. “The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money)”, Gold Diggers of 1933
3. “Shadow Waltz”, Gold Diggers of 1933
4. “You Are Too Beautiful”, Hallelujah, I’m a Bum
5. “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”, The Three Little Pigs

Art Direction:

1. 42nd Street
2. Duck Soup
3. Footlight Parade
4. King Kong
5. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Costume Design:

1. 42nd Street
2. Design for Living
3. Footlight Parade
4. Gold Diggers of 1933
5. King Kong

Make-up:

1. 42nd Street
2. Design for Living
3. Gold Diggers of 1933
4. King Kong
5. Mystery of the Wax Museum

Sound Mixing:

1. 42nd Street
2. Footlight Parade
3. Gold Diggers of 1933
4. King Kong
5. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Sound Editing:

1. 42nd Street
2. Footlight Parade
3. Gold Diggers of 1933
4. King Kong
5. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Visual Effects:

1. The Invisible Man
2. King Kong
3. Mystery of the Wax Museum

It’s been a few months, so it feels like time to hand out some more awards. 1939 is generally considered one of the greatest film years ever. The Hollywood studio system was at its peak and the French, British, Soviet, Italian and Japanese film industries were yet to be entirely devastated by war. I don’t know that it’s my favorite year, 1932 and 1937 might even be the best years of the 1930s. I do think that eventually 2012 will be remembered among the great years in movie history.
Here are my fake awards for 1939. In the Endy Awards Index you can find entries for 2011, 1932, 1964, 1957 and 1994, as well as posts for the awards I made several years ago. Eligibility is determined by imdb date and by whether or not I’ve seen the movie in question. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order and the winners are bolded. And the Endy goes to. . .

Best Picture:

1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
2. Only Angels Have Wings
3. The Rules of the Game
4. Stagecoach
5. Young Mr. Lincoln

Best Director:

1. John Ford, Stagecoach
2. Howard Hawks, Only Angels Have Wings
3. Kenji Mizoguchi, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
4. Jean Renoir, The Rules of the Game
5. John Ford, Young mr. Lincoln

I don’t think that any director has ever had a better year than John Ford did in 1939, but Renoir made one of the very best films of all-time this year.

Best Actor:

1. Clark Gable, Gone with the Wind
2. Robert Donat, Goodbye Mr. Chips
3. James Stewart, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
4. Cary Grant, Only Angels Have Wings
5. Henry Fonda, Young Mr. Lincoln

My favorite performance from the greatest actor in movie history gets the win here, against a very strong field. Donat won the Oscar, with Stewart getting the make-up prize the next year for The Philadelphia Story. His co-star in that film, Cary Grant, would probably be my pick that year instead, on the strength of His Girl Friday. Although, Stewart was also in my favorite film from 1940, The Shop Around the Corner. We’ll see what happens when I get around to giving out those awards.

Best Actress:

1. Claudette Colbert, Midnight
2. Bette Davis, Dark Victory
3. Greta Garbo, Ninotchka
4. Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz
5. Vivien Leigh, Gone with the Wind

Supporting Actor:

1. Harry Carey, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
2. Marcel Dalio, The Rules of the Game
3. Jean Renoir, The Rules of the Game
4. Thomas Mitchell, Stagecoach
5. John Wayne, Stagecoach

If John Ford had the best director year ever in 1939, Thomas Mitchell may have had the best year for a supporting actor. Standout performances in five great movies (Stagecoach, Only Angels Have Wings, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind & The Hunchback of Notre Dame)? Can anyone top that? Tough to leave out Claude Rains in Mr. Smith and Humphrey Bogart in The Roaring Twenties here. I suspect they’ll be getting some Endy-love in the 1940s.

Supporting Actress:

1. Jean Arthur, Only Angels Have Wings
2. Olivia DeHaviland, Gone with the Wind
3. Marjorie Main, The Women
4. Maureen O’Hara, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
5. Maria Ouspenskaya, Love Affair

Original Screenplay:

1. Jacques Viot & Jacques Prévert, Le jour se lève
2. Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder, Midnight
3. Sidney Buchman, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
4. Jean Renoir & Carl Koch, The Rules of the Game
5. Lamar Trotti, Young Mr. Lincoln

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Joel Sayre & Fred Guiol, Gunga Din
2. Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder & Walter Reisch, Ninotchka
3. Jules Furthman, Only Angels Have Wings
4. Dudley Nichols, Stagecoach
5. Matsutarô Kawaguchi & Yoshikata Yoda, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums

Impressive for Brackett & Wilder getting nominated in both screenplay categories. They didn’t win (tough to beat out two of the most perfect screenplays in film history), but I expect we’ll be seeing more of these guys.

Non-English Language Film:

1. The Rules of the Game
2. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
3. Le jour se lève

Unseen Film:

1. Each Dawn I Die (William Keighley)
2. Sincerity (Mikio Naruse)
3. The Spy in Black (Michael Powell)
4. St. Louis Blues (Raoul Walsh)
5. Union Pacific (Cecil B. DeMille)

I’m actually surprised there aren’t more of these, especially with my having seen only three non-English language films. But looking through imdb’s database, these were the best I could come up with. There’s another Naruse from this year, but Sincerity sounded better.

