10th Annual Academy Awards Results and Commentary (1938)
©A.M.P.A.S.®
- Date of Ceremony: Thursday, March 10, 1938
- For films released in: 1937
- Host(s): Bob Burns
Hosted by Bob Burns, the 10th Annual Academy Awards, took place a week late on March 10th due to LA flooding. The ceremony, held at the Biltmore Hotel, was attended by over 1300 guests.
The Life of Emile Zola won three awards, the most of the evening, including Outstanding Production, Best Writing (Screenplay) for Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald and Geza Herczeg and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Joseph Schildkraut.
It was also the final year for the Best Dance Direction and Best Assistant Director categories, which were won by Hermes Pan (A Damsel in Distress’s “Fun House” number) and In Old Chicago’s Robert Webb respectively.
W.C. Fields presented a Special Award to Mack Sennett for “…his lasting contribution to the comedy technique of the screen, the basic principles of which are as important today as when they were first put into practice” and Darryl F. Zanuck won the first Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for producing consistently high quality work.
Results
Outstanding Production
- The Life of Emile Zola
Warner Bros.
Best Directing
- The Awful Truth
Leo McCarey
Best Actor
- Captains Courageous
Spencer Tracy
Best Actress
- The Good Earth
Luise Rainer
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
- The Life of Emile Zola
Joseph Schildkraut
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- In Old Chicago
Alice Brady
Best Art Direction
- Lost Horizon
Stephen Goosson
Best Assistant Director
- In Old Chicago
Robert Webb
Best Cinematography
- The Good Earth
Karl Freund
Best Dance Direction
- A Damsel in Distress
Hermes Pan ["Fun House" number]
Best Film Editing
- Lost Horizon
Gene Havlick and Gene Milford
Best Music (Scoring)
- One Hundred Men and a Girl
Universal Studio Music Department and Charles Previn [head of department]
Best Music (Song)
- Waikiki Wedding "Sweet Leilani"
Harry Owens [Music and Lyrics by]
Best Short Subject (Cartoon)
- The Old Mill
Walt Disney
Best Short Subject (Color)
- Penny Wisdom
Pete Smith
Best Short Subject (One-reel)
- The Private Life of the Gannets
Skibo Productions
Best Short Subject (Two-reel)
- Torture Money
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Sound Recording
- The Hurricane
United Artists Studio Sound Department and Thomas T. Moulton [Sound Director]
Best Writing (Screenplay)
- The Life of Emile Zola
Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald and Geza Herczeg
Best Writing (Original Story)
- A Star Is Born
William A. Wellman and Robert Carson
Special Award
- Mack Sennett
Note: …"for his lasting contribution to the comedy technique of the screen, the basic principles of which are as important today as when they were first put into practice, the Academy presents a Special Award to that master of fun, discoverer of stars, sympathetic, kindly, understanding comedy genius - Mack Sennett." - Edgar Bergen
Note: …for his outstanding comedy creation, "Charlie McCarthy." - The Museum of Modern Art Film Library
Note: …for its significant work in collecting films dating from 1895 to the present and for the first time making available to the public the means of studying the historical and aesthetic development of the motion picture as one of the major arts. - W. Howard Greene
Note: …for the color photography of A Star Is Born. (This Award was recommended by a committee of leading cinematographers after viewing all the color pictures made during the year.)
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
- Darryl F. Zanuck
Scientific or Technical Award (Class I)
- AGFA Ansco Corporation
Note: …for Agfa Supreme and Agfa Ultra Speed pan motion picture negatives.
Scientific or Technical Award (Class II)
- Walt Disney Productions Ltd.
Note: … for the design and application to production of the Multi-Plane Camera. - Eastman Kodak Company
Note: … for two fine-grain duplicating film stocks. - Farciot Edouart and Paramount Pictures Inc.
Note: …for the development of the Paramount dual screen transparency camera setup. - Douglas Shearer and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department
Note: …for a method of varying the scanning width of variable density sound tracks (squeeze tracks) for the purpose of obtaining an increased amount of noise reduction.
Scientific or Technical Award (Class III)
- John Arnold and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Camera Department
Note: …for their improvement of the semi-automatic follow focus device and its application to all of the cameras used by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio. - John Livadary [Director of Sound Recording for Columbia Pictures Corporation]
Note: …for the application of the bi-planar light valve to motion picture sound recording. - Thomas T. Moulton and United Artists Studio Sound Department
Note: …for the application to motion picture sound recording of volume indicators which have peak reading response and linear decibel scales. - RCA Manufacturing Co. Inc.
Note: …for the introduction of the modulated high-frequency method of determining optimum photographic processing conditions for variable width sound tracks. - Joseph E. Robbins and Paramount Pictures Inc.
Note: …for an exceptional application of acoustic principles to the sound proofing of gasoline generators and water pumps. - Douglas Shearer and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Sound Department
Note: …for the design of the film drive mechanism as incorporated in the ERPI 1010 reproducer.