{"id":259,"date":"2011-02-23T09:22:29","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T14:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/wpblog\/?p=259"},"modified":"2012-07-15T19:57:38","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T23:57:38","slug":"alfred-hitchcock-never-won-an-oscar-go-figure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/alfred-hitchcock-never-won-an-oscar-go-figure\/","title":{"rendered":"Alfred Hitchcock Never Won an Oscar: Go Figure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEverything\u2019s perverted in a different way, isn\u2019t it?\u201d\u2014Alfred Hitchcock<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you ever wonder why some of the greatest performers and directors of all time have never won an Oscar? It certainly has nothing to do with lack of talent. For example, the man considered the greatest director of all time, whose films have affected millions and changed the history of cinema, never received an Academy Award for best director.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Alfred Hitchcock on the set of his hit movie, "Psycho" (1960)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a career spanning half a century (1925-1976), Alfred Hitchcock completed 53 feature films\u201423 British and 30 in America after moving to Hollywood. Hitchcock is routinely and without doubt listed as the best film director of all time. His films are heralded as some of the most influential movies ever made\u2014affecting the directing styles of other directors around the world who are now considered masters themselves.<\/p>\n

Hitchcock received accolades and awards that, if piled together, would form a vast mountain. Only one award escaped him\u2014an Oscar for best director.<\/p>\n

As curious as this seems, it is not all that surprising. The Academy Awards have always been drenched in political wrangling where the factors of who and what film receives an award often seem inconsequential. After all, what does being a \u201csentimental favorite\u201d have to do with judging talent? In the process, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has missed some big ones\u2014including, among others, the failure to award the best picture Oscar to Orson Welles\u2019\u00a0Citizen Kane<\/em>, now acknowledged as the best film ever made. One wonders how many great artists and their films are being overlooked by the Academy as it prepares to hand out another batch of gold-plated statuettes.<\/p>\n

Hitchcock was a master of cinema. Many of his films are without equal.\u00a0Rebecca<\/em> is a gorgeous Gothic women\u2019s picture;\u00a0Notorious <\/em>is a tragic love story;\u00a0Under Capricorn<\/em>, a rich account of emotional self-sacrifice;\u00a0Strangers on a Train<\/em>, a key exposition of the madman hero;\u00a0Rear Window <\/em>and\u00a0Vertigo<\/em>, superb commentaries on watching film;\u00a0The Wrong Man<\/em>, an exemplary study of chance and routine in conflict;\u00a0North by Northwest<\/em>, a brilliant view of a frivolous Cary Grant being sobered by feelings;Psycho<\/em>, a scream of horror at the idea of madness; and\u00a0The \"\"<\/a>Birds<\/em>, an audacious use of science fiction apocalypse to dramatize intimate emotional insecurity.<\/p>\n

These are ten films that are masterly produced and demand endless viewing. Indeed, in my opinion,\u00a0Vertigo<\/em> may be the best film ever made. Incredibly, however, it did not receive an Oscar nomination for either best film or director.<\/p>\n

Hitchcock not only created great films, he also raised some actors to mythic status. This is certainly the case with Cary Grant in\u00a0Suspicion<\/em>,\u00a0Notorious<\/em> and\u00a0North by Northwest<\/em>; James Stewart in\u00a0Rear Window<\/em> and\u00a0Vertigo<\/em>; Anthony Perkins in\u00a0Psycho<\/em>; Grace Kelly in\u00a0Rear Window<\/em> and\u00a0To Catch A Thief<\/em>; and Tippi Hedren in\u00a0Marnie<\/em> and\u00a0The Birds<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Film\u00a0was<\/em> Hitchcock\u2019s world. And his method was to lose himself in meticulous planning\u2014so much so that the actual shooting of the film became a chore. In fact, Hitchcock was heard to say on numerous sets, \u201cThe actors are here. Now the fun is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hitchcock, writes film historian David Thomson, had \u201cthe style of an immense, premeditative artist\u2014much like a Bach, a Proust, or a Rembrandt.\u201d And he had an obsession with control, which characterized his methods of filmmaking: his preoccupation with a totally finalized and story-boarded script and his complete domination of actors and shooting conditions.<\/p>\n

Hitchcock aimed his films at the audience. He used our impulses and fantasy lives, wove them through his plots and filmed his movies as if they were dreams. He was a man of moral seriousness who understood the modern condition of anxiety and fear. Hitchcock showed us the violent, psychotic fruits of our impulses. And in his films, Hitchcock\u2019s characters shared their impulses with us.<\/p>\n

Hitchcock was a dark genius. But like all of us, he was human. He felt fear, angst and a need for recognition.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Recognition of sorts finally came in 1968 when Hitchcock\u2019s best work was behind him and he had partially withdrawn from working. His spirits were lightened somewhat when it was announced that the Academy would be awarding him the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award \u201cfor the most consistent high level of production achievement by an individual producer.\u201d As Hitchcock might have rightly guessed, however, this was something of a consolation prize from the embarrassed Academy after years of slighting him. Although Hitchcock had been nominated five times for best director, he had been repeatedly denied the Oscar.<\/p>\n

When Hitchcock\u2019s name was announced at the Oscar ceremony, he slowly walked down the aisle amid a standing ovation. As the fanfare subsided, everyone awaited a witty, offbeat Alfred Hitchcock speech\u2014the kind they knew him for from television and banquets. Stepping to the microphone, Hitchcock said \u201cThank you\u201d with no expression, turned and slowly walked back to his seat.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the brevity of Hitchcock\u2019s remarks bespoke, some believed, a quiet, lightly-veiled contempt. And according to his friend, playwright Samuel Taylor, they were correct: \u201cHollywood never knew what a great artist he was. Under the proper circumstances, Hitch should have been nominated for every Director\u2019s Guild award and every Oscar. The basic hypocrisy of Hollywood is that they don\u2019t really believe film is art. Hitch knew all this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John W. Whitehead reminds us that the Academy Awards don’t always go to the most deserved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,214],"tags":[75,69,231,76,30,74],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3062,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/3062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}