Best Picture, 1954

Awards presented March 30, 1955

The nominees were ... 

• The Caine Mutiny 
• The Country Girl 
• On the Waterfront 
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 
• Three Coins in the Fountain 

... when they should have been ...

• Forbidden Games 
• Gate of Hell  
• On the Waterfront 
• Rear Window 
• A Star Is Born 

And the Oscar went to ...
On the Waterfront. A major critical success, this film is not an undeserving winner from the standpoint of acting (Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, and Rod Steiger) or directing (Elia Kazan). But its reputation has been tarnished by the fact that it seems to be something of an apologia for the testimonies of Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg before the House Un-American Activities Committee, in which they named former communists in the film industry. There were protests when Kazan received an honorary award at the Oscar ceremony in 1999, and several in the audience, including Nick Nolte and Ed Harris, refused to stand and applaud.

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

Rear Window

Superb Alfred Hitchcock thriller, full of suspense and wit, with wonderful performances by James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, and a menacing Raymond Burr. It's also a tour de force of staging: Hitchcock views all of the action from the point of view of Stewart's apartment, to which he has been confined by a broken leg. Even when Kelly makes an excursion to Burr's apartment in search of evidence that he has murdered his wife, Hitchcock resists the temptation to "open up" and take the camera with her. The film also includes several subplots -- a struggling composer, a young woman fending off unwanted admirers, a lonely woman on the verge of suicide -- glimpsed through the windows of their apartments. Although Robert Burks's cinematography and Loren Ryder's sound design, which contribute greatly to the voyeuristic quality of the film, were nominated, the set design team of Joseph MacMillan Johnson, Hal Pereira, Sam Comer, and Ray Moyer was shockingly overlooked.