The 1940 Oscars

Sound of Cinema

Matthew Sweet dusts off his tux and strolls back in time to the red carpet of the 1940 Oscars. It marked the year of The Wizard of Oz, Goodbye Mr Chips and Mr Smith Goes to Washington but it was Gone with the Wind that stole the show.

1939 had been a golden year for cinema. Among the scores and films that Matthew looks at are Erich Korngold's 'The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex'; Ferdinand Heinz Provost's 'Intermezzo'; Alfred Newman's 'Wuthering Heights'; Richard Addinsell's 'Goodbye Mr Chips'; Anthony Collin's 'Nurse Edith Cavell'; Aaron Copland's 'Of Mice And Men'; Max Steiner's 'Dark Victory'. 'Ninotchka'; 'Stagecoach'; 'The Wizard of Oz' and of course 'Gone With The Wind'.