Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Directed by Elia Kazan

Starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Celeste Holm, Anne Revere, June Havoc, Albert Dekker, Jane Wyatt, Dean Stockwell, Nicholas Joy, and Sam Jaffe

A movie that's a little too preachy for it's own good, Gentleman's Agreement tells the story of a Gentile reporter (Peck) who poses as a Jew to write an article on anti-Semitism. The actors do a decent job, but the story plays out more like an instructional video on tolerance than an actual worthy film story. Just two years removed from World War II and the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, anti-Semitism was certainly a legitimate problem in the world, so I can't fault anyone too much for making this movie like they did. This isn't a bad movie, I'm just not sure it's a Best Picture.

Other nominees: The Bishop's Wife (Henry Koster), Crossfire (Edward Dmytryk), Great Expectations (David Lean), and Miracle of 34th Street (George Seaton)