Advertise on podcast: According to Oscar

Hear the story of the Best Picture Award from Oscar himself. His story starts in 1920s Los Angeles. Learn why the Academy was formed and how two early Best Picture winners, 'Wings' and 'All Quiet on the Western Front', were rewarded for their realistic portrayals of warfare.

Oscar's story about the Best Picture winners rolls into the Great Depression. Learn how 'prestige' films leveraged the fame of contemporary authors to raise the profile of their studios, and why 'Cimarron' and 'Cavalcade' won Best Picture for giving audiences tales of Depression-era optimism.

Oscar remembers Irving Thalberg, one of the most successful and influential producers of Early Hollywood. Learn about some of Thalberg's greatest successes and how they reflect his technical innovations ('The Broadway Melody'), how he marketed MGM as a star-studded film studio ('Grand Hotel'), and personally turned troubled productions into successes ('Mutiny on the Bounty'). Then hear how his early passing was mourned in throughout Hollywood and reflected in 1936's 'The Great Ziegfeld'.

Oscar explains how Hollywood's vision of an ideal America came from the European immigrants who established Hollywood, with special attention on Frank Capra's ability to put 'common man' values in the spotlight. Learn how 'It Happened One Night', the movie almost nobody wanted to make, became a national sensation and catapulted Frank Capra into Hollywood stardom with an Academy Award sweep. Then hear how his second Best Picture winner, 'You Can't Take It With You', exemplifies the themes and story-telling that would become known as Capra-corn.

Oscar explains the censorship that Hollywood studios had to comply with to keep their films exhibited across the country, and how keeping to the Hays Code discouraged films that challenged important social issues. Learn how 'The Life of Emile Zola' was made under the watchful eye of antisemitic censors see if you can answer the question: do films have a responsibility to mirror the lives of the people who watch them, or should they merely provide 'harmless entertainment'?

Oscar takes a look back at the development of colour film, particularly the rise of the name most synonymous early Hollywood colour films - Technicolor - and the establishment of 'colour consciousness' thanks to Natalie Kalmus. Learn how 'Gone with the Wind' used colour symbolism to direct the attention of the viewer, emphasise emotional moments, and create narrative closure on the road to becoming (still!) the most successful Hollywood film ever made.