31 days of Oscar: day 16

This month, Turner Classic Movies celebrates movies and the Academy Awards by presenting 31 Days of Oscar. Each Day from Feb.1 through March 3, a different category of the awards will be the theme of the day; featuring films that were nominated or won in that category. The Shelf will be joining in the celebration by giving you our Oscar pick of the Day!

Today's category is Best Art Direction - Nominees and Winners. Some excellent films, including some fairly recent ones, are in today's lineup. Who would have thought they would be watching Men in Black on TCM? Here's today's schedule (all times are EST):

6:15 AM Captain Fury (’39)
8:00 AM My Son, My Son! (’40)
10:00 AM The Princess and the Pirate (’44)
12:00 PM The Adventures of Mark Twain (’44)
2:15 PM The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (’38)
4:00 PM The Son of Monte Cristo (’41)
6:00 PM The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (’65)
8:00 PM Close Encounters of the Third Kind (’77)
10:30 PM Men in Black (’97)
12:15 AM Logan’s Run (’76)
2:30 AM Legends of the Fall (’94)
4:45 AM The Spoilers (’42)

And our Oscar pick goes to... The Princess and the Pirate! Comedies are not regularly in the Oscar contention nowadays, and it's nice to see that comedies were still considered for awards back then. Today, Oscar seems to have been kidnapped by the self-important, the political, the smug, and the socially self-righteous. That's why it's still important to look back at a time when good movies were actually nominated and remember that the Academy Awards are the industry's way of awarding itself. I love Bob Hope and he made some really great films in the 40s and 50s. Some of my favorites are The Ghost Breakers, Paleface, Son of Paleface, and My Favorite Brunette. I have never seen The Princess and the Pirate, so I am looking forward to seeing today's pick. The plot (as usual) features Hope as the unlikeliest of heroes, trying to help a beautiful Princess (Virginia Mayo) who has been kidnapped by real pirates. The film costars Walter Brennan, so expectations for plenty of laughs and entertainment is high.

The Princess and the Pirate was nominated for 2 Academy Awards; Best Music and Best Art Direction, but did not win. You can watch the film today on TCM, or you can order the DVD through the usual online retailers and the TCM shop. The film is available as a single disc release.

For more information on TCM's 31 Days of Oscar, visit the Turner Classic Movies website.




If you don't tell anybody I'm not a gypsy, I won't tell anybody you're not an idiot.