Going My Way: 1944 Best Picture

In 1944’s Best Picture “Going My Way”, Bing Crosby sang “Swingin’ on a Star”, with several boys singing the descriptions of the animals. It was the Best Original Song at the 17th Academy Awards. The film itself won Best Picture. Bing Crosby won Best Actor and Best Director went to Leo McCarey. .

This was the first year that the number of films was whittled down to 5. The others were:

“Double Indemnity” (murder for insurance), starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred McMurray, which got 7 nominations but didn’t win anything. Edward G. Robinson is great as the phony claims investigator, but he didn’t get a Best Supporting nomination.
“Gaslight” (drive your wife nuts), starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. A teenaged Angela Lansbury makes her screen debut, and another teenager, Terry Moore (of “Mighty Joe Young” fame later), is also in it. It was nominated for 7 awards and won 2 (Best Actress, Best Art Direction, Black and White).
“Since You Went Away” (holding down the home front in WWII), which featured two Best Actress Oscar winners, Claudette Colbert and Jennifer Jones, and a teen-aged Shirley Temple. Out of 9 nominations, it only won for Best Dramatic or Comedy Score.
“Wilson” was a biography of President Woodrow Wilson that bored Winston Churchill so much, he got up and went off to bed in the middle of it. Out of 10 nominations, it won 5 Oscars but commercially, it was a flop and never made back its cost.

Here are the Jeopardy! clues we found for “Going My Way”:
“GO” $400: This 1944 film featured the Oscar-winning song “Swingin’ on a Star”
CROSBY $1000: Crosby won a 1944 Oscar for his role as singing priest Father O’Malley in this film
REEL MEN OF THE CLOTH $200: This 1944 Bing Crosby film won more than “Two-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra” Oscars, it won 7

More Jeopardy clues on 1944 films:
COMPOSERS GO TO THE MOVIES $1200: Sir William Walton wrote the music for this 1944 Laurence Olivier Shakespearean film that served as a patriotic boost
ALFRED HITCHCOCK MOVIES $1200: In a 1944 Hitchcock film, several survivors of a torpedoed ship find themselves in this title object
CHAMPIONSHIP MOVIES $400: Mickey Rooney played an English rider in this 1944 film that jockeys Liz Taylor into position for the Grand National
AT THE MOVIES $2000: A tombstone bearing the name “Archie Leach” is seen in a classic 1944 film comedy starring this actor
CARY GRANT FILMS $400: In this 1944 film about a pair of murderous aunts, Cary says, “Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops”
“G” MOVIES $1000: Angela Lansbury was in her teens when she made her film debut in this 1944 Charles Boyer-Ingrid Bergman classic
A CHRISTMAS SONGBOOK $400: Judy Garland debuted “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” in this 1944 film set at the 1904 World’s Fair
MOVIE ACTORS & ACTRESSES $600: Elizabeth Taylor was a budding star when she played an orphan in this 1944 film based on a Bronte novel
FILM NOIR $1000: Originally, this 1944 Barbara Stanwyck film ended with Fred MacMurray’s death in the gas chamber
FICTIONAL CHARACTERS $600: First name of the girl jockey Elizabeth Taylor played in 1944 film
MOVIE TITLE REFERENCES $2,000 (Daily Double): 1944: A clause in a life insurance policy
OLD MOVIE QUOTES $3,000 (Daily Double): 1944: “We were talking about automobile insurance, only you were thinking about murder”