Film Editing:

1. Only Angels Have Wings
2. The Roaring Twenties
3. The Rules of the Game
4. Stagecoach
5. The Wizard of Oz

Cinematography:

1. Ernest Haller, Gone with the Wind
2. Philippe Agostini, André Bac & Albert Viguier, Le jour se lève
3. Jean-Paul Alphen, Jean Bachelet, Jacques Lemare & Alain Renoir, The Rules of the Game
4. Bert Glennon, Stagecoach
5. Yozô Fuji & Shigeto Miki, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums

Original Score:

1. Gone with the Wind
3. Le jour se lève
5. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
2. The Wizard of Oz
4. Young Mr. Lincoln

Adapted Score:

1. Babes in Arms
2. The Rules of the Game
3. Stagecoach

Original Song:

1. “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”, The Wizard of Oz
2. “Good Morning”, Babes in Arms
3. “If I Only Had a Brain”, The Wizard of Oz
4. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, The Wizard of Oz
5. “We’re Off to See the Wizard”, The Wizard of Oz

These soundtrack awards are pretty much no-brainers. Or if I only had a brainers.

Art Direction:

1. Drums Along the Mohawk
2. Gone with the Wind
3. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
4. The Rules of the Game
5. The Wizard of Oz

Costume Design:

1. Gone with the Wind
2. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
3. The Rules of the Game
4. The Wizard of Oz
5. Young Mr. Lincoln

Make-up:

1. Goodbye, Mr. Chips
2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
3. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
4. The Wizard of Oz
5. Young Mr. Lincoln

Sound Mixing:

1. Gone with the Wind
2. Gunga Din
3. Only Angels Have Wings
4. Stagecoach
5. The Wizard of Oz

Sound Editing:

1. Beau Geste
2. Gone With the Wind
3. Gunga Din
4. Only Angels Have Wings
5. Stagecoach

Visual Effects:

1. Gone with the Wind
2. Only Angels Have Wings
3. The Wizard of Oz

So I decided to go ahead and keep on handing out awards, limiting myself to years in which I’ve seen at least 40 movies to get a good base from which to arbitrarily assign fake trophies. The earliest year from which I’ve seen 40 is 1932, so we’re starting here. As always, eligibility is determined by the year imdb assigns to the film and if I haven’t seen it, I can’t award it. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order and winners are bolded.

Best Picture:

1. One Way Passage
2. Scarface
3. Shanghai Express
4. Trouble in Paradise
5. Vampyr

Best Director:

1. Yasujiro Ozu, I was Born, but. . .
2. Howard Hawks, Scarface
3. Josef von Sternberg, Shanghai Express
4. Ernst Lubitsch, Trouble in Paradise
5. Carl Theodor Dreyer, Vampyr

Best Actor:

1. Boris Karloff, The Mummy
2. Spencer Tracy, Me and My Gal
3. William Powell, One Way Passage
4. Paul Muni, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
5. Herbert Marshall, Trouble in Paradise

Best Actress:

1. Kay Francis, One Way Passage
2. Jean Harlow, Red Dust
3. Marlene Dietrich, Shanghai Express
4. Ann Dvorak, Three on a Match
5. Miriam Hopkins, Trouble in Paradise

Supporting Actor:

1. Harpo Marx, Horse Feathers
2. Bela Lugosi, Island of Lost Souls
3. Charles Laughton, The Island of Lost Souls
4. Lee Tracy, The Strange Love of Molly Louvain
5. Tatsuo Saito, Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?

Supporting Actress:

1. Glenda Farrell, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
2. Myrna Loy, The Mask of Fu Manchu
3. Claudette Colbert, The Sign of the Cross
4. Anna May Wong, Shanghai Express
5. Kay Francis, Trouble in Paradise

Original Screenplay:

1. Kalmar, Ruby, Johnstone & Perelman, Horse Feathers
2. Geibei Ibushiya, I Was Born, But. . .
3. Wilson Misner & Joseph Jackson, One Way Passage
4. Jules Furthman, Shanghai Express
5. Kogo Noda, Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Jean Renoir & Albert Valentin, Boudu Saved from Drowning
2. John Mahin, Red Dust
3. Ben Hecht, Scarface
4. Sidney Buchman & Waldemar Young, The Sign of the Cross
5. Samson Raphelson, Trouble in Paradise

Foreign Language Film:

1. Boudu Saved from Drowning
2. I Was Born, But. .
3. No Blood Relation
4. Vampyr
5. Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?

Live Action Short:

1. The Music Box (James Parrott)

Film Editing:

1. No Blood Relation
2. Scarface
3. Shanghai Express
4. Trouble in Paradise
5. Vampyr

Cinematography:

1. Sol Polito, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
2. Karl Struss, The Island of Lost Souls
3. Victor Milner, Love Me Tonight & Trouble in Paradise
4. Lee Garmes, Shanghai Express
5. Rudolph Maté, Vampyr

Original Score:

1. Blonde Venus
2. Horse Feathers
3. Love Me Tonight
4. One Hour with You
5. Vampyr

Original Song:

1. “Hot Voodoo”, Blonde Venus
2. “Everyone Says I Love You”, Horse Feathers
3. “I’m Against It”, Horse Feathers
4. “Isn’t It Romantic?”, Love Me Tonight
5. “Mimi”, Love Me Tonight

Art Direction:

1. The Island of Lost Souls
2. The Mask of Fu Manchu
3. Shanghai Express
4. Trouble in Paradise
5. Vampyr

Costume Design:

1. Love Me Tonight
2. The Mask of Fu Manchu
3. Shanghai Express
4. The Sign of the Cross
5. Trouble in Paradise

Make-up:

1. The Island of Lost Souls
2. The Mask of Fu Manchu
3. The Mummy

Sound Mixing:

1. Love Me Tonight
2. Shanghai Express
3. The Sign of the Cross
4. Trouble in Paradise
5. Vampyr

Sound Editing:

1. The Island of Lost Souls
2. Love Me Tonight
3. Scarface
4. Tarzan, the Ape Man
5. Vampyr

Visual Effects:

1. The Crowd Roars
2. The Island of Lost Souls
3. The Mask of Fu Manchu
4. The Mummy
5. Vampyr