Academy Award Best Picture Winners Flashcards
1927/1928 (1st) Silent war film set during the First World War directed by William A. Wellman and starring Clara Bow, Charles Rogers and Richard Arlen. (Gary Cooper appears in a small role.)
Wings
1928/1929 The first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Bessie Love, Charles King, and Anita Page.
The Broadway Melody (of 1929)
1929/1930 Anti-war film based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it stars Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Arnold Lucy and Ben Alexander.
All Quiet on the Western Front
1930/1931 Western film directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne
Cimarron
1930/1932 Drama directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, and Lionel Barrymore. The only film to have one Best Picture without being nominated in any other category.
Grand Hotel
1932/1933 Drama directed by Frank Lloyd, based on the 1931 play of the same title by Noël Coward. The film stars Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook.
Cavalcade
1934 Romantic comedy directed by Frank Capra, and starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable.
It Happened One Night
1935 Drama directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable, based on the Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall novel.
Mutiny on the Bounty
1936 Musical and drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring William Powell as the titular theatrical impresario.
The Great Ziegfeld
1937 Biographical film about a 19th-century French author starring Paul Muni and directed by William Dieterle.
The Life of Emile Zola
1938 Romantic comedy directed by Frank Capra and starring Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart and Edward Arnold. Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.
You Can’t Take It with You
1939 Epic historical romance adapted from the novel by Margaret Mitchell. The film was directed by Victor Fleming. The leading roles are played by Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, and Olivia de Havilland.
Gone with the Wind
1940 Romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. The film stars Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.
Rebecca
1941 Drama directed by John Ford, based on the 1939 novel of the same name by Richard Llewellyn. The movie starred Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall
How Green Was My Valley
1942 Romantic war drama directed by William Wyler,and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Inspired by the 1940 novel by Jan Struther
Mrs. Miniver
1943 Romantic drama directed by Michael Curtiz based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison’s unproduced stage play Everybody Comes to Rick’s. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid.
Casablanca
1944 Musical comedy-drama directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald.
Going My Way
1945 Film noir directed by Billy Wilder and starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. The film was based on Charles R. Jackson’s 1944 novel.
The Lost Weekend
1946 Drama directed by William Wyler, and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Harold Russell.
The Best Years of Our Lives
1947 Drama film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and John Garfield. Based on Laura Z. Hobson’s best-selling novel.
Gentleman’s Agreement
1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play of the same name, adapted and directed by and starring Sir Laurence Olivier.
Hamlet
1949 Film noir directed by Robert Rossen, based on the Robert Penn Warren novel, and starring Broderick Crawford.
All the King’s Men
1950 Drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on a 1946 short story by Mary Orr, and starring Bette Davis and Anne Baxter.
All About Eve
1951 Musical directed by Vincente Minnelli, inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin, and starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron.
An American in Paris
1952 Drama directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, and Charlton Heston.
The Greatest Show on Earth
1953 Romantic drama directed by Fred Zinnemann, based on the novel by James Jones, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed.
From Here to Eternity
1954 Crime drama, directed by Elia Kazan, starring Marlon Brando, suggested by a series of Pulitzer-Prize-winning articles by Malcolm Johnson.
On the Waterfront
1955 Romantic drama directed by Delbert Mann and starring Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair.
Marty
1956 Epic adventure-comedy directed by Michael Anderson and starring Cantinflas and David Niven
Around the World in 80 Days
1957 Epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the novel by Pierre Boulle. The cast included William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness, and Sessue Hayakawa.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
1958 Musical-romance directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, and Maurice Chevalier. The screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner is based on the 1944 novella of the same name by Colette.
Gigi
1959 Epic religious drama, directed by William Wyler, starring Charlton Heston as the title character.
Ben-Hur
1960 Romantic comedy directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray.
The Apartment
1961 Romantic musical drama directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name. It starred Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris.
West Side Story
1962 Epic historical drama film directed by David Lean and starring Peter O’Toole in the title role.
Lawrence of Arabia
1963 British adventure-comedy, an adaptation of Henry Fielding’s classic novel, directed by Tony Richardson and starring Albert Finney as the titular hero.
Tom Jones
1964 Musical drama adapted from the Lerner and Loewe stage musical based on a play by George Bernard Shaw, directed by George Cukor and starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.
My Fair Lady
1965 Musical drama film adapted from the Rogers and Hammerstein stage musical and directed by Robert Wise, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
The Sound of Music
1966 British biographical drama based on Robert Bolt’s play, directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Paul Scofield.
A Man for All Seasons
1967 Mystery drama directed by Norman Jewison and starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger.
In the Heat of the Night