Best Dance Direction, 1936

Awards presented March 4, 1937

The nominees were ... 

• Busby Berkeley, "Love and War" number from Gold Diggers of 1937 
• Bobby Connolly, "1000 Love Songs" number from Cain and Mabel 
• Seymour Felix, "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number from The Great Ziegfeld 
• Dave Gould, "Swingin' the Jinx" number from Born to Dance 
• Jack Haskell, "Skating Ensemble" number from One in a Million 
• Russell Lewis, "The Finale" number from Dancing Pirate 
• Hermes Pan, "Bojangles of Harlem" number from Swing Time 

... when they should have been ... 

• Busby Berkeley, "Love and War" number from Gold Diggers of 1937 
• Bobby Connolly, "1000 Love Songs" number from Cain and Mabel 
• Seymour Felix, "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number from The Great Ziegfeld 
• Dave Gould, "Swingin' the Jinx" number from Born to Dance 
• Jack Haskell, "Skating Ensemble" number from One in a Million 
• Russell Lewis, "The Finale" number from Dancing Pirate 
• Hermes Pan, "Let's Face the Music and Dance" number from Follow the Fleet 

And the Oscar went to ... 

Seymour Felix, "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number from The Great Ziegfeld. 

Felix began his career as a dancer in vaudeville, then moved into choreography on Broadway. He was lured to Hollywood in 1929 at the dawn of movie musicals. Although there is some dancing in the spectacular number for which he won the Oscar, it's mostly a triumph of sets and costumes, as Dennis Morgan (billed under his real name, Stanley Morner, and dubbed by Allan Jones) ascends a great staircase, spiraling around a column, while singing Irving Berlin's song to a bevy of chorus girls. 

... when it should have gone to ... 

Hermes Pan, "Let's Face the Music and Dance" number from Follow the Fleet. 

Nothing against the "Bojangles of Harlem" number, or the other great number from Swing Time, "Never Gonna Dance," but "Let's Face the Music and Dance" seems to me the pinnacle of the collaboration of Astaire, Rogers, and Pan. It uses Irving Berlin's song as the basis of a dance narrative about the meeting of two down-on-their-luck gamblers, Astaire and Rogers, who find consolation in each other. Rogers wears a rather amazing gown with a weighted hem that swirls around her as she moves and whose fit and translucency shows off her extraordinary figure. The number ends with a breathtaking strut as the two exit. 

Best Actress, 1936

Awards presented March 4, 1937

The nominees were ... 

• Irene Dunne in Theodora Goes Wild 
• Gladys George in Valiant Is the Word for Carrie 
• Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey 
• Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld 
• Norma Shearer in Romeo and Juliet 

... when they should have been ... 

• Jean Arthur in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 
• Mary Astor in Dodsworth  
• Jean Harlow in Libeled Lady 
• Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey 
• Ginger Rogers in Swing Time 

And the Oscar went to ... 

Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld. 

At this writing, Luise Rainer is 103 years old, the oldest living winner of the Oscar for acting (and possibly for anything). She was, as every Oscar trivia expert knows, the first person to win two consecutive acting Oscars. Born in Düsseldorf, she was a teenager when she began studying with Max Reinhardt in Vienna, and became a successful stage actress in Vienna and Berlin. An MGM talent scout discovered her while searching for "the next Garbo," and she signed a contract with the studio in 1935, making her debut in a film called Escapade. Her role in The Great Ziegfeld is small, its highlight being a scene in which she congratulates her ex-husband, Ziegfeld, on his remarriage, then breaks into tears when she hangs up. If this hadn't been the first year for the new category, and MGM hadn't been so eager to promote a new star, she might well have been nominated for best supporting actress instead. 

... when it should have gone to ... 

Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey. 

Carole Lombard and William Powell in My Man Godfrey

As the giddy socialite who goes in search of a "forgotten man" during a scavenger hunt and finds down-and-out former socialite William Powell, Lombard scored her only Oscar nomination. She probably deserved one for Twentieth Century, and later for Nothing Sacred and To Be or Not to Be, all movies that demonstrated her peerless comic gifts. She had the looks of a leading lady, but something, a natural effervescence perhaps, made her seem out of place in serious roles. Maybe we should give the sober-sided Academy credit for even nominating her.   

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.