1958 Best Original Song - Gigi? Seriously, Academy?

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WON: "Gigi," Gigi

SHOULD'VE WON: "A Certain Smile," A Certain Smile

Ah, 1958, the year of incredible motion pictures like Vertigo, Touch of Evil and Indiscreet. Yes, the Academy did largely ignore those three at the Oscars that year, but they did at least recognize the likes of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Separate Tables, both very strong films as well. Yet, in spite of this sea of fine cinema, the Academy had to go and get all ga-ga over Gigi, Vincente Minnelli's lovely-looking, yet dull-as-dishwater musical romcom, for the Best Picture and Director prizes.

The film's luck extended to Best Original Song as well, where the title tune, "performed" by Louis Jourdan (I say "performed," given he's really more talking than actually singing here), emerged triumphant. Like the rest of Gigi, "Gigi" is nice to look at - all of the scenery surrounding Jourdan in this scene is gorgeously shot - but the song on its own terms isn't anything in the slightest to write home about.

Thing is, the rest of '58 Best Original Song isn't terribly noteworthy either.

For me, it's pretty much a three-way jumpball among "A Certain Smile" (performed by Johnny Mathis), "Almost in Your Arms" (Sam Cooke) and "To Love and Be Loved" (Frank Sinatra) - three vocal legends, though none of the songs really quite pop. I give the Mathis track the slight edge over Sinatra's - there is a nice aura of Technicolor romance to it, even if, like a lot of the Mathis discography, it borders on the overly sentimental. The Cooke track, while charming, is a little too short to leave much of an impact.

The remaining tune, "A Very Precious Love," is performed by Gene Kelly in Marjorie Morningstar (not exactly among the more memorable Natalie Wood vehicles), yet doesn't leave much of any impression at all. Doris Day later covered it to greater success but, to be fair, Doris Day could sing a phone book and make it sound marvelous.

Note that with the exception of the Gigi team (Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner), all of this year's composers were also nominees in '57 Best Original Song.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  4. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  5. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  6. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  7. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  8. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  9. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  10. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  11. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  12. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  13. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  14. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  15. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  16. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  17. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  18. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  19. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  20. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  21. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  22. "Gigi," Gigi (1958)
  23. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  24. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  25. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)

1957 Best Original Song - The Unsinkable Debbie Reynolds

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WON: "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild

SHOULD'VE WON: "Tammy," Tammy and the Bachelor

While the 1957 Oscars found the Academy otherwise pitting against one another the hard-nosed likes of The Bridge on the River Kwai, 12 Angry Men and Witness for the Prosecution for top prizes, '57 Best Original Song could not possibly be a more lovey-dovey affair.

Here is a line-up stacked with love ballads, performed by the iconic likes of Frank Sinatra (on the winning "All the Way"), Debbie Reynolds ("Tammy"), Johnny Mathis ("Wild Is the Wind"), Vic Damone ("An Affair to Remember") and Pat Boone ("April Love"). It's not difficult to picture this famous fivesome taking an act on the road back in the day.

When it comes to romantic cheese like this, the kind that sends molasses running down your ear lobes upon listening, there can be the nostalgic and enjoyable (if perhaps in a guilty pleasure sort of way) and there can also be the intolerably sweet. In this particular category, though, all five tunes fall somewhere in the middle, none especially unforgettable and none (thankfully) so saccharin they send the blood sugar rising.

My favorite of the bunch would have to be Reynolds' "Tammy," from the warm and underrated Tammy and the Bachelor, which paired the wonderful Reynolds against a young and immensely charming Leslie Nielsen. The song itself isn't all that noteworthy - it's really kind of a middle-of-the-road effort from the Ray Evans-Jay Livingston team - but Reynolds' delivery is so moving and pitch-perfect, and watching her sing the tune in that glorious Technicolor is some real movie magic.

I also like Sinatra's "All the Way" and Mathis' "Wild Is the Wind" but there's no doubt both artists have done much, much better and more interesting work in their careers. I suppose I'd give the Mathis tune the edge of the two, given it does nicely evoke memories of the solid Anna Magnani-Anthony Quinn picture, while the Sinatra song just kind of reeks of Sinatra album filler, albeit listenable filler.

