All the King’s Men: 1949 Best Picture

All the King’s Men won 3 Oscars at the 22nd Academy Awards out of its 7 nominations. Besides Best Picture, its star, Broderick Crawford won Best Actor and Mercedes McCambridge won Best Supporting Actress. The political drama film was said to be a very thinly disguised version of the career of Huey Long, Louisiana’s 40th governor who was assassinated in 1935. He was known as the Kingfish.

The 4 other films that were nominated for Best Picture were:

Battleground, a WWII war story, starring Van Johnson and John Hodiak, that takes place during the Siege of Bascogne in Belgium. It got 6 nominations, winning 2: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay; and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.
The Heiress, starring Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift was based upon a play of the same name that was based upon Henry James’ novel, Washington Square. It was the most nominated film of 1949, and out of the 8 it got, it won Best Actress; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Costume Design, Black-and-White; and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
A Letter to Three Wives, starred Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell and Ann Sothern, in a romantic drama. Each woman gets a letter from the same woman saying she is leaving town with one of their husbands. An uncredited Celeste Holms was the voice of the letter-writer. Out of 3 nominations, it won 2: Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay, (Joseph L. Mankiewicz for both).
Twelve O’Clock High, starring Gregory Peck and Hugh Marlowe, depicted some WW!! action in France during the early days of American involvement. Out of 4 nominations, it won 2: Best Supporting Actor (Dean Jagger) and Best Sound, Recording.

Jeopardy! clues on the film “All the King’s Men”:
IN MEMORIAM 2004 $2000: An Oscar winner for “All The King’s Men”, she was also a voice of the possessed child in “The Exorcist”
MOVIE TRIVIA $300: 1949’s Best Picture, its title came from “Humpty Dumpty”
PULITZER PRIZE WINNERS: 1 of the 2 novels, both Southern, that won the Pulitzer for fiction & became Best Picture Oscar winners
THE OSCARS: Only Pulitzer Prize-winning novels to become Oscar-winning “Best Pictures” are “All The King’s Men” & this one

Jeopardy! clues on the novel “All the King’s Men”:
READ THE BOOK, SAW THE FILM $1000: Jack Burden is this book’s central character; the 1949 movie switched it to Willie Stark
1940s AMERICAN LIT $5,400 (Daily Double): This 1946 novel about a Southern politician takes its title from the “Humpty Dumpty” nursery rhyme
PULITZER-WINNING NOVELS $1000: In this novel a southern politician’s life is described in stark detail, with exquisite Penn-manship
BOOK OPPOSITES $600: 1946: “None of the Queen’s Gals”
AMERICAN LIT $1600: Governor Willie Stark in this Robert Penn Warren novel is said to have been modeled after Huey Long

More 1949 film clues:
SHE WAS IN THAT? $2000: As a toddler she appeared at the end of mom’s 1949 movie “In the Good Old Summertime”
FAMOUS FEUDS $200: In the 1949 movie “Roseanna McCoy”, Roseanna runs off with a member of this enemy family
SEEING RED AT THE MOVIES $200: This 1949 movie about a boy & his horse featured a script by Steinbeck, based on his own novel
THE OSCARS $600: This 1949 movie featuring Terry Moore & a gorilla earned a special-effects award
AALL AABOUT AARON $1000: This American composer for ballet also won an Oscar for his work on the 1949 film “The Heiress”
PRESIDENTS & FIRST LADIES $1200: The daughter of a stage actress, she began her film career in 1949 with a role in “The Doctor and the Girl”
FILMS OF THE ’40s $2000: The 1949 film about this big ape won a special effects Oscar (remember–we said 1949)
STRAIGHT MEN $600: “My Friend Irma” was his 1949 film debut; he may have heard Jerry Lewis say, “Hey laaaaaaady!” a lot
CLASSIC CINEMA OF THE ’40s $2,000 (Daily Double): Marine Ira Hayes, who helped raise the American flag on Mount Suribachi, had a cameo in this 1949 John Wayne film
SEND IN THE MARINES $200: In the 1949 film “Sands of Iwo Jima”, he played the implacable Marine sergeant John M. Stryker
ACTORS & THEIR FILMS $300: (Sarah of the Clue Crew rides the Ferris wheel at the Orange County Fair.) Joseph Cotten & Orson Welles took a famous ride in a Ferris wheel in this classic 1949 film noir
TEMPLE $200: Her last starring film performance was in 1949’s “The Story of Seabiscuit”
PUT A KIRK IN IT $400: Kirk got his first Oscar nomination for “Champion”, a 1949 film about this sport
DISNEYLANDS $200: This classic ride is based on the 1949 Disney film “The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad”
MOVIE REMAKES $1000: Terry Moore, who starred in this 1949 gorilla film, has a cameo in the 1998 version
BIT ROLES $600 (Daily Double): 3 of the men who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi in World War II had bit roles in this 1949 John Wayne film
MOVIE NOSTALGIA $300: Actress seen here in her first major film role, in 1949’s “Ladies Of The Chorus”
MY NAME IS BARBARA $800: She appeared with Lassie in the 1949 film “The Sun Comes Up” before she played Beaver’s mother on TV
CANNES PALME D’OR WINNERS $800: The colorized version of this 1949 film starring Orson Welles should use “Lime” green — Harry Lime
ELIZABETH TAYLOR FILMS $600: As Amy in this 1949 film, she marries Laurie after Jo rejects him