Best Picture Winner
The Life of Emile Zola
Best Picture
Director: William Dieterle
Studio: Warner Bros.
The life of French author Emile Zola and his involvement in the Alfred Dreyfus affair.
From the Worthy Podcast
Talk about our grading/rating system
Could focus on historical circumstance and influence on when a film is made/coming out i.e. when Zola came out it was influenced by the rise of Nazism hence the lack of anti-Semitic rhetoric -- save for the film talk
This was the first nonfiction film to win BP and adapted screenplay
Any noticeable patterns or trends in the films over the first 10 years?
All Categories (24)
Actor
Charles Boyer— Conquest {"Napoleon Bonaparte"}
Fredric March— A Star Is Born {"Norman Maine (Alfred Hinkel)"}
Paul Muni— The Life of Emile Zola {"Emile Zola"}
Robert Montgomery— Night Must Fall {"Danny"}
Actor In A Supporting Role
H. B. Warner— Lost Horizon {"Chang"}
Ralph Bellamy— The Awful Truth {"Daniel Leeson"}
Roland Young— Topper {"Cosmo Topper"}
Thomas Mitchell— The Hurricane {"Doctor Kersaint"}
Actress
Barbara Stanwyck— Stella Dallas {"Stella Dallas"}
Greta Garbo— Camille {"Marguerite Gautier (Camille)"}
Irene Dunne— The Awful Truth {"Lucy Warriner"}
Janet Gaynor— A Star Is Born {"Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester"}
Actress In A Supporting Role
Andrea Leeds— Stage Door {"Kaye Hamilton"}
Anne Shirley— Stella Dallas {"Laurel Dallas"}
Claire Trevor— Dead End {"Francie"}
Dame May Whitty— Night Must Fall {"Mrs. Bramson"}
Directing
A Star Is Born— William Wellman
Stage Door— Gregory La Cava
The Good Earth— Sidney Franklin
The Life of Emile Zola— William Dieterle
Writing (Original Story)
A Star Is Born— William A. Wellman, Robert Carson
Winner
Black Legion— Robert Lord
In Old Chicago— Niven Busch
One Hundred Men and a Girl— Hans Kraly
The Life of Emile Zola— Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg
Writing (Screenplay)
The Life of Emile Zola— Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg
Winner
A Star Is Born— Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson
Captains Courageous— John Lee Mahin, Marc Connelly, Dale Van Every
Stage Door— Morris Ryskind, Anthony Veiller
The Awful Truth— Vina Delmar
Cinematography
The Good Earth— Karl Freund
Winner
Dead End— Gregg Toland
Wings over Honolulu— Joseph Valentine
Music (Scoring)
One Hundred Men and a Girl— Universal Studio Music Department, Charles Previn, head of department (no composer credit)
Winner
In Old Chicago— 20th Century-Fox Studio Music Department, Louis Silvers, head of department (no composer credit)
Lost Horizon— Columbia Studio Music Department, Morris Stoloff, head of department (Score by Dimitri Tiomkin)
Make a Wish— Principal Productions, Dr. Hugo Riesenfeld, musical director (Score by Dr. Hugo Riesenfeld)
Maytime— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Music Department, Nat W. Finston, head of department (Score by Herbert Stothart)
Portia on Trial— Republic Studio Music Department, Alberto Colombo, head of department (Score by Alberto Colombo)
Quality Street— RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Roy Webb, musical director (Score by Roy Webb)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs— Walt Disney Studio Music Department, Leigh Harline, head of department (Score by Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline and Paul J. Smith)
Something to Sing About— Grand National Studio Music Department, C. Bakaleinikoff, musical director (Score by Victor Schertzinger)
Souls at Sea— Paramount Studio Music Department, Boris Morros, head of department (Score by W. Franke Harling and Milan Roder)
The Hurricane— Samuel Goldwyn Studio Music Department, Alfred Newman, head of department (Score by Alfred Newman)
The Life of Emile Zola— Warner Bros. Studio Music Department, Leo Forbstein, head of department (Score by Max Steiner)
The Prisoner of Zenda— Selznick International Pictures Music Department, Alfred Newman, musical director (Score by Alfred Newman)
Way Out West— Hal Roach Studio Music Department, Marvin Hatley, head of department (Score by Marvin Hatley)
Art Direction
Lost Horizon— Stephen Goosson
Winner
A Damsel in Distress— Carroll Clark
Conquest— Cedric Gibbons, William Horning
Dead End— Richard Day
Every Day's a Holiday— Wiard Ihnen
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round— John Victor Mackay
Souls at Sea— Hans Dreier, Roland Anderson
The Life of Emile Zola— Anton Grot
The Prisoner of Zenda— Lyle Wheeler
Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938— Alexander Toluboff
Wee Willie Winkie— William S. Darling, David Hall
You're a Sweetheart— Jack Otterson
Film Editing
Lost Horizon— Gene Havlick, Gene Milford
Winner
Captains Courageous— Elmo Veron
One Hundred Men and a Girl— Bernard W. Burton
The Awful Truth— Al Clark
The Good Earth— Basil Wrangell
Sound Recording
The Hurricane— United Artists Studio Sound Department, Thomas T. Moulton, Sound Director
Winner
Hitting a New High— RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, John Aalberg, Sound Director
In Old Chicago— 20th Century-Fox Studio Sound Department, E. H. Hansen, Sound Director
Lost Horizon— Columbia Studio Sound Department, John Livadary, Sound Director
Maytime— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department, Douglas Shearer, Sound Director
One Hundred Men and a Girl— Universal Studio Sound Department, Homer G. Tasker, Sound Director
The Girl Said No— Grand National Studio Sound Department, A. E. Kaye, Sound Director
The Life of Emile Zola— Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department, Nathan Levinson, Sound Director
Topper— Hal Roach Studio Sound Department, Elmer A. Raguse, Sound Director
Wells Fargo— Paramount Studio Sound Department, Loren L. Ryder, Sound Director
Special Award
To Mack Sennett, "for his lasting contribution to the comedy technique of the screen, the basic principles of which are as important today as when they were first put into practice, the Academy presents a Special Award to that master of fun, discoverer of stars, sympathetic, kindly, understanding comedy genius - Mack Sennett."
