Program Details

  1. Home
  2. Program Details

“And the Loser Is . . .”  Best Picture Nominees Few People Remember: Part I

Instructor
Kurt F. Stone
F444A
Video Catch-up
Available

Course Description

Ask most film buffs what "All Quiet on the Western Front", "Gentleman's Agreement", and "Around the World in Eighty Days" have in common, and they will likely tell you that they each won the Oscar for Best Picture. But ask those same film buffs what "The Informer", "Separate Tables", and "The Sundowners" have in common, and they will likely be stumped. For the latter are films nominated for Best Picture Oscars, lost and have mostly been forgotten. Those films which received Best Picture nominations but lost (there have been nearly 470 losers) must have been good, very good. Otherwise, they never would have been nominated in the first place.

Lectures

  1. "Disraeli" (1929/30): George Arliss stars in a superlative biopic about the British novelist/Prime Minister.
  2. "Five Star Final" (1931): Edward G. Robinson reportedly considered his role as a hard-bitten journalist to be his all-time favorite.
  3. "Mildred Pierce" (1945): Joan Crawford at her very best in a film about a mother who gives and gives to a daughter (Ann Blyth) who takes more than she deserves.
  4. "Great Expectations" (1946): This film has long been considered the best rendition of a Dickens’ novel ever put on film.

Course Info

  • Time: 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM
  • Date: Thursdays, October 7, 14, 21, 28
  • Location: Friedberg Auditorium, Lifelong Learning Building
  • Fees: Member - $60
    Non-member - $80
    One-time guest pass, Member or Non-member at the door - $25.

About the Instructor

  • FAU's "Hollywood Brat," Dr. Kurt F. Stone is now in his 26th year with Lifelong Learning. A man who wears many, many hats (medical ethicist, best-selling author, essayist, historian, blogger and ordained rabbi), Kurt is the recent recipient of the "Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award" by "Who's Who in America." His intense love and knowledge of film is, as he has long said, "is the best part of my genetic make-up." ." In 2023, Dr. Stone was the recipient of the “Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award” presented by “Who’s Who in America.”

    Recipient of the 2004 Excellence in Teaching Award