Best Films - 1962
by Andre Soares
Lawrence of Arabia is generally the most admired motion picture released in 1962, while The Manchurian Candidate is the most admired strictly political film to come out that year. We, however, find the former much too long and the latter much too outlandish. We, however, much prefer Wendell Mayes’s literate script (from Allen Drury’s novel) about political backstabbing and blackmailing in the American Congress; the mostly excellent performances from an array of Hollywood veterans including Henry Fonda, Walter Pidgeon, Lew Ayres, and Burgess Meredith; and Otto Preminger’s solid directorial hand, all of which have contributed to make Advise and Consent our film of choice for 1962.
FILM
Advise and Consent
El Ángel exterminador / The Exterminating Angel
Il Commissario / The Police Commissioner
The Counterfeit Traitor
Die Glücklichen Jahre der Thorwalds / The Happy Years of the Thorwalds
O Pagador de Promessas / Keeper of Promises / The Given Word
Le Quattro giornate di Napoli / The Four Days of Naples
That Touch of Mink
To Kill a Mockingbird
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
DIRECTOR
Robert Aldrich (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
Luis Buñuel (El Ángel exterminador / The Exterminating Angel)
Luigi Comencini (Il Commissario / The Police Commissioner)
Anselmo Duarte (O Pagador de Promessas / Keeper of Promises )
Nanni Loy (Le Quattro giornate di Napoli / The Four Days of Naples)
Delbert Mann (That Touch of Mink)
Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Otto Preminger (Advise and Consent)
George Seaton (The Counterfeit Traitor)
Wolfgang Staudte & John Olden (Die Glücklichen Jahre der Thorwalds / The Happy Years of the Thorwalds)
ACTOR
Alberto Sordi (Il Commissario / The Police Commissioner)
Montgomery Clift (Freud / Freud: The Secret Passion)
Cary Grant (That Touch of Mink)
William Holden (The Counterfeit Traitor)
Burt Lancaster (Birdman of Alcatraz)
Jack Lemmon (Days of Wine and Roses)
Joel McCrea (Ride the High Country / Guns in the Afternoon)
Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Alberto Sordi (Mafioso)
Leonardo Villar (O Pagador de Promessas / Keeper of Promises )
ACTRESS
Bette Davis (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
Elisabeth Bergner (Die Glücklichen Jahre der Thorwalds / The Happy Years of the Thorwalds)
Leslie Caron (The L-Shaped Room)
Joan Crawford (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
Patty Duke (The Miracle Worker)
Jennifer Jones (Tender Is the Night)
Glória Menezes (O Pagador de Promessas / Keeper of Promises )
Lilli Palmer (The Counterfeit Traitor)
Irene Papas (Elektra / Electra)
Lee Remick (Days of Wine and Roses)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Victor Buono (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
Charles Bickford (Days of Wine and Roses)
Alessandro Cutolo (Il Commissario / The Police Commissioner)
Alec Guinness (Lawrence of Arabia)
Burgess Meredith (Advise and Consent)
Don Murray (Advise and Consent)
Walter Pidgeon (Advise and Consent)
Claude Rains (Lawrence of Arabia)
Robert Ryan (Billy Budd)
Franchot Tone (Advise and Consent)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Angela Lansbury (The Manchurian Candidate)
Norma Bengell (O Pagador de Promessas / Keeper of Promises )
Avis Bunnage (The L-Shaped Room)
Cicely Courtneidge (The L-Shaped Room)
Shirley Knight (Sweet Bird of Youth)
Audrey Meadows (That Touch of Mink)
Thelma Ritter (Birdman of Alcatraz)
Barbara Stanwyck (A Walk on the Wild Side)
Inga Svenson (Advise and Consent)
Susannah York (Freud / Freud: The Secret Passion)
SCREENPLAY
Wendell Mayes (Advise and Consent)
Luis Alcoriza & Luis Buñuel (El Ángel exterminador / The Exterminating Angel)
Carlo Bernari, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa & Nanni Loy (Le Quattro giornate di Napoli / The Four Days of Naples)
Anselmo Duarte & Dias Gomes (O Pagador de Promessas / Keeper of Promises)
Horton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Agenore Incrocci & Furio Scarpelli (Il Commissario / The Police Commissioner)
Maria Matay & Answald Krüger (Die Glücklichen Jahre der Thorwalds / The Happy Years of the Thorwalds)
George Seaton (The Counterfeit Traitor)
Stanley Shapiro & Nate Monaster (That Touch of Mink)
Lukas Weller (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ernest Haller (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
Gianni Di Venanzo (Salvatore Giuliano)
Gabriel Figueroa (El Ángel exterminador / The Exterminating Angel)
Marcello Gatti (Le Quattro giornate di Napoli / The Four Days of Naples)
Burnett Guffey (Birdman of Alcatraz)
Leonard Hirschfield (David and Lisa)
Milton Krasner (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse)
Sam Leavitt (Advise and Consent)
Jerzy Lipman (Nóz w wodzie / Knife in the Water)
Russell Metty (That Touch of Mink)
ORIGINAL SCORE
Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia)
George Bassman (Ride the High Country / Guns in the Afternoon)
Elmer Bernstein (Birdman of Alcatraz)
Georges Delerue (Jules et Jim / Jules and Jim)
Frank De Vol (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
Bernard Herrmann (Tender Is the Night)
Krzysztof Komeda (Nóz w wodzie / Knife in the Water)
Henry Mancini (Days of Wine and Roses)
André Previn (Two for the Seesaw)
Carlo Rustichelli (Le Quattro giornate di Napoli / The Four Days of Naples)
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