Winner
Darryl F. Zanuck
IRVING G. THALBERG MEMORIAL AWARD
To Edgar Bergen for his outstanding comedy creation, "Charlie McCarthy."
To The Museum of Modern Art Film Library for its significant work in collecting films dating from 1895 to the present and for the first time making available to the public the means of studying the historical and aesthetic development of the motion picture as one of the major arts.
To W. Howard Greene for the color photography of A Star Is Born. (This Award was recommended by a committee of leading cinematographers after viewing all the color pictures made during the year.)
Scientific Or Technical Award (Class I)
To AGFA ANSCO CORPORATION for Agfa Supreme and Agfa Ultra Speed pan motion picture negatives. [Film]
Winner
Scientific Or Technical Award (Class II)
To WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS, LTD. for the design and application to production of the Multi-Plane Camera. [Cartoon Process]
Winner
To DOUGLAS SHEARER and the METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIO SOUND DEPARTMENT for a method of varying the scanning width of variable density sound tracks (squeeze tracks) for the purpose of obtaining an increased amount of noise reduction. [Sound]
To EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY for two fine-grain duplicating film stocks. [Film]
To FARCIOT EDOUART and PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC. for the development of the Paramount dual screen transparency camera setup. [Special Photographic]
Scientific Or Technical Award (Class III)
To JOHN ARNOLD and the METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIO CAMERA DEPARTMENT for their improvement of the semi-automatic follow focus device and its application to all of the cameras used by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio. [Photography]
Winner
To DOUGLAS SHEARER and the METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIO SOUND DEPARTMENT for the design of the film drive mechanism as incorporated in the ERPI 1010 reproducer. [Sound]
To JOHN LIVADARY, Director of Sound Recording for Columbia Pictures Corporation, for the application of the bi-planar light valve to motion picture sound recording. [Sound]
To JOSEPH E. ROBBINS and PARAMOUNT PICTURES, INC. for an exceptional application of acoustic principles to the sound proofing of gasoline generators and water pumps. [Stage Operations]
To RCA MANUFACTURING CO., INC. for the introduction of the modulated high-frequency method of determining optimum photographic processing conditions for variable width sound tracks. [Laboratory]
To THOMAS T. MOULTON and the UNITED ARTISTS STUDIO SOUND DEPARTMENT for the application to motion picture sound recording of volume indicators which have peak reading response and linear decibel scales. [Sound]
Assistant Director
In Old Chicago— Robert Webb
Winner
A Star Is Born— Eric Stacey
Lost Horizon— C. C. Coleman, Jr.
Souls at Sea— Hal Walker
The Life of Emile Zola— Russ Saunders
Dance Direction
Hermes Pan— "Fun House" number from A Damsel in Distress
Winner
Bobby Connolly— "Too Marvelous for Words" number from Ready, Willing and Able
Busby Berkeley— "The Finale" number from Varsity Show
Dave Gould— "All God's Children Got Rhythm" number from A Day at the Races
Harry Losee— "Prince Igor Suite" number from Thin Ice
LeRoy Prinz— "Luau" number from Waikiki Wedding
Sammy Lee— "Swing Is Here to Stay" number from Ali Baba Goes to Town
Music (Song)
"Sweet Leilani" from Waikiki Wedding— Music and Lyrics by Harry Owens
Winner
"Remember Me" from Mr. Dodd Takes the Air— Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Al Dubin
"That Old Feeling" from Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938— Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Lew Brown
"They Can't Take That Away From Me" from Shall We Dance— Music by George Gershwin; Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
"Whispers In The Dark" from Artists and Models— Music by Frederick Hollander; Lyrics by Leo Robin
Outstanding Production
The Life of Emile Zola— Warner Bros.
Winner
A Star Is Born— Selznick International Pictures
Captains Courageous— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Dead End— Samuel Goldwyn Productions
In Old Chicago— 20th Century-Fox
Lost Horizon— Columbia
One Hundred Men and a Girl— Universal
Stage Door— RKO Radio
The Awful Truth— Columbia
The Good Earth— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Short Subject (Cartoon)
The Old Mill— Walt Disney, Producer
Winner
Educated Fish— Paramount
The Little Match Girl— Charles Mintz, Producer
Short Subject (Color)
Penny Wisdom— Pete Smith, Producer
Winner
Popular Science J-7-1— Paramount
The Man without a Country— Warner Bros.
Short Subject (One-Reel)
The Private Life of the Gannets— Skibo Productions
Winner
A Night at the Movies— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Romance of Radium— Pete Smith, Producer
Short Subject (Two-Reel)
Torture Money— Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Winner
Deep South— RKO Radio
Should Wives Work?— RKO Radio