THE MONTIES: 1946 - THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES is absolutely the best of the year!

Back for another round of Monties and another great year in 1946. And leading the way is the amazing film, The Best Years of Our Lives. So let's get started shall we...


BEST FILM:
Winner: The Best Years Of Our Lives
Nominees: The Razor's Edge; It's A Wonderful Life; The Big Sleep; The Dark Mirror; Notorious; The Strange Love of Martha Ivers; Gilda
Thoughts: An outstanding crop of films for this year but for me there was never really any doubt. I remember seeing The Best Years of our Lives for the first time when I was about 19 and it blew me away from the very first moment. I have watched it at least once a year now for over 15 years and it's still an amazing film. I easily award it a Montie for Best Film of 1946.

BEST DIRECTOR:
Winner: William Wyler (The Best Years Of Our Lives)
Nominees: Frank Capra (It's A Wonderful Life); Howard Hawks (The Big Sleep); Robert Siodmak (The Dark Mirror and The Killers)
Thoughts: William Wyler picks up his third Montie as Best Director for his superb work on The Best Years of our Lives. He previously won for These Three (1936) and Mrs. Miniver (1942)

William Wyler picks up his third Montie

BEST WRITER: 
Winner: Vladimir Pozner and Nunnally Johnson (The Dark Mirror)
Nominees: Raymond Chandler (The Blue Dahlia); Robert E. Sherwood (The Best Years Of Our Lives); Anthony Veiller (The Killers)
Thoughts: Top notch screenplay Johnson from an original story by Pozner for The Dark Mirror, a very well done film that a lot of people don't know about.

BEST ACTOR:
Winner: Fredric March (The Best Years Of Our Lives)
Nominees: Humphrey Bogart (The Big Sleep); John Garfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice); James Stewart (It's A Wonderful Life); Cary Grant (Notorious)
Thoughts: Fredric March picks up his first Montie for his terrific performance as Al Stephenson, a returning soldier from World War Two, who has trouble re-adjusting back to civilian life.

Congratulations honey on your well deserved Montie!

BEST ACTRESS:
Winner: Olivia de Havilland (The Dark Mirror)
Nominees: Myrna Loy (The Best Years Of Our Lives); Lana Turner (The Postman Always Rings Twice); Rita Hayworth (Gilda); Donna Reed (It's A Wonderful Life); Lauren Bacall (The Big Sleep), Barbara Stanwyck (The Strange Love of Martha Ivers)
Thoughts: While Olivia did win an Oscar for this year in another film, To Each His Own, which I haven't seen, I chose her for the film I did see her in, The Dark Mirror. Getting to play twins is an actor/actress dream as they get to give two different performances in one film. And boy does Olivia give two amazing performances. In the process, she picks up her second Montie!

See, it says right here...Best Actress winner

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Winner: Teresa Wright (The Best Years Of Our Lives)
Nominees: Cathy O'Donnell (The Best Years Of Our Lives); Martha Vickers (The Big Sleep); Lizabeth Scott (The Strange Love of Martha Ivers); Anne Baxter (The Razor's Edge)
Thoughts: As good as Anne Baxter was in The Razor's Edge, and believe me when I say she was amazing, I went with Teresa Wright's quiet but effective performance in The Best Years of Our Lives. Her role as Peggy, the daughter of Fredric March and Myrna Loy, falls in love with married Dana Andrews and it's a performance that is not showy but really, really good. And that gives her two Monties for Best Supporting Actress in the span of just four years.

Another wonderful performance yields another Montie for Teresa

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Winner: Harold Russell (The Best Years of Our Lives)
Nominees: Dana Andrews (The Best Years of our Lives); Claude Rains (Notorious); Clifton Webb (The Razor's Edge); William Conrad (The Killers)
Thoughts: Real life amputee Harold Russell first acting role came as a returning soldier who lost both hands in World War 2 and he was amazing. A natural performance that was just riveting to watch.

Harold celebrating his win with Hoagy Carmichael

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Winner: The Yearling
Nominees: It's A Wonderful Life; The Best Years Of Our lives; The Postman Always Rings Twice; The Razor's Edge
Thoughts: The Yearling is one of the most beautiful looking films I have ever seen. Just amazing to watch over and over again.

So beautiful

BEST FILM SCORE:
Winner: Hugo Friedhofer (The Best Years of Our lives)
Nominees: Lennie Hayton (The Harvey Girls); Miklos Rozsa (The Killers); Dimitri Tiomkin (It's A Wonderful Life)
Thoughts: From the opening scene of The Best Years where the music just swells so majestically, it is the clear choice for my favorite film score of 1946. Top notch work by Mr. Friedhofer.

My man Hugo

So the finally tally has The Best Years nearly sweeping the Monties with 6 awards. The Dark Mirror lands two awards and The Yearling picks up one. A huge tally for one of my all time favorite films. Be back next month with my picks of 1947.