A bit less successful are the remaining two tracks. I love An Affair to Remember, yet diving into this category, I couldn't recall in the slightest the picture's theme song - turns out, that shouldn't be terribly surprising, for while Damone's vocal is decent, the tune doesn't have much of a hook and just comes off rather overbaked and hyperbolic...it lacks the subtlety of the film it's featured in. As for "April Love," like everything else Pat Boone ever laid his fingerprints on, it's generic and undistinguished as can be. Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" certainly should have taken one of these two slots.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  4. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  5. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  6. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  7. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  8. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  9. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  10. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  11. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  12. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  13. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  14. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  15. "All the Way," The Joker Is Wild (1957)
  16. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  17. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  18. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  19. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  20. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  21. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  22. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  23. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  24. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)

1956 Best Original Song - Doris Day ne déçoit jamais

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WON AND SHOULD'VE WON: "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much

Ah, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, circa 1956. This could've been such a swell year at the Oscars, had you just given Giant the full sweep. Alas, Around the World in Eighty Days? Yul Brynner and Anthony Quinn hamming it up? At least Ingrid Bergman and especially Dorothy Malone were aces, and George Stevens prevailed to boot.

With that said, Best Original Song is a category the Academy got right in 1956.

The Man Who Knew Too Much's "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," performed memorably by Doris Day, is really one of the all-time great winners in this category, probably a contender for my top 10 when all is said and done. Sure, it's a rather short track but Day's exquisite vocal sells it from the get-go and it's catchy as can be. That it's featured in a terrific picture certainly doesn't hurt either. Less, unfortunately, can be said for "Julie," also performed by Day this year - her vocal is very nice on that one too but it's not a terribly memorable song and I find the background vocals more eerie than anything. Also, not that is matters much, but Julie is no The Man Who Knew Too Much.

The other three nominees fall somewhere in the middle of the two Day nominees, though closer to "Julie" in quality.

I adore Douglas Sirk's Written on the Wind for its stunning art direction, costumes, cinematography, juicy performances and brilliant directing but, approaching this category, I couldn't even recall the Four Aces' title track to the picture. Revisiting it, I still don't find it very noteworthy, though it's enjoyably corny in the same fashion of "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" (which, of course, I still ranked dead last in its line-up).

I also really like Friendly Persuasion but the sappy-as-molasses Pat Boone title song? Meh. Cole Porter's "True Love" from High Society, performed by Bing Crosby with a modest assist from Grace Kelly, is a little more agreeable, if mostly devoid of energy or enthusiasm. Really, nothing comes remotely close to the winning song this year.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
  4. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  5. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  6. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  7. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  8. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  9. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  10. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  11. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  12. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  13. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  14. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  15. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  16. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  17. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  18. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  19. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  20. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  21. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  22. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  23. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)

1955 Best Original Song - Long Before Patrick and Demi...

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WON: "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

SHOULD'VE WON: "Something's Gotta Give," Daddy Long Legs

Most folks don't realize it (even I, a huge fan of the song, didn't discover this until rather recently) but "Unchained Melody," that timeless Righteous Brothers classic that's been put to memorable use for decades across film (like in Ghost) and television (like on The Wonder Years), actually originated as an Oscar-nominated song in 1955. It's briefly featured in the most unlikely of films, a Warner Bros. prison melodrama aptly titled Unchained, where it's performed quite soulfully, albeit fleetingly by Al Hibbler.

"Unchained Melody" is a prime case of how critical the production of a record can be to its success - as produced by Phil Spector in 1965 for the Righteous Brothers, with his incomparable Wall of Sound method of instrumental layering, it's a sweeping, enchanting piece of music, one that filled wedding ballrooms and school gymnasiums on prom night for decades to come. Bobby Hatfield's gorgeous vocal on the track doesn't hurt, either.

As showcased in Unchained, however, it just doesn't pack the same punch. Hibbler's vocal is nice, but not quite as powerful as Hatfield's, and the production is sparse, if almost non-existent, so we pay more attention to Hy Zaret's lyrics, only to discover it really is that Spector production that's made "Unchained Melody" such an irresistible classic. With that said, in this particular Spector-free, Hibbler-performed form, I just can't support it for the win, even if I consider the Spector version among my all-time favorites.

Now, as for the rest of this category...it's actually among the more all-around solid line-ups I've encountered thus far. There really isn't a rotten or even just somewhat underwhelming apple in the bunch.

Frank Sinatra's "(Love Is) The Tender Trap," from The Tender Trap, opposite Debbie Reynolds, is a real charmer and underrated tune from his catalogue. I also like Doris Day's "I'll Never Stop Loving You" from Love Me or Leave Me, even though I'm not too keen on the film itself, which marked something of a minor comeback for Day's leading man, James Cagney. The winning song, "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," is actually probably the weakest nominee of the five, but it still has some nice instrumentals and kind of works if you're in the mood for agreeable '50s romantic cheese (it was also put to nice use in the opening scene of Grease). Too bad the film it's in is completely tainted by the woefully miscast Jennifer Jones.

