Foreign Language Films and the Oscar: The Nominees and Winners, 1948-2017

226 Pages·2018·12.282 MB·

by  Michael S. Barrett

Foreign Language Films
and the Oscar
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Foreign Language Films
and the Oscar
The Nominees and Winners,
1948–2017
Michael S. Barrett
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
all photographs courtesy of Photofest, inc.,
32 east 31st Street, new york, ny 10016
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-7420-9
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3275-9
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© 2018 Michael S. Barrett. all rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover: david Bennent in the 1979 german film e Tin Drum
(new World Pictures/Photofest)
Printed in the united States of america
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
For roger, Julijs, Leo, nancy
and a score of other true cinephiles
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table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
the honorable years: 1948–1956 7
Making Waves: 1957–1967 15
new realities: 1968–1973 50
in the doldrums: 1974–1986 70
Fabulous Flicks: 1987–2000 111
Political Perspectives: 2001–2017 154
Index 207
vii
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acknowledgments
rather than using this space to thank the usual suspects—editors, family members,
research assistants, volunteer readers—i wish to acknowledge a handful of people with-
out whom this book would be, if not impossible, at least unlikely.
First, Stephanie Ogle, former proprietor of Cinema Books below the iconic Seven
gables theatre in Seattle’s university district, whose advice in 2010 led me to write
this book. She coincidentally directed me to McFarland Publishers, for which i am most
grateful.
next, going back to the beginning, i’d like to acknowledge the late manager of the
varsity theatre in Seattle, Lawrence J. Mcginley, a dapper gentleman who had once
worked for J. arthur rank and whose famous Connecticut family helped nurture the
playwright eugene O’neill. regardless of the infamous Seattle winter weather, Mcginley
would emerge from his theater attired in an usher’s tux to regale those of us waiting
patiently on line to buy tickets to the latest foreign blockbuster of the early 1960s. he
was an inspiration and an abiding, dedicated cinephile. he died in 1968, age 74.
third, the staff of the Whatcom Library System, Bellingham, Washington—in par-
ticular Beth Farley and Faye Fenske—for their remarkable assistance in dredging up
hard- to-find films from library collections across the country, as well as those on local
shelves. i would include the young staffs at the Seattle and Bothell campuses of the
university of Washington and the Knight Library, university of Oregon, eugene.
another person who deserves acknowledgment is Jean hersholt, the inimitable
board member of the academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences in hollywood who
suggested, when the Oscars were inaugurated in 1929, that they establish a category
just for foreign films, although that didn’t happen for another nineteen years.
Let me put in a kind word for the late, great roger ebert, whose insightful and
detailed reviews for print and broadcast media since 1961 helped shape my own per-
spectives on the films i’ve catalogued. there were many excellent critics and reviewers,
but in my opinion, ebert was the best.
here’s a brief list of directors, living and dead, whom i would honor perfunctorily
for making my movie watching so enjoyable over the years: Pedro almodóvar, gabriel
axel, ingmar Bergman, Luis Buñuel, vittorio de Sica, Federico Fellini, Miloš Forman,
Marleen gorris, akira Kurasawa, ang Lee, Caroline Link, Jiří Menzel, istaván Szabó,
Jacques tati, Jan troell, François truffaut, andrzej Wajda, just to name a few.
today’s wealth of online research materials and availability of films from libraries,
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