MovieChat Forums > The Life of Emile Zola (1937) Discussion > The best from the first 10 Oscar winners

The best from the first 10 Oscar winners


I have just watched "The Life of Emil Zola" and thus have checked out the first 10 Oscar winners for the best picture. I must say "Zola" is so far the best out of those 10. It is a movie which for me defines an "Oscar movie": captivating story with a happy end, wonderful performances (especially that of Muni), memorable scenes (freeing of Dreyfuss, Zola's court speech), proper length.

Compared to its very average precedessor, "The Great Ziegfeld", "Zola" appears even more magnificent.

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I'd even say it's the best made before Rebecca. Muni's performance is excellent and it's very well written.

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I don't know.. Gone With the Wind was before Rebecca.

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I think it's among the best of the first ten Best Picture winners along with It Happened One Night, Mutiny on the Bounty, and All Quiet on the Western Front. Officially, Sunrise is not considered one of the Best Picture winners, but I think it would be among the best of the early winners as well. It won the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Production at the inaugural event, which was considered as prestigious as Outstanding Picture which was won by Wings.

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While The Life of Emile Zola is a really good movie...

Grand Hotel & All Quiet on the Western Front are probably two of the ten best movies ever.

So, I'd say either one of them for best of first 10

Grand Hotel - 10/10 (Only rated less than ten of over 700 a 10/10)
All Quiet - 9/10
Emile Zola - 7/10

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And yet (as of today 8/8/14) only has a 7.4 rating on IMDB and is nowhere to be found in the Top 250 list.

Whether that speaks to us as a culture or for the quality of more recent movies is up to the reader.

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well i do not know when the oscars started, but i bet they overlooked a lot of really good, entertaining movies way back then. there are very few "gladiator" types on their list. but i can vouch for the fact that this is one heckuva good film. never saw grand hotel, and how is mutiny on the bounty one of 10 best movies ever? captain blood from that year was better.

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well i do not know when the oscars started, but i bet they overlooked a lot of really good, entertaining movies way back then. there are very few "gladiator" types on their list. but i can vouch for the fact that this is one heckuva good film. never saw grand hotel, and how is mutiny on the bounty one of 10 best movies ever? captain blood from that year was better. as was the count of monte cristo, which was never even nominated.

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I'll agree that Zola was good and one of the better early Oscar winners. However, All Quiet on the Western Front is a masterpiece. It is one of the best of all the Best Picture winners, regardless of era.

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Nope. All Quiet on the Western Front is hands down the number one of all time of the 1st 10. The Life of Emile Zola gets 2nd from me.

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