It's a tough call but my favorite of the five is ultimately "Something's Gotta Give," from one of Fred Astaire's later efforts, Daddy Long Legs, which paired the 55-year-old Astaire opposite a 24-year-old Leslie Caron. The tune itself is a lot of fun, plenty listenable without a visual, but it's made all the more fantastic by the wonderful choreography of the sequence it's featured in. Astaire looks light on his feet as ever.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  4. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  5. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  6. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  7. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  8. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  9. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  10. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  11. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  12. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  13. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  14. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  15. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  16. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  17. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
  18. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  19. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  20. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  21. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  22. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)

1954 Best Original Song - The Biggest Robbery Since Brink's

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WON: "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain

SHOULD'VE WON: "The Man That Got Away," A Star Is Born

In hindsight, the 1954 Oscars could have gone a lot worse - Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, for instance, could have defeated On the Waterfront in Best Picture. Bing Crosby's hammy turn in A Country Girl could've easily kept Marlon Brando from his first Academy Award to boot. With that said, '54 is still kind of a disheartening year - not only was Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant Rear Window not much embraced, but Grace Kelly's dull-as-dishwater turn opposite Crosby managed to defeat the incredible likes of Dorothy Dandridge (fresh and exciting in Carmen Jones), Jane Wyman (stunningly good in Magnificent Obsession) and yes, Judy Garland (a truly show-shopping comeback in A Star Is Born) for Best Actress. Groucho Marx famously lamented that Garland's loss as "the biggest robbery since Brink's."

In fact, the engrossing A Star Is Born failed to score a single victory on any of its six richly deserved nominations on Oscar night, including Best Original Song, where it was nominated for the unforgettable "The Man That Got Away." For my money, this tune is one of those true leading lady musical tour-de-forces, up there with the likes of "Rose's Turn" in Gypsy, "The Ladies Who Lunch" in Company and "If He Walked into My Life" in Mame - it sticks with you long after seeing the whole production. Garland's performance is riveting and the music and lyrics by the comparable Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin are truly phenomenal.

With that said, there's a pretty substantial gap in quality between the Garland tune and the rest.

"Three Coins in the Fountain," gracefully performed here by Frank Sinatra, with music by Jule Styne (one of my all-time favorites), is, much like the film it's featured in, plenty pleasant and agreeable. In another year, I wouldn't much protest its winning but against a juggernaut like "The Man That Got Away," it's just entirely out of its league. Same with "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)," a nice, nuanced Bing Crosby tune that's a fine listen around the holidays but doesn't exactly pop off the screen in White Christmas. Frankly, "Sisters" from the same picture probably would've been a more deserving nominee.

"Hold My Hand" isn't anything to write home about at all - it's featured in Susan Slept Here, an obscure Debbie Reynolds picture, yet isn't even performed by the great Reynolds and instead plays forgettably in the background, performed by Don Cornell. As for The High and the Mighty, that picture's Oscar-winning score, composed by Dimitri Tiomkin, is unimpeachably fantastic. It was so terrific, it managed to drag the film's not-so-amazing original song, performed by Johnny Desmond, to a nomination.

The Oscar-winners ranked (thus far)...

  1. "Over the Rainbow," The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  2. "The Way You Look Tonight," Swing Time (1936)
  3. "Mona Lisa," Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
  4. "You'll Never Know," Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
  5. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," The Harvey Girls (1946)
  6. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  7. "High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, On My Darlin')," High Noon (1952)
  8. "Secret Love," Calamity Jane (1953)
  9. "White Christmas," Holiday Inn (1942)
  10. "When You Wish Upon a Star," Pinocchio (1940)
  11. "Thanks for the Memory," The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
  12. "Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
  13. "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Song of the South (1947)
  14. "It Might As Well Be Spring," State Fair (1945)
  15. "The Last Time I Saw Paris," Lady Be Good (1941)
  16. "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Here Comes the Groom (1951)
  17. "Three Coins in the Fountain," Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
  18. "Swinging on a Star," Going My Way (1944)
  19. "Sweet Leilani," Waikiki Wedding (1937)
  20. "The Continental," The Gay Divorcee (1934)
  21. "Buttons and Bows," The Paleface (1948)