Better known for his early neo-realist films Bicycle Thieves / Ladri di biciclette (1948) and Shoeshine / Sciuscià (1946), Vittorio De Sica created a harrowing portrait of the horrors of war with his filmization of Alberto Moravia’s Two Women / La ciociara.
A deglamorized Sophia Loren (in a role intended for Anna Magnani) plays the loving mother of a teenage girl, both of whom flee to the countryside to escape the bombings only to discover that there is no escaping the viciousness of war and its dehumanized soldiers.
De Sica is third from the left, standing next to Sophia Loren. French sex-symbol Jean-Paul Belmondo, who plays an intellectual enamored with Loren, is at the far right.
Best Film
The Apartment, dir.: Billy Wilder; scr.: Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond.
Il Bell’Antonio, dir.: Mauro Bolognini; scr.: Pier Paolo Pasolini & Gino Visentini.
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, dir.: Delbert Mann; scr.: Harriet Frank, Jr. & Irving Ravetch.
Eyes Without a Face / Les yeux sans visage, dir.: Georges Franju; scr.: Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Jean Redon & Claude Sautet; dialogue by Pierre Gascar.
Inherit the Wind, dir.: Stanley Kramer; scr.: Nathan E. Douglas & Harold Jacob Smith.
Never on Sunday / Pote tin Kyriaki, dir. & scr.: Jules Dassin.
The Passionate Thief / Risate di gioia, dir.: Mario Monicelli; scr.: Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli & Mario Monicelli.
Rocco and His Brothers / Rocco i suoi fratelli, dir.: Luchino Visconti; screen story by Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi D’Amico & Vasco Pratolini; scr.: Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, Enrico Medioli & Luchino Visconti.
Spartacus, dir.: Stanley Kubrick; scr.: Dalton Trumbo.
The Sundowners, dir.: Fred Zinnemann; scr.: Isabel Lennart.
The Time Machine, dir.: George Pal; scr.: David Duncan.
Two Women / La ciociara, dir.: Vittorio De Sica; scr.: Cesare Zavattini & Vittorio De Sica.
The Unforgiven, dir.: John Huston; scr.: Ben Maddow.
Best Actress
Annie Girardot, Rocco and His Brothers.
Rita Hayworth, The Story on Page One.
Audrey Hepburn, The Unforgiven.
Deborah Kerr, The Sundowners.
Sophia Loren, Two Women.
Anna Magnani, The Passionate Thief.
Dorothy McGuire, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
Melina Mercouri, Never on Sunday.
Lee Remick, Wild River.
Jean Simmons, Elmer Gantry.
Best Actor
Alain Delon, Rocco and His Brothers.
Burt Lancaster, The Unforgiven.
Jack Lemmon & Fred MacMurray, The Apartment.
Fredric March, Inherit the Wind.
Marcello Mastroianni, Il Bell’Antonio.
Laurence Olivier, Spartacus.
Anthony Perkins, Psycho.
Alberto Sordi, The Traffic Policeman / Il vigile.
Spencer Tracy, Inherit the Wind.
Best Supporting Actress
Eve Arden, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
Lillian Gish, The Unforgiven.
Shirley Jones, Elmer Gantry.
Janet Leigh, Pepe & Psycho.
Myrna Loy, From the Terrace.
Katina Paxinou, Rocco and His Brothers.
Barbara Rush, Strangers When We Meet.
Jean Simmons, Spartacus.
Alida Valli, Eyes Without a Face.
Jo Van Fleet, Wild River.
Best Supporting Actor
Edward Andrews, Elmer Gantry.
Charles Bickford, The Unforgiven.
Pierre Brasseur, Il Bell’Antonio.
Steve Forrest & Ramon Novarro, Heller in Pink Tights.
Lee Kinsolving, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
Charles Laughton & Peter Ustinov, Spartacus.
Best Cinematography
Sven Nykvist, The Virgin Spring / Jungfrukällan.
Jack Hildyard, The Sundowners.
Ernest Laszlo, Inherit the Wind.
Otello Martelli, La Dolce Vita.
Russell Metty, Spartacus.
Gábor Pogány, Two Women.
Aldo Scavarda, L’Avventura.
Eugen Schüfftan, Eyes Without a Face.
Göran Strindberg, The Magnificent Rebel.
Paul C. Vogel, The Time Machine.
Best Original Score
Adolph Deutsch, The Apartment.
Ernest Gold, Exodus.
Manos Hadjidakis, Never on Sunday.
Maurice Jarre, Eyes Without a Face.
Nino Rota, La Dolce Vita.
Frank Skinner, Midnight Lace.
Max Steiner, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
Dmitri Tiomkin, The Alamo & The Unforgiven.