- TCM’s “31 Days of Oscar” series continues on Feb. 10 with six Best Art Direction Academy Award contenders and five Oscar-nominated/-winning titles prominently featuring children, whether pure of heart or pure evil. Titles include Rashomon, The Red Shoes, Shane, Skippy, and The Bad Seed.
TCM’s ‘31 Days of Oscar’: 6 Best Art Direction contenders and 5 titles focused on murderously naughty and sugary nice movie kids
Turner Classic Movies’ 2025 edition of “31 Days of Oscar” continues on Monday, Feb. 10, with the airing of six Best Art Direction (Black-and-White and Color) contenders/winners, in addition to five titles about adorable Oscar-nominated little children: Dog-loving, hero-worshipping, serial-killing. (See TCM’s Feb. 10 schedule further below. Most titles will remain available for a while on the Watch TCM app.)
Below are brief comments about each TCM presentation.
Rashomon (1950)
Considered by many one of the greatest movies ever made, Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon was one of the post-World War II titles that showed what Japanese artists could do in their ravaged part of the planet.
Distributed by Daiei Film, Rashomon revolves around the concept of truth (and, however indirectly, the concept of both justice and reality itself), as a murdered Samurai (Masayuki Mori, speaking through a Shinto psychic), his widow (Machiko Kyo), a bandit (Toshiro Mifune), and a woodcutter (Takashi Shimura) (mis)recall the events that led to the Samurai’s death.
In early 1952, Rashomon received the Honorary Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film* released in the United States the previous year. At the subsequent Oscar ceremony, Rashomon was one of the contenders in the Best Art Direction – Black-and-White (art direction: Takashi Matsuyama; set decoration: H. Matsumoto).
Machiko Kyo should have been shortlisted – and should have won – Best Supporting Actress. (Though Moulin Rouge’s Colette Marchand and Singin’ in the Rain’s Jean Hagen were also deserving of the statuette that went to Gloria Grahame for The Bad and the Beautiful.)
* The Best Foreign Language Film category would become a regular one – though with its own unique set of rules – in 1956 (nominations announced in early 1957).
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
A David O. Selznick production, John Cromwell’s The Prisoner of Zenda is not only the best, most cinematic version of Anthony Hope’s Ruritanian 1894 novel (and 1896 play) but it’s also one of the best swashbucklers ever made. Flawless performances in the near-flawless cast includes those of Ronald Colman (in a dual role), Madeleine Carroll, and, shocker, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as the villainous Rupert of Hentzau.
The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
The David O. Selznick of Britain, Hungarian-born Alexander Korda produced The Thief of Bagdad, which showed what the British film industry could achieve even while World War II was raging. Michael Powell (English), Ludwig Berger (German), and Tim Whelan (American) directed, while Sabu (Indian), Conrad Veidt (German), and John Justin and June Duprez (both English) starred in this fantasy adventure classic that also shows the possibilities of international cooperation.
America America (1963)
Directed by Elia Kazan, who also produced, narrated, and adapted his own 1962 book about his Anatolian immigrant uncle’s determination to reach the United States, America America received four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Art Direction – Black-and-White (Dan Callahan). It topped the last category.
On the downside, not one single frame in America America feels genuine, which helps to explain its still enthusiastic critical acclaim.
On the upside, not one frame in America America is poorly lit or framed. Whatever one may think of Kazan’s phony narrative and dialogue, his subpar imitation of Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist work, and the overall stilted performances, Haskel Wexler’s work is all-around masterful.
Kazan’s uncle is played by Greek actor Stathis Giallelis, who kisses the ground upon his arrival in the new country – where, a couple of decades later (1924), people like him would be all but banned from entering, and where, five decades later, his filmmaking nephew would kowtow to fascists (not unlike the despots in the Old Country) by becoming an unrepentant destroyer of lives and careers.
Moulin Rouge (1952)
José Ferrer wasn’t just a ham. He was also the mayo, the lettuce, the pickles, the buns, the soft drink. Check out Cyrano de Bergerac (which earned him the 1950 Best Actor Oscar), Deep in My Heart, The Great Man, Ship of Fools.
And yet his Oscar-nominated work as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is notable – Lon Chaney himself would have been impressed with Ferrer’s use of his legs – in John Huston’s handsomely mounted and generally absorbing period drama Moulin Rouge.
Having said that, the one who all but steals the movie is prima ballerina Colette Marchand, who received a well-deserved Oscar nomination and who, among the nominees, should have won.
The Red Shoes (1948)
Probably Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s best-known collaboration, The Red Shoes is one of the greatest-looking movies ever made.
Moira Shearer stars as an aspiring ballerina who, at the behest of the owner (Anton Walbrook) of the ballet company that employs her, must make a choice: Career or composer (Marius Goring)?
But is the decision truly hers to make?
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
In spite of having the feel of a made-for-television movie, screenwriter-director Robert Benton’s family drama Kramer vs. Kramer became one of the biggest hits of the year, and the winner of five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman), and Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep).
