The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-12-29
Paul Harrison in Hollywood Harrison Names ZOla' Finest 1037
 Film: Tracy, Stanwyck Best Players
BY PAUL HARRISON PA annulnn Stan HinrrAannnflN

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 Aollywood--FiguFe it any way you like--io37 was q terrific and in some ways Q colossal year for the movies
 Certainly it was the most OK. penslve i2 months in flicker hiS- tory, When Q studio feels llke spending 9S,000,000 tas Metro did on "ConquestD to explain the 70. latlonshIp Of Napoleon to his Polish mistress, you know that the days of Iollywood's fantastic prohigacy are still with us.
 It was Q year that provided suf- flcient merit, or pelf, to win over to one branch or another Of the cinema practically all of the orSt- while highbrows except those two professional scoffers, George Ber- nard Shaw and George jeer Ma. than.
 It was the year in which Tech. nlcolor declared 6 dividend and David gelsnIck and Samuel Gold. wyn said they'd never make An- other biack.And.white picture. Thus q bright Literally brighO future iS heralded for the screen.
 Love Flew Out The Window
 Tender passion went out of style in 1887. It was the year Of "Nothing Sacred" In which Frederic March hauled of and knocked Carole Lombard as stiff as 6 poker, This act was the climax of many slaps and kicks which romance has been re- ceiVing oil over Hollywood.
 By and large, it was . year of better pictures. A few of the good ones haven't been very successful, but the very fact that several were unavoidable lent all the more sig. nit1ance to the willingness of a few companies to experiment. with greater realism, more unhappy 0ndingS, casts without box office names, and stories of social signih. canoe.
 The year thus provides some of the toughest problems ever cons fronted by the critics. A critic is a person who cannot please oil Of the people even some of the tim0, Even large groups of experts such AS tho Pulitzer Prize play committees in New York, and the Academy of Mos ton Picture Arts and Sciences, als ways are targets for bitter reeriffls nations when they pick Q "best" production or c "bestS performance, Next March tho Academy Awards for io37 will Do voted by some i6,. 900 members of the actors, directors and wr!terS' guilds.
 Harrison Chooses "Bests"
 Tn making c selection Of 1897 "bestS", this correspondent will stick out his neck only far enough to try to guess the Academy prize. winners For every selection, I can think Of half 6 dozen alternatives and quali- fications:
 Best Picture Of 1887. "rhe Life of Emile zola" tWarner Brothers). It has substance and power. ft is 50 fine, strueturaily and technically that it likely will draw individual prizes and honorable mentions 10 several of the people connected with ItB prouuction.
 There will Do many votes for '"rhe Good Earth. Before c jury of pic. ture.inakerg, however, lts unlimited budget and years of preparation probably will prevail against it. Lots of people can make c fine picture with enough time, money and re- takes.
 Best Performance by on Actor, Spencer Tracy in Captains 0ou- rag0otiS."
 As Pasteur, Paul Muni won this award last year, and no iB not like. ly to capture it again with his zoia. Besides, there are many who con- gldor the Zola roie c natural. As Wang Lung in "'The Good Earth" Muni did on infinitely more difii- cult piece Of acting.
 Montgomery Was Good, Too
 Only other performance likely to figure In tho balioting B Robert Montgomory'S lead in Might Must Fall"
 Best Performance by an Actressi Barbara gtanwyek in "Bteiia Dai- las." The story B still tho trite old tear-jorker about c mothers love and sacrifice, but it also is tho vehi. eie for Miss Stanwyck'B best per- formance. When you've said that, you've said 6 lot.
 Most Beautiful Actressi Made. ieine Carroll in "Tho Prisoner Of Zenda."
 Best Supporting Performance by an Actor: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, ii