UA (Goldwyn Production)
Oscar Nominations: 4
Picture, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, with Merritt Hulburd
Supporting Actress: Claire Trevor
Cinematography: Gregg Toland
Interior Decoration: Richard Day
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context
In 1937, nine other movies competed with “Dead End” for Best Picture, including Warner biopic, “The Life of Emile Zola,” which won, Leo McCarey's marital comedy “The Awful Truth” with six nominations, and Gregory La Cava's backstage drama, “Stage Door,” with four. The other nominees were: William Wyler's social drama set in a New York City slum, “Dead End,” Frank Capra's utopian comedy “Lost Horizon,” and Henry King's adventure “In Old Chicago,” The first version of “A Star Is Born,” “The Good Earth,” “In Old Chicago,” and the Deana Durbin vehicle, “One Hundred Men and a Girl.”
Next to Life of Emile Zola, the most-nominated films were Fox's adventure “In Old Chicago” and “A Star Is Born.” Only one of the ten nominated pictures was a comedy, Leo McCarey's sublime screwball, “The Awful Truth,” co-starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne at their very best.
The Oscars were spread among eight films; the only two pictures that didn't win any award were “Dead End” and “Stage Door.”
Even so, Claire Trevor received her first Supporting Actress nomination, and she would win the Oscar in that category in 1948, for “Key Largo,” and would score one more nomination, in 1954 for “The High and the Mighty.” The brilliant lenser Gregg Toland lost the Oscar to Karl Freund (“The Good Earth”).
