1. Black Narcissus
2. Out Of The Past
3. Body And Soul
4. Odd Man Out
5. The Bishop’s Wife
6. Record Of a Tenement Gentleman
7. Miracle On 34th Street
8. Quai Des Orfevres
9. Crossfire
10. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

BIL’S BEST ACTOR

After his stunning debut in Four Daughters, the short-lived John Garfield garnered critical acclaim for two films in 1947 and an Oscar nomination for one of them, the boxing drama Body And Soul. Later films like Champion, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Rocky and Raging Bull have eclipsed this one in filmgoers’ memories, but it is one of the very best boxing dramas ever made and Garfield is a standout.

Honour Roll: Cary Grant, The Bishop’s Wife; Rex Harrison, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Robert Mitchum, Out Of The Past; William Powell, Life With Father

BIL’S BEST ACTRESS

My attention is held rapt for two straight hours in my favourite Powell-Pressburger film, their masterpiece Black Narcissus by Deborah Kerr plays the Sister Superior who realizes, too late, that all the confidence of her religion can’t help but be torn apart by the mysterious atmosphere of the east. Kerr would develop into a much finer actress in the years to come (she had just signed with MGM when this film was released), but even in her greener stages she is compelling and composed in the most bewitching way.

Honour Roll: Joan Crawford, Possessed; Gene Tierney, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Loretta Young, The Bishop’s Wife/The Farmer’s Daughter

BIL’S BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Crossfire is fascinating thriller, based on a novel about homophobia whose core issue was impossible for a movie in the forties but whose actual plot was perfect for the era of film noir thrillers.  Turning the story into one about anti-semitism, Edward Dmytryk created a thriller that no dark B-movie of the fifties could exist without its precedence, partly because of the terrific performance by Robert Ryan as the bad guy who you couldn’t stop watching.  The role was a breakthrough for Ryan, earning him his only ever career nomination and defining his persona from that point on: you knew you couldn’t trust him but good Lord you could never stop watching him.

Honour Roll:  Thomas Gomez, Ride The Pink Horse; Edmund Gwenn, Miracle on 34th Street; Canada Lee, Body and Soul; Richard Widmark, Kiss Of Death

BIL’S BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Loretta Young’s charms in The Farmer’s Daughter are given ample support by a wonderful Ethel Barrymore as the mother of the congressman for whom Young works as a maid and who supports her climb up her own career path. Barrymore was then enjoying a flush few years as a movie crone, including an Oscar in 1944 followed by plum roles in films like The Paradine Case and, among her finest, Elia Kazan’s Pinky.

Honour Roll: Mary Astor, Desert Fury; Katharine Byron, Black Narcissus; Gloria Grahame, Crossfire; Ann Todd, The Paradine Case

BIL’S BEST DIRECTOR

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Black Narcissus

Honour Roll: Edward Dmytryk, Crossfire; Henry Koster, The Bishop’s Wife;  Yasujiro Ozu, Record Of A Tenement Gentleman; Carol Reed, Odd Man Out