LIVE POLL: Face-Off: Green-Titled Oscar Best Picture Winners

@urbanemovies ,

My vote:

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

@cinephile​ Me too.

@dan_dassow​ I am really curious how this plays out. A movie from the past five years vs. a movie that is 80 years old. A movie rated 8.2  on IMDb vs. one that is 7.7 IMDb rated. A movie that has been rated 20x more on IMDb vs. one that has been seen by 1/20th as many people. Despite, all that I strangely I strangely feel 'Green Book' should be the underdog here. 'Green Book' is a great movie, but it is no

How Green Was My Valley (1941).

@urbanemovies​ 

I think it is a case where IMDb ratings do not say the whole story. Green Book was liked when it was released, and the majority of its rating comes from the buzz around the 2019 Oscars. How Green Was My Valley on the other hand has acquired a reputation in those 80 years. I think part of the low-rating is not due to its quality, but to the people who are bitter it beat Citizen Kane for the Best Picture Oscar. Because, it still 18.2% of 10/10 ratings (superior to Green Book's percentage). People who like John Ford fans will vote for How Green Was My Valley. And, Ford certainly has more fans than Peter Farrelly.

@cinephile​,

I agree 100%. I think IMDb does a good job for the most part, and I find their aggregated rating, through the inherent power in volume of votes, does a good job of rating films to how I personally feel for the most part, or at least in ranking them in some type of order relative to each other. A lot of times, I wish they used a 100 point scale for individual rating, as I find that the current ten-point scale, while simpler it is insufficient rates how I feel.

That said, there are some inherent biases baked into the IMDb rating that they try to filter out. Like people using the rating for some other agenda unrelated to the quality of the film, or cultural differences (where it seems like every film that comes out of that country is a ten), or simply the "test of time" / "flavor of month" premise. When some films age poorly, while others seem to improve with age, as films become more or less appreciated once some distance from their release has occurred.

It amazes me how many films you never tire of watching or completely forget that they were made over 75 years ago. Which I think is reflective of the craftsmanship that went into every detail of their production. I think that is the case here, even though it wasn't the best film made that year.

@Jessica​ Thanks, corrected.

Which of these green-titled Oscar Best Picture winners is your favorite film?

@Jessica​ I updated it, but I think it has better shot next year than this year of being selected.

​The two biggest events of the week are The Oscars on March 12th and St. Paddy's day on March 17th. By melding the Oscars' most prestigious accolade, its Best Picture award, with the color most associated with St. Patrick's Day, a green-themed Oscar Best Picture face-off poll has been spawned. The resulting poll seems a fitting tribute to the biggest events of the week.​

@cinephile​ I am impressed it actually is a contest, certainly a far tighter race than I expected, so far.

@urbanemovies​ I haven't seen How Green Was My Valley yet, but I gave it a confidence vote as I find Green Book to be a totally undeserving winner.

@Pencho15​ I don't think Green Book is a bad film (it certainly isn't 'Tom Jones'), but I remember how suspect its win was that year. I could easily see it being ranked eigtth out of the eight nominees that year.

I even did a poll about it the the day after the Oscars that year, because its win seemed to be about other things than being the best film that year.