The shortest ‘Best Picture’ winner ever
The world of cinema has long been a stage of fascination, intrigue, and talent, with the Academy Awards serving as the crowning event to honour excellence in the industry. More popularly known as the Oscars, these awards are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Inaugurated in 1929, the Academy Awards have grown to include 24 categories, but one honour, in particular, stands as the ultimate recognition of cinematic achievement: the ‘Best Picture’ award.
Often the climax of the awards ceremony, the ‘Best Picture’ award recognises the crème de la crème of the year’s films. From high-budget epics to intimate indies, the award represents the pinnacle of storytelling, direction, and performance. Very few filmmakers or actors get to bask in the ‘Best Picture’ glow on more than one occasion. We’ve now grown accustomed to the big Oscar winners clocking it at over two hours, but it’s worth remembering a movie that’s smaller run-time didn’t stop it from snagging the ultimate award. The shortest film to be crowned ‘Best Picture’ was 1955’s Marty, clocking in at just 91 minutes.
Directed by Delbert Mann, Marty is a heartwarming tale of love and loneliness set in the bustling cityscape of New York. This simple yet captivating story centres around Marty Piletti, a kind-hearted but unassuming butcher who is constantly nagged by his Italian mother to settle down. The film explores the depth of human emotions and the universal longing for companionship as Marty falls for a schoolteacher named Clara, who is similarly overlooked by society.
As short as Marty was, there was another movie that ran for even less time which managed to clinch a nomination in the ‘Best Picture’ category back in 1933. She Done Him Wrong is the shortest film ever nominated for the award, starring Mae West and directed by Lowell Sherman. The film, running an even briefer 66 minutes, is set in the 1890s and follows the life of a saloon singer, Lady Lou, played by West, as she navigates a world of diamonds and deceitful men.
While these movies showcase the potential for brevity in storytelling, the opposite end of the scale is equally intriguing. The title of the longest ‘Best Picture’ winner is held by Gone with the Wind. The 1939 epic historical romance runs a staggering 238 minutes or nearly four hours. That’s two hours and 27 minutes longer than the shortest ‘Best Picture’ winner.