Justin Henry is the little boy who becomes collateral damage in a divorce case: Dad Dustin Hoffman and, after rediscovering her maternal instincts, Mom Meryl Streep both want to be with him but without having to be with one another.
Who will get to keep the kid? The man who stayed behind or the woman who left and came back?
Henry, eight years old at the time the Oscar nominations were announced, was shortlisted in the Best Supporting Actor category. The eventual winner, who dismissed the whole thing as ridiculous, was 79-year-old Melvyn Douglas for Being There.
Note: That year’s Best Actor winner should have been Michel Serrault for La Cage aux Folles. As it happened, he wasn’t even nominated.
Shane (1953)
Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee Brandon De Wilde delivers one of the best – and oddest – performances by a child in George Stevens’ elegiac Western Shane, one of the biggest box office hits of the 1950s and hands-down one of the best productions in the genre.
Alan Ladd stars as the lone stranger who knows how to use a gun and who must pay the price for that knowledge. In her final film role, Jean Arthur memorably plays De Wilde’s settler mother; Van Heflin is the father.
Skippy (1931)
Then nine years old, Jackie Cooper became – and remains – the youngest Best Actor Academy Award nominee for his work as the title character in Norman Taurog’s sentimental comedy-drama Skippy.
The movie itself is problematic in more ways than one (according to Cooper, filming itself was also problematic), so it might be a good idea to check it out first and foremost as something of “historical interest.”
Capable silent era star Enid Bennett (The Sea Hawk, The Red Lily) plays Cooper’s mother.
These Three (1936)
Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Bonita Granville shows the destructive power of a lie in William Wyler’s accomplished “adult” drama These Three, a softened – the lesbian element is all but gone – version of Lillian Hellman’s hit Broadway play The Children’s Hour.
Miriam Hopkins (who should have been shortlisted in the Best Actress category), Merle Oberon, and Joel McCrea are the little girl’s adult victims.
The Bad Seed (1956)
Let this little child stay the hell away from me!
That’s what Oscar-nominated adoptive mom Nancy Kelly undoubtedly thinks after she comes to the realization that her Oscar-nominated pigtailed blonde daughter Patty McCormack is a sweet-looking little …
Well, watch Mervyn LeRoy’s blockbuster The Bad Seed and find out.
And make sure not to blame the gods in the heavens for the electrifying finale. They may have created pretty little Rhoda in their image, but the censors were the ones responsible for her comeuppance.
Immediately below is TCM’s “31 Days of Oscar” movie schedule on Feb. 10.
‘31 Days of Oscar’: TCM schedule (EST) – Feb. 10
6:30 AM Rashomon (1950)
Director: Akira Kurosawa.
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Takashi Shimura, Masayuki Mori, Minoru Chiaki, Noriko Honma, Daisuke Kato.
88m8:15 AM The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
Director: John Cromwell.
Cast: Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Mary Astor, Raymond Massey, C. Aubrey Smith, David Niven.
101m10:00 AM The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
Director: Ludwig Berger.
Cast: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez, John Justin, Rex Ingram, Miles Malleson, Morton Selten, Mary Morris, Allan Jeayes, Glynis Johns.
106m12:00 PM America America (1963)
Director: Elia Kazan.
Cast: Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Harry Davis, Elena Karam, Estelle Hemsley, Linda Marsh, John Marley, Katharine Balfour.
177m3:00 PM Moulin Rouge (1952)
Director: John Huston.
Cast: José Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Flon, Colette Marchand, Claude Nollier, Katherine Kath, Muriel Smith, Mary Clare, Theodore Bikel, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee.
119m5:30 PM The Red Shoes (1948)
Director: Michael Powell.
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Léonid Massine, Robert Helpmann, Albert Bassermann, Ludmilla Tchérina, Esmond Knight, Austin Trevor, Irene Browne.
134m8:00 PM Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Director: Robert Benton.
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry, Howard Duff, George Coe, JoBeth Williams.
105m10:00 PM Shane (1953)
Director: George Stevens.
Cast: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde, Jack Palance, Ben Johnson, Edgar Buchanan, Emile Meyer.
118m12:15 AM These Three (1936)
Director: William Wyler.
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea, Catherine Doucet, Alma Kruger, Bonita Granville, Marcia Mae Jones, Margaret Hamilton.
93m2:00 AM Skippy (1931)
Director: Norman Taurog.
Cast: Jackie Cooper, Robert Coogan, Mitzi Green, Enid Bennett, Willard Robertson, Jackie Searl, Donald Haines, Helen Jerome Eddy.
85m3:45 AM The Bad Seed (1956)
Director: Mervyn LeRoy.
Cast: Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Eileen Heckart, Henry Jones, Evelyn Varden, William Hopper, Jesse White, Paul Fix.
129m
“TCM Oscar Movies: Best Art Direction, Children” notes
“31 Days of Oscar” movie schedule via the TCM website.
Patty McCormack and Nancy Kelly The Bad Seed image: Warner Bros.
“TCM Oscar Movies: Best Art Direction, Children” last modified in February 2025.