Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award
Winners and Nominees: 1931 – Today
Page 3: 1931– 1969
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Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award Winners and Nominees: 1931 – Today Page 3: 1931– 1969 |
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| Multiple Year Nominations: Some films in the early years of the Oscars™ were nominated in one year for one category and in another year for a different category. For example, in 1964, the allegorical Japanese film, Woman in the Dunes, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film; then in 1965, the director, Hiroshi Teshigahara, was nominated for Best Director for the same film. In 1952, the French film, Forbidden Games, was given a Special Award—the precursor to the Best Foreign Language Film Award—then received a nomination for Best Writing two years later, in 1954. (If someone knows why this is the case, I would be grateful for an explanation via email.) |
1969 Adalen ’31 (Sweden) The Battle of Neretva (Yugoslavia) The Brothers Karamazov (U.S.S.R.) My Night With Maud (France) Z (Algeria)
Nominee, Best Picture, for Z (Algeria) Nominee, Costa-Gavras, Best Director, for Z (Algeria)
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Z: A prosecutor investigates the assassination of a leftist politician in Greece, and discovers a cover-up that implicates high-ranking officials. Based on the 1963 case of Gregorios Lambrakis, an opposition leader who died in a supposed traffic accident.
“(Z) will make you weep and will make you angry. It will tear your guts out. [...] Z is at the same time a political cry of rage and a brilliant suspense thriller.” (4 out of 4 stars) Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times |
1968 The Boys of Paul Street (Hungary) The Firemen’s Ball (Czechoslovakia) The Girl With the Pistol (Italy) Stolen Kisses (France) War and Peace (Russia)
Nominee, Gillo Pontecorvo, Best Director, for The Battle of Algiers (Italy)
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War and Peace (Vonya I Mir): In this eight-hour epic based on Tolstoy’s classic novel, Russian patriots defend Moscow from Napoleon’s invading army. Meanwhile, Countess Natasha Rostova is romanced by unhappily married Count Pierre Bezukhov. “Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace is a stupendous film..." Penelope Gilliatt, New Yorker magazine
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1967 Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia) El Amor Brujo (Spain) I Even Met Happy Gypsies (Yugoslavia) Live For Life (France) Portrait of Chieko (Japan)
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Closely Watched Trains: A young Czechoslovakian train dispatcher tries to lose his virginity, oblivious of the German-occupation around him.
“The charm of his film (Closely Watched Trains) is in the quietness and slyness of his earthy comedy, the wonderful finesse of understatements, the wise and humorous understanding of primal sex.” Bosley Crowther, New York Times |
1966 The Battle of Algiers (Italy) Loves of a Blonde (Czechoslovakia) A Man and a Woman (France) Pharaoh (Poland) Three (Yugoslavia)
Nominee, Anouk Aimee, Best Actress, for A Man and a Woman (France) Nominee, Ida Kaminska, Actress, for The Shop on Main Street (Czechoslovakia)
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A Man and a Woman: A young widow and young widower (a race car driver) fall in love. “(A Man and a Woman) is a beautiful and sometimes breath-taking exposition of visual imagery intended to excite the emotions.” Bosley Crowther, New York Times
The Battle of Algiers: Algerian rebels in the late 1950s oppose French colonial rule. Based on the memoirs of one of the military leaders of the Algerian National Liberation Front. A famous neo-realist film. |
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1965 Blood on the Land (Greece) Dear John (Sweden) Kwaidan (Japan) Marriage Italian Style (Italy) The Shop on Main Street (Czechoslovakia)
Nominee, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Best Director, for Woman in the Dunes (Japan)
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The Shop on Main Street: During WWII , a Czech "Aryan Controller" named Tono begins to form a friendship with an old Jewish button-maker. When the time comes to ship her off to a concentration camp, Tono is faced with a moral dilemma. “(The Shop on Main Street) is one of the most arresting and devastating pictures I've seen from Europe or anywhere else in several years.” Bosley Crowther, New York Times “Kwaidan is a must-have component of a serious collector's cache” Nate Yapp, Classic Horror |
1964 Raven’s End (Sweden) Sallah (Israel) The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (France) Woman in the Dunes (Japan) Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Italy)
Nominee, Sophia Loren, Best Actress, for Love—Italian Style (Italy) |
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Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: Three humorous sexual tales featuring Sophia Loren, who plays a black marketeer, a wealthy matron, and a prostitute. Directed by Vittorio de Sica. “Funny, and still rather racy....Loren at her best in all senses; includes her famous striptease for (Marcello) Mastroianni. ” (3.5 / 4 bones) Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever 1997 |
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1963 Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ (Italy) Knife in the Water (Poland) Los Tarantos (Spain) The Red Lanterns (Greece) Twin Sisters of Kyoto (Japan)
Nominee, Federico Fellini, Best Director, for Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (Italy)
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Federico Fellini's 8 1/2: A film director suffering from “director's block” loses interest in the film he is working on, and delves into his memories and fantasies.
