Mondo Kane

(Cardiff & MinL, check your pms at icheck)

I'll give this one a go. And as usual for me, there will be a lot of first-time-viewings planned.

lisadoris

If I remember the rules correctly Super Mario Bros would work for the Wild Card. As long as the cast or crew is on the memoriam list, the fact that the movie wasn't nominated for or awarded an Oscar doesn't matter.

KaBluie

"Twilight Zone" An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge (1964)

CardiffGiant

I noticed that it's on Netflix Streaming...added to Instant Queue. If I don't like it, at least I still have checked off another Best Picture winner. I rarely enjoy musicals, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

No problem. Here's how I got there: During the Criterion Challenge I wanted to watch Fanny and Alexander the Television version, but ran low on time. I said, I'll catch it during the Holiday Challenge (takes place during that time of year), then I didn't participate. Then, I said, TV Challenge, but I still haven't watched it. It's one of my favorite films (in my top 5), but it's around 4-5 hours and usually requires two nights of viewing for me.

Added.

For those looking for a short film, this is a great choice. I first saw this in high school and I now teach it in my own course. It's a great adaptation of a great story (and you can find it on YouTube). This was picked up by Twilight Zone after it was already made because Twilight Zone was running low on money and used something that was already produced. Great acting and great visuals.

The Monkees

I'm confused with why people are asking about TV versions of movies. This challenge is specifically reserved for Academy Award nominated or winners for film. No awards are given out for TV, forgive me if I am missing something. As for the "In Memorium" wild card I'm going to have to say that it stay reserved for films and not include TV episodes or anything, it's just going to get too hectic with that.

And yes, ANY film from the deceased person's filmography will count, so you can "Super Mario Bros." for Dennis Hopper, I just picked "Easy Rider" because it was the first film I could think of for Dennis Hopper.

Travis McClain

Academy Award winning Fanny and Alexander was originally presented as a four-episode television event in Sweden. The Academy Awards recognized the theatrical cut, which omitted two hours of material. You can read more from the Criterion website here.

As for An Occurrence at Owl Creek, it was a French short film that was later presented as an episode of The Twilight Zone. You can read more from Wikipedia here.

In both instances, the Academy Awards recognized a different cut than was presented on television. Ultimately, it's no different a choice for a viewer than a theatrical vs. extended cut, but because these two cuts were specifically made for television, they have the rare distinction of having dual membership in these two challenges.

The Monkees

I guess the Fanny and Alexander thing is an okay entry, but Twilight Zone seems to be stretching it a bit.

Ash Ketchum

I found another one that's eligible for both the TV on DVD and Academy Award challenges:
"Man in Space"
It's on the Walt Disney Treasures: Tomorrowland DVD box set. It first aired on the Disneyland TV show on March 9, 1955, but was released theatrically the following year and was nominated for a Best Documentary Short Oscar for 1956.

I've already seen it for the TV on DVD challenge.

CardiffGiant

Now, I'm confused. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge won an Academy Award for short film, then The Twilight Zone used that exact Academy Award nominated film on its show. How is that ineligible for either (especially this challenge)? I'm just curious, do you think it's ineligible for the Academy Award Challenge or the TV on DVD Challenge? It won an Academy Award and we have some members that have been watching The Twilight Zone Seasons on DVD in the other Challenge.

I honestly don't care as I might not even "use" any of the cross-listed titles, but I'm not sure why they wouldn't count for both. If anything, I think having cross-listed titles can help participation in both Challenges: people won't leave the TV on DVD one early and/or won't come to the Academy Award one late.

Undeadcow

The Last Emperor (1987) might be eligible for TV and Academy Award Challenge overlap also.

Travis McClain

I'm with CardiffGiant on this. (Maybe if we had Criterion make the case for Owl Creek it would be "an okay entry?)" As for its eligibility, I can only tell you it's A-OK for the TV on DVD* Challenge.

Good to know! This little subset is particularly fascinating.

I just perused its Wikipedia page and didn't see anything about its relationship with television. Could you expand on this suggestion?

Undeadcow

There is an extended television version of The Last Emperor (1987). The material added to the theatrical release makes a 218 television cut (versus 160 minute theatrical release).

Doc Moonlight

One person I wanted to honor in the "In Memoriam" section is Bill Mullin, the D-Day piper whose story is depicted as part of THE LONGEST DAY, and who passed last year. THE LONGEST DAY certainly has enough nominations to qualify for the challenge, so I thought I'd just add Mullin's RIP after the title, but it does introduce a question about the In Memoriam option: should the option be expanded to include non-film personnel who are the subject of biographies that have passed during the year?

Regulus

Since today is "Have some Cheese with your Whine Day". Tonight I've decided to watch my copy of the Movie that has the 1947 Best Song Award!

Travis McClain

I saw that there was an extended cut, but didn't see that it was produced that way expressly for television. So that brings us up to four titles with dual citizenship, no?

Ash Ketchum

Olivier Assayas' CARLOS is eligible for the TV on DVD challenge, because it ran as a miniseries on the Sundance Channel. If the theatrical cut gets nominated for an Oscar then it's another one that should be eligible for both challenges.

Ash Ketchum

What's "Have Some Cheese with Your Whine" Day? And where'd you get your copy of SONG OF THE SOUTH???

