Best Picture 1946: or, The Best Years of Our Wonderful Lives

[Elliott?]

This year's really tough for me. I adore The Best Years of Our Lives (I think it might be the best BP winner of the '40s, and there were some damn good winners) and it's one of my favorite films, but I just finished watching It's a Wonderful Life for the first time in years and I'll be damned if it doesn't deserve it's reputation as a classic. It's really a shame they chose to release Wonderful Life to qualify for the '46 Oscars, because considering the competition in '47, I really think it could have pulled off a Best Picture win there.

Anyway, vote for which movie you think deserved Best Picture.

[guany]

I love It's a Wonderful Life, and it's my favorite Capra, so that. I also love The Best Years of Our Lives. Not a fan of The Razor's Edge, and I haven't seen the other two.

Re: 1947, if It's a Wonderful Life had been nominated the following year, it would have been up against not one, but two other Christmas films (The Bishop's Wife and Miracle on 34th Street), so I'm skeptical that it would have won. Not to mention that it got mixed reviews upon its release and even lost the studio money. I think I once read somewhere that the reason it first started being played on television ad nauseum in the 1970s was because the cost for the rights were so low. It wasn't until years later that it became so highly regarded.

[moviewatcher]

It's a Wonderful Life all the way. I'm not sure if people realize that the final sequence of It's A Wonderful Life is some really risky writing. The screenwriter literally brought in a Deus Ex Machina but the fact that the whole movie is set up for that moment and that the Deus Ex Machina is a LITERAL ONE (an actual angel comes down and puts everything right) makes it a bold move. It's those kinds of bold moves that make movies classics. Like the 2nd part of Gone With The Wind makes Scarlet, a character who we've been rooting for for two hours, suddenly becomes unlikely.

And also, of course, I adore the scene where that woman hides in the bushes without a robe on. I just smiled and smiled and smiled... one of the happiest times I've ever had in the movie theatre.

[Jeff Beachnau]

I need to rewatch pretty much all of these, but they're all quite good films. The Yearling is a really great family film with great performances, The Razor's Edge is a nice dramatic film and I enjoyed Anne Baxter's performance, Henry V is of course a great achievement from Olivier (though I prefer Branagh's), It's A Wonderful Life is indeed a classic holiday film, and The Best Years of Our LIves is an amazing drama and one of the best Best Picture winners. It's a tough choice, but I went with The Best Years of Our Lives.

[Dally]

I like all of these but think It's a Wonderful Life is the best, even if it feels pretty trite this time of year.

My personal top 10:

01 A Matter of Life & Death (Powell & Pressburger)
02 It's a Wonderful Life (Capra)
03 The Killers (Siodmak)
04 Gilda (Vidor)
05 Great Expectations (Lean)
06 Notorious (Hitchcock)
07 Cluny Brown (Lubitsch)
08 The Dark Mirror (Siodmak)
09 My Darling Clementine (Ford)
10 Utamaro and His Five Women (Mizoguchi)

[Jali]

I like all of these but think It's a Wonderful Life is the best, even if it feels pretty trite this time of year.

My personal top 10:

01 A Matter of Life & Death (Powell & Pressburger)
02 It's a Wonderful Life (Capra)
03 The Killers (Siodmak)
04 Gilda (Vidor)
05 Great Expectations (Lean)
06 Notorious (Hitchcock)
07 Cluny Brown (Lubitsch)
08 The Dark Mirror (Siodmak)
09 My Darling Clementine (Ford)
10 Utamaro and His Five Women (Mizoguchi)

I haven't seen yet The killers!

My top ten:

01. Beauty and the beast (Cocteau)
02. A matter of life and death (Powell&Pressburger)
03. Notorious (Hitchcock)
04. Duel in the sun (Vidor)
05. My darling Clementine (Ford)
06. The big sleep (Hawks)
07. Cluny Brown (Lubitsch)
08. Great expectations (Lean)
09. Gilda (Vidor)
10. It's a wonderful life (Capra)

[crazyfists3600]

I love both It's a Wonderful Life and The Best Years of Our Lives and chosing between the two is hard...but right now I'm leaning towards The Best Years of Our Lives.

[McTeague]

Easily, It’s a Wonderful Life.

Best Years is undoubtedly great, but Wyler’s academic restraint is no match for Capra’s madcap genius. I mean, on paper, who had the best dramatic material? Easily Wyler. Capra’s was like, foolish. And he pulled it off. Somehow, it works so splendidly well?

Of AMPAS:

1- It’s a Wonderful life 5/5
2- The Best Years of our Lives 4.5/5
3- Henry V 4.5/5
4- The Razor’s Edge 4/5

I love all four, frankly. Even TRE, which dumbs many philosophical currents down to laughable extents, overcomes it through an undeniable melodramatic force and a very appealing sense of time and place. Plus, great acting, including the best and least zombie-like performance by El Tierney.

My Top 10 of an amazing year:

1- My Darling Clementine 5/5
2- Ivan The Terrible, Part II 5/5
3- Notorious 5/5
4- It’s a Wonderful Life 5/5
5- Beauty and the Beast 5/5
6- Duel in the Sun 4.5/5
7- The Big Sleep 4.5/5
8- Paisá 4.5/5
9- The Best Years of our Lives 4.5/5
10- Great Expectations 4.5/5

[Jack Twist]

The Best Years of Our Lives - absolutely fantastic.

I am probably in a minority but I cannot stand It's A Wonderful Life. The sickly sweet sentimental message is just too much.