“I have seen 8 1/2 over and over again, and my appreciation only deepens. It does what is almost impossible: Fellini is a magician who discusses, reveals, explains, and deconstructs his tricks, while still fooling us with them.” Roger Ebert, The Great Movies II Knife in the Water: This thriller put director Roman Polanski on the map. |
1962 Electra (Greece) The Four Days of Naples (Italy) Keeper of Promises (The Given Word) (Brazil) Sundays and Cybele (Les dimanches de ville d'Avray) (France) Tlayucan (Mexico)
Nominee, Marcello Mastroianni, Best Actor, for Divorce—Italian Style (Italy) Nominee, Pietro Germi, Best Director, for Divorce—Italian Style (Italy)
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Sundays and Cybele: An amnesiac veteran of a war in Indochina befriends a 12 year-old girl to the disapproval of the townspeople. “The performances the director (Serge Bourguignon) has evoked from his small but brilliant cast establish visions in the memory that one can surely never forget.” Bosley Crowther, New York Times Divorce—Italian Style: At a time when divorce was illegal in Italy, Ferdinando (Mastroianni) tries to get some man — any man — to seduce his sex-starved, demanding wife so that he can catch the pair in the act of infidelity. |
1961 Harry and the Butler (Denmark) Immortal Love (Japan) The Important Man (Mexico) Placido (Spain) Through a Glass Darkly (Sweden)
Nominee, Federico Fellini, Best Director, for La Dolce Vita (Italy)
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Through a Glass Darkly: A schizophrenic woman vacations on an island with father, husband, and younger brother. Each faces and copes with her mental illness in his own way as she descends into the black hole of madness. Directed by Ingmar Bergman. “(Harriet) Andersson is passionate, heartbreaking, scary, and luminous, making this troubled young woman seem real.” Chris Dashiell, CineScene |
1960 Kapo (Italy) La Verite (France) Macario (Mexico) The Ninth Circle (Yugoslavia) The Virgin Spring (Sweden)
Nominee, Melina Mercouri, Actress, for Never On Sunday(Greece) Nominee, Jules Dassin, Best Director, for Never On Sunday(Greece)
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The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukallan): Set in medieval times, a man (played by Max Von Sydow) takes revenge on the pair of goatherds who raped and killed his daughter. Directed by Ingmar Bergman. “...it is far from an easy picture to watch or entirely commend. For Mr. Bergman has stocked it with scenes of brutality that, for sheer unrestrained realism, may leave one sickened and stunned. As much as they may contribute to the forcefulness of the theme, they tend to disturb the senses out of proportion to the dramatic good they do.” Bosley Crowther, New York Times |
1959 Black Orpheus (France) The Bridge (Germany) The Great War (Italy) Paw (Denmark) The Village on the River (Netherlands)
Nominee, Francois Truffaut and Marcel Moussy, Best Writing, for The 400 Blows (France)
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Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro): The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is transposed onto Rio de Janiero during Carnival. Orpheus, here, is a Brazilian musician and tram-driver. “(Black Orpheus') strongest suit remains the way it captures the jubilant celebrations in the city, and the dance sequences which showcase the samba skills of the leads.” Tom Dawson, BBC |
1958 Arms and the Man (Germany) La Venganza (Spain) Mon Oncle (France) The Road a Year Long (Yugoslavia) The Usual Unidentified Thieves (Italy)
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Mon Oncle (My Uncle): Monsieur Hulot resists the increasing mechanization of the modern world. “I love (Mon Oncle's) Monsieur Hulot. I love him because he wishes no harm, causes no harm, sees (whenever possible) no harm. He does not forgive his trespassers because he does not feel trespassed against; in the face of rudeness, he nods politely, tries to look interested, and stays out of the way.” Roger Ebert, The Great Movies II |
1957 The Devil Came at Night (Germany) Gates of Paris (France) Mother India (India) The Nights of Cabiria (Italy) Nine Lives (Norway)
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Nights of Cabiria: Cabiria, a poor but plucky streetwalker in Rome, reveals a sweet innocence under hypnosis on a vaudeville stage, then is wooed by a stranger. “Possibly Federico Fellini's finest film, and a work in which Giulieta Masina earns the praise she received for La Strada.” Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies |
1956 The Captain of Kopenick (W. Germany) Gervaise (France) Harp of Burma (Japan) La Strada (Italy) Qivitoq (Denmark)
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La Strada: Gelsomina, a simple-minded but sweet woman, and Zampano, the undeserving strongman she adores, tour an impoverished Italy. Along they way, they meet a witty high-wire performer who is attracted to Gelsomina. "...(La Strada's) mood and the details of scenes stay with one; a year or two later, a gesture or situation brings it all back." Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies. |
