6 Must See Oscar Winners (Box-Set)

This box-set of six Oscar winners is a must buy for true blue film buffs

With the 84th Academy Awards happening this weekend, this box-set containing six Oscar-winning films will help you get into the mood for the most popular movie awards show of the year. Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (1945) might seem melodramatic for those who have grown-up on Danny Boyle’s edgy drug addiction flick Trainspotting, but   is actually an unflinching and often bleak account of one man’s descent into his personal hell on account of alcoholism. The film features quite a few scenes shot on actual streets in New York and features an affecting performance by Ray Milland, who won a Best Actor Oscar for playing the role of an alcohol addict. The almost Hitchcockian whodunit Gaslight (1944) is less murder mystery and more psychological thriller, but helped Ingrid Bergman land her first Best Actress Oscar. She plays a typical damsel in distress but the manner in which her character changes colour in the superbly-shot film’s last scene is quite startling. William Wyler’s The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946) is perhaps a forefather to Clint Eastwood’s The Flags Of Our Fathers. Like Eastwood’s film, this one too is about three US soldiers trying to adjust to life after having been in service during World War II. However, this one ends with hope for the future. Laura (1944), by Otto Preminger, is a very pretty example of how a film noir should be. Featuring terrific performances and oozing style, the film won an Oscar rightly for what else, Best Cinematography (Joseph LaShelle). John Ford is the Godfather of the Western and The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), about a family of farmers surviving the Great Depression, clearly sees the master in top form. But a word of caution. If you aren’t the kind that enjoys full-scale (melo)drama, you might find the film a bit laborious. The Last Emperor (1987), directed by Italian great Bernardo Bertolucci and winner of whopping nine Oscars, is clearly the odd man in this pack. Not only is it the most recent of the lot, but is also un-American. A biopic about the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, it is a bit arty, but the elegantly photographed epic is worth every minute of its demanding three-and-a-half hours running time.

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