Awards presented March 10, 1938
The nominees were ...
... when they should have been ...
And the Oscar went to ...
The Life of Emile Zola. One of Warner Bros.' socially conscious biopics, most of which starred Paul Muni, as this one does. It's really quite well done, though it glosses over the anti-Semitism that was at the heart of the charges brought against Alfred Dreyfuss, and it's just too neatly packaged to be truly memorable.
... when it should have gone to ...
Nothing in the Academy rules forbade its giving a best picture Oscar, or even a nomination, to an animated feature. But Walt Disney's breakthrough film seemed to confuse the Academy, even though it's one of Hollywood movies' great landmarks, right up there with
The Birth of a Nation and
The Jazz Singer as a definitive event in the history of an industry. Its use of color to affect mood and create the tone of scenes taught live-action filmmakers a thing or two about Technicolor. (See the muted color of two 1937 films,
Nothing Sacred and
A Star Is Born, for examples of filmmakers still uncertain how to use it.) It also established the Disney studios as an enduring force in the industry. But it received only one nomination for the 1937 awards, for its music score. Its hugely popular songs by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey, including "Heigh Ho," "Whistle While You Work," and "Someday My Prince Will Come," were eligible in the song category, but they were overlooked. Perhaps the oversight was because the film had a limited release in December of 1937 and did not receive wide release until February 1938, but by the time the 1938 awards were given out the movie had grossed more than $8 million, having cost $1.5 million to make. So the Academy tried to make up for the oversight by giving Disney a special award, in recognition of "a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon."
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