Mao

"Carlos" is not eligible for an Oscar, as it was not submitted in the standard or foreign categories and was first shown in a non-qualifying format. That said, still worth a look...it is brilliant!

Indy24LA

Just a question, why doesn't this start on Jan. 25th, when the 2011 nominations are announced? That's like Thanksgiving for the Oscar season and the ceremony would be Xmas.

The Monkees

Because I tried to keep it to 1 month as the other challenges are. The Holiday Challenge is the only one that is longer than a month since Thanksgiving, New Years Eve & Day are included.

JerryKILL

Personally, I always do the month of February, no days in January, but don't list (here) those that fall outside the "official" challenge dates. I do this mainly because everything shown on TCM in February qualifies and I usually don't care about the latest nominees.

Giles

so how did 'Last Emperor' and 'Fanny & Alexander' not get bumped off consideration, weren't the mini-series versions released prior to their theatrical edited down versions?

Ash Ketchum

One of the great things about going through lists of Oscar nominees is finding all the more obscure, but worthy titles that got nominated in oddball categories that can be discovered/re-discovered in a challenge like this. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the low-budget zombie comedy, KING OF THE ZOMBIES (1941), that became something of a cult classic when it was re-discovered in the 1980s, but in the year of Bernard Herrmann’s groundbreaking score for CITIZEN KANE, this film was actually nominated for Best Music Score! The film is notable for its wisecracking black sidekick, played by Mantan Moreland, who takes the film and runs with it and never looks back.


I’ve got tons of stuff in my collection, on tape and DVD, that I haven’t watched yet or have been intending to re-watch, that I can watch for this:

DARK COMMAND (1940) – a Civil War western starring John Wayne AND Roy Rogers! One of the TV episodes I watched for the TV on DVD challenge used stock footage from this film so now I want to see this film again.


T-MEN (1947) – This is a highly regarded film noir directed by Anthony Mann that’s been on my shelf in a VHS pre-record for years.


BAREFOOT CONTESSA (1954) – Edmond O’Brien got his Oscar for this film and Ava Gardner considered it one of her favorite performances. I recently read a bio about her, so now I want to see this. I tried watching it once and it’s pretty slow going, but I’ll force myself through it this time.


HUD (1963) – Famous for being a film about a heel (played by Paul Newman) without any redeeming virtues, who gets some kind of comeuppance at the end. Perceptive critics at the time noted that audiences LIKED the guy when he was a heel and rooted for him and balked at the false ending. Now I’m finally going to watch it.

Deanna Durbin – I have two box sets of films starring this young singer-actress who, as a teenage girl in the 1930s, became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and singlehandedly saved Universal Pictures from bankruptcy. (She retired in the late 1940s, still in her 20s.)

Six of the films in my Durbin box sets were nominated for Oscars, so I’m going to be watching these:
THREE SMART GIRLS
MAD ABOUT MUSIC
FIRST LOVE
IT STARTED WITH EVE
LADY ON A TRAIN
CAN’T HELP SINGING
The story about Deanna Durbin is that she and Judy Garland appeared in a singing short together and Louis B. Mayer (MGM) ordered an executive to "sign up the chubby one" so he signed up Judy Garland. When Mayer found out, he was furious--he meant Deanna Durbin! By then it was too late, since Joseph Pasternak at Universal had quickly signed Deanna to a contract. Deanna's 89 years old now and living in France (or Switzerland?). She left Hollywood 60 years ago and never looked back. But she was a pretty amazing entertainer.

Others:
I have DVDs of these and have never watched them, so now’s the chance:
FLOWER DRUM SONG (1961)
THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY (1965)
SWEET CHARITY (1969)

Best Picture winners I’ve never seen that I have on tape:
CAVALCADE (1933)
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1966)

I have tons of Best Picture nominees on tape that I’ve never seen. These are my priorities:
THE BIG HOUSE (1930)
THE GOOD EARTH (1937)
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (1959)
FUNNY GIRL (1968)
THE LION IN WINTER (1968)
CABARET (1972)
ALL THAT JAZZ (1979)

aspects

General Spanky is on TCM on the 25th, Merrily We Live and Topper Takes a Trip are on the 26th and The Merry Widow is on the 28th.

Looking at my list from last year, I really crapped out on this Challenge. I watched movies for a week and then felt totally burnt out, so I stopped. I think it took me six months to finally clean out my DVR of TCM films that I was not motivated to watch. I still have to look through their March schedule to see how much space I am going to take up. This year's goal is 15, one every other day.

CardiffGiant

Fanny and Alexander was created with a 4-part TV series in mind (this is the 312-minute version), but was later cut for theatrical release (this is the 188-minute version). The theatrical release was released first, but both have appeared in theaters. So, the intention was to release the mini-series first, but it didn't work out that way.

As a side note, this film won not only Best Foreign Language Film, but it also won: Art Direction, Cinematography, and Costume Design. It was also nominated for Best Director and Original Screenplay (but didn't win those). So, this film can certainly earn you some checks if you're doing the checklist.

I think it's a fascinating film and, if anyone is overwhelmed by the 312-minutes, I recommend watching it over the course of back-to-back days. The first time I watched it, this is what I did and it was manageable. Of course, Bergman is my favorite director and this is tied for my favorite Bergman film (with The Seventh Seal), so I'm biased.