Sequels are abundant in Hollywood, so our attempt to continue the 75th anniversary screenings of the “Facets of the Diamond: 75 Years of Best Pictures” series should come as no surprise. This “continuation” is comprised of Best Picture nominees that did not receive the Best Picture Award, but accumulated the most nominations in all categories other than that year’s winner. The resulting list is an enjoyable and varied selection of some of the best films ever made. Each evening will also include animated and live action short subjects, original advertising trailers, out-takes, newsreels and other surprises to recreate an evening at the movies of that particular year. The very best prints available will be screened at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, one of the finest screening facilities in the world.

Monday, May 17th at 7:30 p.m.

(Awards year 1927/28) Starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, directed by Frank Borzage. This classic silent tells the romantic tale of a proud Parisian street cleaner and the orphaned and destitute girl he begrudgingly takes in just before the outbreak of World War I. The film will be presented with live musical accompaniment featuring piano, violin and cello. It received five nominations including Best Picture (Fox) and Art Direction (Harry Oliver), and earned Oscars for Actress (Gaynor), Directing (Borzage) and Writing (Benjamin Glazer).

Monday, May 24th at 7:30 p.m.

(1928/29) Starring Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe and Dorothy Burgess, directed by Irving Cummings and Raoul Walsh. This incarnation of the legendary Cisco Kid involves him in a love triangle with a duplicitous senorita and a cavalry sergeant, and was adapted from the O’Henry short story “The Caballero’s Way.” The screening will be presented with a print newly restored by the Academy Film Archive in collaboration with 20th Century Fox. The film received five nominations including Best Picture, Cinematography (Arthur Edeson), Directing (Cummings), Writing (Tom Barry) and an Oscar for Actor (Baxter).

Monday, June 7th at 7:30 p.m.

(1929/30) Starring Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Sexual innuendo reached a new and delightfully sophisticated peak in this musical story of a Parisian tailor and his conquest of the Queen of Sylvania. It will be presented with a print restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The film received six nominations including Best Picture, Actor (Chevalier), Art Direction (Hans Dreier), Cinematography (Victor Milner), Directing (Lubitsch) and Sound Recording.

Additional titles in the “Great To Be Nominated” Monday night series include:
June 14th – Skippy (1930/31)
June 21st – The Champ (1931/32)
June 28th – Lady for a Day (1932/33)
July 12th – One Night of Love (1934)
July 19th – Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
July 26th – Anthony Adverse (1936)
August 2nd – A Star is Born (1937)
August 9th – Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)
August 16th – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)