Had Billy Wilder received the earlier yr and the Academy did not really feel like awarding him for the second yr in a row for “The Long Weekend,” maybe that would have been the time to award Alfred Hitchcock. He, too, obtained back-to-back Best Director nominations, this time for the much better remembered “Spellbound,” starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. “Spellbound” earned a wholesome six nominations — only one lower than “The Lost Weekend” — and made its approach into Best Picture.
Unfortunately for Hitchcock, a few issues stood in the best way. As a lot as I like my hypothetical Oscars historical past, that is not what truly occurred. “The Lost Weekend” was the overwhelming frontrunner this yr, having received Best Picture at each the Golden Globes and New York Film Critics Circle Awards. The possibilities of it not successful massive on the Oscars, particularly for Ray Milland in Best Actor, had been slim to none.
Having appearing nominations in your movie is at all times a boon to your film. While Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck had been each nominated that yr, they had been each for performances in numerous motion pictures, with Bergman in “The Bells of St. Mary” and Peck in “The Keys of the Kingdom.” Strangely sufficient, they had been each enjoying non secular figures, a nun and a priest, respectively. The solely appearing nomination for “Spellbound” was for Michael Chekhov in Best Supporting Actor, which is not the consequence you need when your movie is headlined by two huge film stars.
This yr was at all times Billy Wilder’s to lose, and he did not. It would not shock me if Hitchcock got here in second place, although Leo McCarey as soon as once more had probably the most nominated movie of the evening with “The Bells of St. Mary,” which can also be a sequel to “Going My Way.” And the Academy does not like franchises.