Directed: Clarence Brown

Year: 1932

Nominated: Best Actress – Marie Dressler

Plot in 25 Words: A nanny coddles, cares for, and loves a family, til the spiteful bastards turn on her and accuse her of murder. She finds another family.

In My Opinion: Oh yes, what a film! I loved everything about it (mostly!). Marie Dressler is amazing! A master of comedic timing and a wonderful ‘hurt’ face. I loved her in Min and Bill but this was even better. A few shaky plot moments but the acting was spot on and she said it brilliantly.

It starts dramatically with a horrid death and moves to gentle comedy quite quickly. Emma rules the house and the family can’t do anything, go anywhere or make any decisions without her. She handles the family with a lot of lover and a fair amount of exasperation.

There’s a stereotypically absent-minded father, oblivious to everything and completely lost without Emma at his side. When he proposes it’s a very sweet, bumbly proposal and I fully believed it.

Emma is truly close to only one of the children, young Ronnie, her favourite. He makes fun and they lark about and it’s very sweet. Interactions between the two of them are among the best moments in the film. The pair have a wonderful chemistry.

The scenes at the airfield where he shows her how he learned to fly were just hilarious. She handed it magnificently, my lunch would have been on the ground before the first rotation! It didn’t look to be the safest contraption in the world and it was definitely her going around on it. No stunt people in those days!

Ronnie and Emma were great friends in life and it was Marie Dressler who got Richard Cromwell the job and their genuine affection shows through.

Her relationships with the other children are not as close yet the hurt on her face when they turn on her was very real. The puzzled and confused state was played wonderfully and she brought a real heartbreaking innocence to the character.

Star Performer: Marie Dressler. I’ve yet to see the performance which won the best actress Oscar but it must have been something amazing to beat this performance. Sadly, this will be the last Marie Dressler film I see as she died not a year after. Wonderful actress.

Overall: I’m only two films into this ‘set’ but already I have a favourite!