21st Academy Awards 21st Academy Awards The 21st Academy Awards features numerous firsts. It was the first time a non-Hollywood production won Best Picture, "Hamlet" and the first time an individual (Laurence Olivier) directed himself in an Oscar-winning performance. It was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be giving awards for Best Costume Design. John Huston directed two films in this awards year for which his actors won Oscars: his father, Walter Huston, in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"; and Claire Trevor for "Key Largo". The Huston family won three Oscars that evening. The ceremony was moved from the Shrine Auditorium to
John Huston what Huston calls "a left-handed form of human endeavor." Huston achieved that effect by giving "deep attention" to the plot, involving a large jewelry theft, by examining the minute, step by step details and difficulties each of the characters had of carrying it out. In doing so, some critics felt that Huston had achieved an almost "documentary" style. His assistant director Albert Band explains further: Film critic Andrew Sarris considered it to be "Huston's best film", and the film that made Marilyn Monroe a recognized actress. Sarris also notes the similar themes in many of Huston's films, as exemplified by