OSCAR YEAR: 1932
WINNERS
Picture: Grand Hotel
(MGM, produced by Irving Thalberg)
Our Review of Grand Hotel
Oscar: Grand Hotel (1932): Best Picture Starring Garbo, Barrymore, Crawford
Director: Frank Borzage, Bad Girl (Fox)
Actor: Wallace Beery, The Champ
Actress: Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet
Writing Adapted: Bad Girl, Edwin Burke
Original Story: The Champ, Frances Marion
Cinematography: Shanghai Express, Lee Garmes
Interior Decoration: Transatlantic, Gordon Wiles
Sound Recording: Paramount Studio Sound Department
SHORTS
Short Subjects Cartoons: Flowers and Trees (Disney)
Short Subjects Comedy: The Music Box (Hal Roach), Laurel and Hardy
Short Subjects: Novelty: Wrestling Swordfish, Mack Sennett, Educational (Cannibals of the Deep)
Special Award:
Walt Disney, for the creation of Mickey Mouse (Statuette)
Best Picture: Nominees
Grand Hotel (MGM)
Arrowsmith (Goldwyn)
The Champ (MGM)
Five Star Final (First National)
One Hour With You (Paramount)
Shanghai Express (Paramount)
Smiling Lieutenant (Paramount)
Director:
Frank Borzage, Bad Girl
King Vidor, The Champ
Josef von Sternberg, Shanghai Express
Best Actor: Tie
Wallace Beery, The Champ
Alfred Lunt (The Guardsman)
Fredric March, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Best Actress:
Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet
Lynne Fontanne, The Guardsman
Marle Dressler, Emma
WRITING
Adaptation:
Bad Girl, Edwin Burke
Arrowsmith, Sidney Howard
Shanghai Express, Lee Garmes
Original Story:
The Champ, Frances Marion
Lady and Gent, Grover Jones and William Slaven McNutt
Star Witness, Lucien Hubbard
What Price Hollywood Adela Rogers St. John
Cinematography:
Shanghai Express, Lee Garmes
Arrowsmith, Ray June
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Karl Struss
Interior Decoration:
Transatlantic, Gordon Wiles
A Nous La Liberte, Lazare Meerson (French film)
Arrowsmith, Richard Day
Sound Recording:
Paramount Studio Sound Department
Short Subjects Cartoons:
Flowers and Trees (Disney)
Short Subjects Comedy:
The Music Box (Hal Roach), Laurel and Hardy
Short Subjects: Novelty:
Wrestling Swordfish, Mack Sennett, Educational (Cannibals of the Deep)
Special Award:
Walt Disney, for the creation of Mickey Mouse (Statuette)
Oscar Context
Of the 8 films nominated for Best Picture, half (4), including the winner, “Grand Hotel,” received only one nomination. Three of the Best Picture nominees were produced at Paramount, and two at MGM.
Only three performances were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. The ensemble-driven “Grand Hotel,” with great performances from Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, and others, didn’t receive any acting nomination, a trend that would continue in the future for large-cast pictures.
