Rethinking Best Cinematography

[skimpole]

Let's see what I can recall of my choices from this thread by using searching:

1949 Black/White: The Heiress, The Reckless Moment, Late Spring,
Color: On the Town

1950 Black/White: The Third Man, All About Eve, Sunset Blvd., Orpheus, La Ronde
Color: Annie Get Your Gun, The Flame and the Arrow, Samson and Delilah,

1951 Black/White: Olivia, Diary of a Country Priest, Strangers on a Train, Miracle in Milan, Ace in the Hole
Color: The River, An American in Paris, Tales of Hoffman

1952 Black/White: Othello, Le Plaisir, The Life of Oharu, Ikiru, Casque D'Or
Color: Singin' in the Rain, The Quiet Man, The Golden Coach, The Crimson Pirate, Scaramouche

1953 Black/White: The Earring of Madame De.., Mr. Hulot's Holiday, Tokyo Story, Ugetsu, Roman Holiday
Color: The Band Wagon, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, The Naked Spur, Kiss me Kate

1954 Black/White: Seven Samurai, Sansho the Bailiff, On the Waterfront, The Crucified Lovers, Journey to Italy
Color: French Cancan, Senso, Rear Window, A Star is Born, Magnificent Obsession

1955 Black/White: The Night of the Hunter,Smiles of a Summer Night, Ordet, Mr. Arkadin, Rififi(?)
Color: Lola Montes, All that Heaven Allows, Summertime, It's Always Fair Weather, Princess Yang Kwei Fei

1956 Black/White: A Man Escaped, Bob la Flambeur, The Killing, The Wrong Man, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Color: Around the World in Eighty Days, Invitation to the Dance, Elena and Her Men, The Searchers, Written on the Wind

1957 Only one category this year: Wild Strawberries, Throne of Blood, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Paths of Glory, Funny Face

1958 Black/White: Ivan the Terrible, Part II, Touch of Evil, Ashes and Diamonds, A Night to Remember, The Music Room
Color: Vertigo, Mon Oncle, Man of the West, Gigi, maybe Auntie Mame

1959 Black/White: The Letter never sent, Pickpocket, The 400 Blows, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Some Like it Hot
Color: Black Orpheus, North by Northwest, Ben-Hur, The Imitation of Life, The Tiger of Eschnapur

[skimpole]

Here are the 1960 nominees for best cinematograpy

Black and White

Sons and Lovers
The Apartment
The Facts of Life
Inherit the Wind
Psycho

Color

Spartacus
The Alamo
BUtterfield 8
Exodus
Pepe

I should point out that I have not seen Pepe. In my view my choice for best black and white cinematography would be L'Avventura, followed by Breathless, Psycho, The Apartment and either Le Trou or The Virgin Spring. For color cinematography I would choose Zazie in the Metro, followed by Peeping Tom, Exodus and two of Spartacus, Late Autumn, Wild River or Purple Noon.

[skimpole]

And here are the nominees for 1961:

Black and White

The Hustler
The Absent-Minded Professor
The Children's Hour
Judgment at Nuremberg
One, Two, Three

Color

West Side Story
Fanny
Flower Drum Song
A Majority of One
One-Eyed Jacks

I have not seen A Majority of One. Interestingly, of my favorite 15 movies from this year, only two are in color. For black and white, the winner is Last Year in Marienbad, followed by Lola, La Dolce Vita, The Hustler and either Yojimbo or The Misfits. For color the winner is West Side Story followed by A Woman is a Woman, Breakfast at Tiffany's and two out of three of One Eyed Jacks, Two Rode Together and El Cid

[skimpole]

Here are the Academy's choices for 1962

Black and White

The Longest Day
Birdman of Alcatraz
To Kill a Mockingbird
Two for the Seesaw
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Color
Lawrence of Arabia
Gypsy
Hatari!
Mutiny on the Bounty
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

I should point out that I have not seen Two for the Seesaw. For color, Lawrence of Arabia's win is one of the great no-brainers in the Oscars' history. Runner-ups would include An Autumn Afternoon, Mutiny on the Bounty, Hatari! as well as one of Ride the High Country or Barabbas. For black and white, L'eclisse is my winner, with Lolita, My Name is Ivan, The Trial among the runner-ups with the fifth slot taken from one of The Manchurian Candidate, La Jetee, The Exterminating Angel or My Life to Live

[skimpole]

Now it's 1963. Here were the Academy's choices:

Black and White

Hud
The Balcony
The Caretakers
Lilies of the Field
Love with the Proper Stranger

Color

Cleopatra
The Cardinal
How the West Was Won
Irma la Douce
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

I have not seen The Balcony or The Caretakers. For color, in my view, the clear winner is The Leopard, followed by Contempt, Cleopatra, perhaps followed by The Birds, with a choice between An Actor's Revenge and The Great Escape. For black and white, I would choose Winter Light, followed by 8 1/2, Vidas Secas followed by two out of three of High and Low, The Silence and Hud.

[Feinberg]

1963

Haskell Wexler, America, America
Giuseppe Rotunno, The Organizer

[skimpole]

Now it's time for 1964, which was actually the year I began talking about the subject, but where my post has been mostly obliterated in the great deletion of my posts.

Here are the Academy's choices:

Black and white

Zorba the Greek
The Americanization of Emily
Fate Is the Hunter
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
The Night of the Iguana

Color

My Fair Lady
Becket
Cheyenne Autumn
Mary Poppins
The Unsinkable Molly Brown

I have not seen Fate is the Hunter. Now here are my choices:

Black and White

Dr. Strangelove, or how I learned to stop Worrying and love the bomb
Charulata
Gertrud
The Gospel According to Saint Matthew
I am Cuba

Color

Kwaidan
The Masque of the Red Death
Red Desert
Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Color