Blogathon, Classic Film, Modern Film, New classics

Announcement: 31 Days Of Oscar Blogathon

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences handed out the first Awards at a dinner party for about 250 people on May 16, 1929 to honor movies released from August 1, 1927 – August 1, 1928. The first Academy president, Douglas Fairbanks, hosted and presented in the ceremony held in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. The brainchild of MGM studio mogul, Louis B. Mayer, the Academy was formed in 1927 as a non-profit dedicated to the advancement and improvement of the film industry. Some might argue about some of those achievements, but there is one thing that is sure to impress classic movie and Hollywood fans – when the music plays to open this year’s Oscars on March 4, 2018 it will be the 90th time the film industry honors achievements in movies.

Here are the 1929 Winners and Nominees

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If you take the time to look through all of the moments in 90 years of Oscars ceremonies, you’ll find numerous surprises, disappointments and controversy any number of which may spur debate from film aficionados. That’s where we come in. For the sixth consecutive year, I am joining forces with Aurora of Once Upon A Screen aka @CitizenScreen and Paula of Paula’s Cinema Club aka @Paula_Guthat to bring you the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon. Given Oscar’s special anniversary and all of the memories, we hope you’ll consider joining us to make this the best and brightest outing yet.

Screen Shot 2018-01-28 at 3.29.03 PM

As you know, this blogging event is inspired by Turner Classic Movies’ 31 Days of Oscar marathon, which begins its 23rd installment on February 1. This year the network is presenting the movies based on the categories in which they were awarded or nominated. February 1st will honor Best Original Song Winner and Nominees and the festival kicks off with Busby Berkeley’s Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935). William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) will end the 31-Day presentation on March 3, the day dedicated to Best Picture Winners.

Since both TCM and the Oscars bring to mind our beloved host and favorite historian, Robert Osborne, we thought we would kick off our Blogathon with his words about the 31 Days of Oscar marathon…

“One thing seems to stir the souls of our Turner Classic Movie loyalists like no other: the 31 Days of Oscar salute.” 

Blogathon Details

Rather than hosting the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon for the entire month of February, as we’ve done in the past, we will host all entries the weekend before the Oscars this year. That is from Friday, February 23 through Sunday, February 25, which leaves Oscar weekend free for last minute movie watching. We’re also combining all topics this year and simply presenting them over the three days. Any Oscar-related topic is fair game. We are not limiting this event to classic film fare as we’d like to see entries covering the entire 90-year history of Oscar, including this year’s nominees. To help get you motivated here are the categories we have used in the past…

  • The Actors
  • The Directors
  • The Motion Pictures
  • Oscar Snubs
  • The Crafts (music, costumes, etc.)
  • New Idea – Oscar Controversies

Most of you know the drill, but as a reminder, adhering to the following is necessary:

  • Let us know what your desired topic is by leaving a comment on any of the host blogs
  • Include the title and link to your blog in the comments area
  • Advise if you have a date preference – Friday 2/23, Saturday 2/24 or Sunday 2/25
  • Include the event banner on your blog and in the entry post to help us promote the event

Restrictions – just two:

  • Please do not submit previously published posts
  • No duplicates will be accepted to ensure we cover as much of Oscar history as possible

We look forward to hearing from you and to reading your entries. As many entries as you want, actually, so get to it!

Until then here’s to Oscar, to TCM and to YOU! Happy Blogging!

Participating Blogs and Topics

Caftan Woman – 1936 Best Dance Direction Nominee, Benjamin Zemach for Hall of Kings from Merian C. Cooper’s SHE (1935)

Blog of the Darned – 7 Films that Should Have Been Nominated for Best Picture

One Gal’s Musings – The 1954 Best Actress Competition

Silver Screenings – How the Oscars Began

Movie Movie Blog Blog – Embarrassing Oscar Moments

Old Hollywood Films – Janet Gaynor’s Three Oscar Wins

Hometowns to Hollywood – Wings (1927)

Critica Retro – The Trouble with Thrillers

Realweegiemidget Reviews – Oscar-winning Actresses in Superhero Movies

Moon in Gemini – Forgotten Winners and Nominees

Cracked Rear Viewer – Claire Trevor in Key Largo

Once Upon a Screen – Why Barbara Stanwyck Should Have Taken Oscar Home in 1942

Danny Reviews – Chariots Of Fire (1981) and The King’s Speech (2010), Best Picture films about perseverance

 

27 thoughts on “Announcement: 31 Days Of Oscar Blogathon”

    1. I LOVE this topic, btw, as I’m a HUGE Ray Harryhausen fan myself. I’ve got your topic reserved in our spreadsheet and you should start to see this updated in our posts soon. I’m looking forward to this one!

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  3. Could I throw my hat into the ring? I’m considering writing something about horror film success at the Oscars, possibly a top 10 favourite horror films to triumph at the Oscars. It’ll be in part a celebration of Get Out’s success this year.

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  4. The title will be “The Day the Academy Lost It’s Mind”. I want to discuss how a far more inferior movie got the Best Picture award, leaving superior nominees in its wake. No, as much as I dislike both Kevin Costner and “Dances with Wolves”, I am not going to rehash an already overdone topic of how “Goodfellas” should have gotten the gold. Instead I want to tackle both “The Quiet Man” and “High Noon”, which were left in the dust when the Academy lost its mind and gave the Best Picture to “The Greatest Show on Earth”

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  5. Hi Kellee it’s Christian at silverscreenmodes.com again. I’d like to change my contribution to the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon from my first idea about why wasn’t there costume Oscars before 1948. Another blogger had pretty much covered that topic a couple of years ago. So I would like to do a post on the BEST ACTRESS NOMINEES OF 1950, a hot race between Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Gloria Swanson, and others.This would be for Sunday February 25 at http://silverscreenmodes.com

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  6. Hi Kellee. Paul from Silver Screen Classics. I’d love to take part and write a piece on ‘It Happened One Night’ (1934): The First Film To Win The Big Five. Looking at a Sunday 25th Feb preference. Hope that’s ok! Best regards and look forward to reading the other entries/

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  7. Hi Kellee, It’s Christian once again. So my idea about the Best Actress race of 1950 has been done too! Aurora did a great job as part of the 31 Days of Oscar a while back, so it’s back to the drawing board.

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    1. Christian, there have been many examples of an actor or topic covered one year then another contributor tackling the same actor or topic another year. Everyone adds their own perspective and flavor so as long as it’s not a dupe from the same year, I wouldn’t let a past year’s coverage bother you. But it’s certainly your choice. For example, I wrote a piece on EE Horton for this blogathon years ago and he was covered again by another contributor for this blogathon again.

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  12. Pingback: Moanin’ Low: On Claire Trevor and KEY LARGO (Warner Brothers 1948) – cracked rear viewer

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