I’ve said this before and somehow I keep miscounting. I’m sure of it now though. I only have one Best Picture winner left to see: Oliver! I have no idea how that one got to be last. I can say that the 3-hour runtime is what scared me off Around the World though.
Around the World is perhaps the best example of a common type of Best Picture winner: the production too large to deny. That’s fallen out of favor in modern days. The last of those “production” winners was Return of the King nearly 20 years ago, but these used to win a lot. Gandhi. Titanic. The Godfather. Patton. West Side Story. These weren’t so much embraced as they were coronated. I didn’t live through most of these Oscar seasons, but I imagine the films were released, then the awards debate was over. Around the World in 80 Days is a very OK movie, but watching it, it’s hard to ignore how big of an undertaking it must’ve been. According to Wikipedia they filmed in 112 locations in 13 countries on 140 sets. That’s a big ass movie. The 50s are definitely an era of studio, not auteur filmmaking. I found this film overlong and thin on substance, but even still, when I finished it, I thought that’s definitely a Best Picture winner.
When I think about it, does the current Oscar cycle chew up the “undeniable” movies too fast these days? Think about it. The year after Titanic won, Saving Private Ryan, an “undeniable” movie if there ever was one, burned out by the end of the season and left room for Shakespeare in Love to sneak through. The same thing happened to the Lord of the Rings movies twice before it finally had the huge night. Gladiator seems like one of these films, but it mainly won because all other competitors fell short down the stretch. The Aviator lost momentum against Million Dollar Baby. Avatar eventually burned out against The Hurt Locker. 1917 seemed like a sure thing until Parasite snuck in. Even less undeniable films that were clear frontrunners like La La Land and The Power of the Dog folded from a full season as a frontrunner. This is more of a rant for another day, but I think the basic lesson is this. In the days of Around the World in 80 Days, frontrunner status powered films through as a deterrent. These days, frontrunner status for a long Oscar season makes people tired of it and open to looking elsewhere.
Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend
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