John Ford's How Green Was My Valley is a fine film: it boasts a good cast, it is well made, tells a good story, and was nominated for ten Academy Awards. It won five, for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Black-and-White Cinematography (yep, that used to be a category), and Black-and-White Art Direction-Interior Decoration. No matter how good How Green Was My Valley may have been, it has gone down in history simply as the film that beat Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane, of course, is often lauded as the greatest film ever made. So how did the underdog win? What you have to remember is that this confusion is only caused by hindsight. In 1942 Citizen Kane wasn't regarded as the best film ever made, faced pre-production controversy and actually lost money during its initial theatrical run. Though we clearly know who won the face-off in the long run, Kane wasn't exactly the frontrunner of the Oscars that year. How Green Was My Valley may not be the worst film to ever win Best Picture, but it's unfairly forgotten because of how well its competition stood the test of time. Makes you wonder what current movies will garner the same opinions in 70 years, doesn't it? Would these films have been better received by the annals of history if they had just been Academy Award nominees? Probably - but alas, the Oscars are a strange, strange thing. What films do you feel have suffered controversy from winning Best Picture? What movie do you think was least worthy of the Award? And do you think the 2014 winner will suffer the same fate? Let us know in the comments below! And be sure to follow me on Twitter @JimLovesMovies for more news and articles.
James is a 24 year old writer and filmmaker living in Portland, OR. He attended college for graphic design and writes for various sources on the web about film, television, and entertainment.
You can view all of his work on his website, www.thereeljames.wordpress.com
