Overview

This is the first book of its kind. Aubrey Malone has gone back to the start of the Oscar ceremonies and discovered that mistakes have been made every year in the choice of what has been deemed best in the categories of acting, directing, producing and the subsidiary awards. He has identified all the great stars (Garbo, Montgomery Clift, Peter O'Toole, Barbara Stanwyck, etc.) who never held Oscars in their hands, and also iconic directors like Stanley Kubrick who were never thus honored. Why were some people over-rewarded by the Academy and why did others fall below the radar? The author outlines all of the extraneous factors leading to voting choices, and how Oscar pariahs have often been subsequently (or even posthumously) awarded for the wrong films to make up for omissions in a given year. With both wit and wisdom he has written an alternative history of the Oscars that will be required reading for both academics and film buffs alike. It tells the story behind the story. If there were Oscars for research, Aubrey Malone would be right up there with the best of them. (Film Ireland)

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9781622734832

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Reviews

An entertaining and revealing addition to the variety of books already written about the bizarre institution of the Oscars. Doug Brode, Prizewinning Novelist, Screenwriter, Biographer and Journalist Aubrey Malone, the superb Irish critic of American popular culture, probes profundities, ironies and contradictions that elude his Yanee counterparts. Jim MacKillop, University of Syracuse Press John Ford never won an Oscar for directing a Western, Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar at all. Midnight Cowboy lost to an old cowboy and Crash froze out yet more cowboys for very different reasons. Did Judy Davis really win over Marisa Tomei? And what was the deal with Moonlight? Yes, the Oscars have thrown up a lot of 'almost rans', 'not quite's, and more than one 'really?'. Aubrey Malone takes a look at the 'who wasn't who' of the Oscars since their inception right up to the present, and the result is a very entertaining read. Dive in and enjoy the astonishment. Dr. Harvey O'Brien, Professor of Film Studies, UCD School of English, Drama and Film, Ireland This is a history of the Oscars in twelve chapters delivered with cool detachment. Aubrey Malone unravels the meltdown of Hollywood Oscar Nights. There are copious quotes from legions of Oscar winners that trash the process. No Oscar for Best Picture for Duck Soup, The Great Dictator or City Lights. Citizen Kane lost Best Picture to the now unwatchable How Green is My Valley. Bogart got his Oscar for his worst movie African Queen. Cagney got zilch for White Heat. Yoink. Malone has written a fast-paced comedy thriller, unravelling how the good, the bad and the awful line up. His knowledge of cinema is vast. His conclusions give the Oscar plot away. Kevin Kiely, author of UCD Belfield Metaphysical: A Retrospective

Author Information

Aubrey Malone is an M.A. graduate in English from University College Dublin. He has been reviewing films professionally since 1972 when he wrote for TCD Miscellany. In 1977 he became the resident film critic for Image magazine and held that position until 1989. That year he became the resident film critic for Modern woman, a supplement of The Meath Chronicle and held that position until 2002. In 2002 he became the resident film critic for The Irish Catholic and has held that position until the present day. His reviews can be seen posted online on this website. Also, he has been a book author since 1996 and has written numerous books on the cinema: Hollyweird (Michael O'Mara Books, ( I Was a fugitive from a Hollywood Trivia Factory (Prion/Carlton), The rise and Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley (Leopold books), Sacred Profanity (ABC-CLIO), Censoring Hollywood (McFarland), Maureen O'Hara: The Biography (University of Kentucky Press), The Defiant One: A Biography of Tony Curtis (McFarland) Hollywood's Second Sex: The Treatment of Women in Films from 1900-1999 (McFarland). Forthcoming is a biography of Marlon Brando from Propertius Press. He also reviews books on the cinema for various publications and writes film features and profiles for journals and magazines as well.

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