Best Picture, 1936

Awards presented March 4, 1937

The nominees were ... 

• Anthony Adverse 
• Dodsworth 
• The Great Ziegfeld 
• Libeled Lady 
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 
• Romeo and Juliet 
• San Francisco 
• The Story of Louis Pasteur 
• A Tale of Two Cities 
• Three Smart Girls 

... when they should have been ...

• Dodsworth 
• Follow the Fleet 
• Fury 
• Libeled Lady 
• Modern Times 
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town  
• My Man Godfrey 
• San Francisco 
• Show Boat 
• Swing Time   

And the Oscar went to ...
The Great Ziegfeld. Perhaps this was the Academy's way of trying to make up for Broadway Melody. In doing so it substituted extravagance for clumsiness. The only memorable moment from the film is the production number "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," which takes place on an enormous rotating set, tiered like a wedding cake, with countless chorus girls being serenaded by Dennis Morgan (though he was billed under his real name, Stanley Morner, and his voice was Allan Jones's).

... when it should have gone to ...

Dodsworth

A movie about grownups with grownup problems: career burnout, retirement ennui, stale marriage, infidelity. What are the chances a movie like that could get made today? (Well, maybe with Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep, and Julianne Moore in the roles played by Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, and Mary Astor, for release in the Oscar-bait window between Thanksgiving and Christmas.)  The potential for soap opera is overcome by Huston's wise performance, Sidney Howard's intelligent script, and William Wyler's careful and attentive direction.