1955 Special Award for Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto (Japan) (The Best Foreign Language Film category would not be introduced until the following year) |
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Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto: a 17th century warrior leaves a civil war defeated and disillusioned, then seeks to become a great samurai. Starring Toshiro Mifune, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki. “This first part in a trilogy on the life of Musashi Miyamoto is a brilliant piece of filmmaking that captures the soul of the samurai and Japan's most famous example like no other film. [...] Quite simply, Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto is a flawless film ” Mark Pollard, KungFuCinema.com |
1954 Special Award for Gate of Hell (Japan)
Nominee, Best Writing, for Bread, Love and Dreams (Italy) Nominee, Best Writing, for Forbidden Games (France)
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Gate of Hell: A warrior desires a married noblewoman. “(Gate of Hell is an) exquisitely stylized tragedy.... delicately choreographed battles, the flow and texture of garments, and everywhere grace and of movement and composition.” Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies |
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1952 Special Award for Forbidden Games (France)
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Forbidden Games: a pair of French children during World War II act out the things they witness around them by burying dead animals the way they've seen casualties of war buried. |
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1951 Special Award for Rashomon (Japan)
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Rashomon: The four participants involved in a murder in 12th century Japan tell conflicting versions of the same incident. “Rashomon struck the world of film like a thunderbolt. [...] The wonder of Rashomon is that while the shadow play of truth and memory is going on, we are absorbed by what we trust is an unfolding story. The film depends on our faith that we'll get to the bottom of things....” Roger Ebert, The Great Movies II |
1950 Special Award for The Walls of Malapaga (France/Italy)
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The Walls of Malpaga: A Frenchman named Gabin kills his mistress, then escapes to Italy where he falls in love with Miranda, a lonely single mother. Directed by Rene Clement.
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1949 Special Award for The Bicycle Thief (Italy)
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The Bicycle Thief: A poor father and son search their Italian town for a stolen bicycle that will allow them to accept a much-needed job. “The Bicycle Thief is so well entrenched as an official masterpiece that it is startling to visit it again after many years and realize that it is still alive and has strength and freshness.” Roger Ebert, The Great Movies |
1948 Special Award for Monseiur Vincent (France)
Nominee, Best Writing, for The Search (Switzerland)
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Monseiur Vincent: a priest in 17th century France takes a vow of poverty and helps the unfortunate. Based on the life of St. Vincent de Paul. |
1947 Special Award for Shoe-Shine (Italy)
Nominee, Best Writing, for A Cage of Nightingales (France)
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Shoe-Shine: a pair of shoeshine boys in postwar Italy get caught up in illegal activities and are thrown into jail. |
1946 Nominee, Best Screenplay, for Open City (Italy)
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Open City: a leader of the Italian underground resists the Nazi regime. Directed by Roberto Rossellini. |
1945 Nominee, Best Original Screenplay, for Marie-Louise (Switzerland)
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Marie-Louise: After being evacuated from wartime France to Switzerland, a girl suffers a nervous breakdown, then grows accustomed to her easy, affluent new life. |
1931-1932 Nominee, Lazare Meerson, Best Art Direction, for A Nous La Liberte (France) So far as I can tell, this was the first Academy Award nomination given to any foreign language film. It was the the Oscars' fifth year.
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A Nous La Liberte: An ex-convict becomes the owner of a factory where workers are reduced to mere cogs in the machine. This satire by Rene Clair was Chaplin's inspiration for Modern Times. |
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This site is not affliliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. My sources included: Joseph Osborn's 75 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards, Roger Ebert's The Great Movies and The Great Movies II, Pauline Kael's 5001 Nights At The Movies, The Movie Review Query Engine (www.mrqe.com), and the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) . contact: sitbluesit@comcast.net © 2007 Dan Sato
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