Best Sound, 1945

Awards presented March 7, 1946

The nominees were ... 

• The Bells of St. Mary's. RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, Stephen Dunn, Sound Director  
• Flame of Barbary Coast. Republic Studio Sound Department, Daniel J. Bloomberg, Sound Director 
• Lady on a Train. Universal Studio Sound Department, Bernard B. Brown, Sound Director  
• Leave Her to Heaven. 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, Thomas T. Moulton, Sound Director  
• Rhapsody in Blue. Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Nathan Levinson, Sound Director  
• A Song to Remember. Columbia Studio Sound Department, John P. Livadary, Sound Director  
• The Southerner. General Service, Jack Whitney, Sound Director  
• They Were Expendable. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Douglas Shearer, Sound Director  
• The Three Caballeros. Walt Disney Studio Sound Department, C.O. Slyfield, Sound Director  
• Three Is a Family. RCA Sound, W.V. Wolfe, Sound Director  
• The Unseen. Paramount Studio Sound Department, Loren L. Ryder, Sound Director  
• Wonder Man. Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Gordon Sawyer, Sound Director  

And the Oscar went to ... 

The Bells of St. Mary's. RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, Stephen Dunn, Sound Director. 

Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby) gets sent to an inner-city school run by Sister Mary Benedict (Ingrid Bergman) and gets involved in saving the school. Produced and directed, like the first O'Malley film, Going My Way, by Leo McCarey, who also wrote the story that was turned into a screenplay by Dudley Nichols. It was a big hit, though today it seems like pure treacle. It was the first sequel to be nominated for best picture and Crosby was the first person to be nominated twice for playing the same character. (Peter O'Toole was later nominated for playing Henry II in Becket and The Lion in Winter, Al Pacino for playing Michael Corleone in the first two Godfather films, and Paul Newman for playing Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler and The Color of Money.) This was the second Oscar for Dunn, who also received a scientific and technical award the same year.   

Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary's

Best Sound, 1943

Awards presented March 2, 1944

The nominees were ... 

• Hangmen Also Die, Sound Service Inc., Jack Whitney, Sound Director
• In Old Oklahoma, Republic Studio Sound Department, Daniel J. Bloomberg, Sound Director
• Madame Curie, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Douglas Shearer, Sound Director
• The North Star, Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department, Thomas T. Moulton, Sound Director
• Phantom of the Opera, Universal Studio Sound Department, Bernard B. Brown, Sound Director
• Riding High, Paramount Studio Sound Department, Loren L. Ryder, Sound Director
• Sahara, Columbia Studio Sound Department, John P. Livadary, Sound Director
• Saludos Amigos, Walt Disney Studio Sound Department, C.O. Slyfield, Sound Director
• So This Is Washington, RCA Sound, J.L. Fields, Sound Director
• The Song of Bernadette, 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, E.H. Hansen, Sound Director
• This Is the Army, Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Nathan Levinson, Sound Director
• This Land Is Mine, RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, Stephen Dunn, Sound Director

And the Oscar went to ... 

This Land Is Mine, RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, Stephen Dunn, Sound Director. 

Charles Laughton plays a meek schoolteacher in a generic European country that has been occupied by the Nazis. He's drawn into heroic resistance to the Germans by his unexpressed love for his neighbor, played by Maureen O'Hara. Melodramatic propaganda, but of a higher sort, thanks to Dudley Nichols's screenplay and a fine performance by Laughton. Still, it's perhaps the weakest film from one of the greatest directors, Jean Renoir. The award for sound seems like the Academy's attempt to honor a movie not quite good enough to be nominated in any other category. This was the first of Dunn's two Oscars. He also won a scientific and technical award.