Tops for 1947

U.S. moviemakers had their troubles last year. First, Britain's 75% tax on all U.S. movies promised to cut Hollywood's income by about 25%. Then came the bad publicity from two congressional investigations (of Howard Hughes and of Hollywood Reds). Finally the national box office took a couple of slumps.

By year's end many a cinemogul, starved for box-office cake, waited wistfully for the critical crumbs in year-end reviews. The critics were kind.

The Pictures. Two Hollywood pictures that made most lists of the year's best ten--Director Edward Dmytryk's Crossfire (RKO Radio) and Elia Kazan's Gentleman's Agreement (20th Century-Fox)--were also the first forthright attacks on anti-Semitism by the movies, which, in Groucho Marx's phrase, had previously dared to criticize only the man-eating shark. The New York Film Critics voted Gentleman's Agreement the year's best film (9 to 7 over Britain's Great Expectations).

The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, an organization which rests on a firm foundation of women's clubs, startled everyone by picking Charles Chaplin's controversial Monsieur Verdoux, a bitter satire which had been coldly received by most reviewers. Great Expectations again ran second.

Two realistic Italian films, Shoeshine and To Live in Peace, ranked high on most lists (Manhattan's critics put To Live in Peace in a special category as the year's best foreign-language film). Also listed by most reviewers: Odd Man Out (British), P'ox's Miracle on 34th Street and Boomerang! (also directed by Elia Kazan).

The Director. With two of the year's best films to his credit, Kazan was a cinch for directorial honors. He also seemed assured of equal applause from Broadway: he had directed two of the year's outstanding stage hits: Arthur Miller's All My Sons and Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Kazan, 38, in whose work imagination and taste are vigorously combined, was clearly Man of the Year in that vague enclave known as Show Business.

The Actors. For acting honors, Hollywood ran second to the British. The Manhattan critics called Deborah Kerr the year's best actress--for her work in Britain's The Adventuress and Black Narcissus (no mention was made of Miss Kerr in MGM's The Hucksters). William Powell was called best actor for Life with Father and The Senator Was Indiscreet. The National Board of Review picked Britain's Michael Redgrave for his playing of Orin in Dudley Nichols' Hollywood-made production of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra; and Britain's Celia Johnson (who got the prize last year from Manhattan critics) for This Happy Breed.

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