Oscars: The greatest injustices ever, from Citizen Kane to Brokeback Mountain

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. How Green Was My Valley Beat: Citizen Kane to Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography in 1941 It takes a bit of searching these days to find someone who has a) seen John Ford’s Welsh melodrama How Green Was My Valley and b) did not do so out of a morbid curiosity to understand what it had that made it better than Citizen Kane. Crash Beat: Brokeback Mountain in 2005 Even Crash director Paul Haggis doesn’t think his film should have beaten Ang Lee’s delicate, tragic cowboy romance. The Greatest Show on Earth Beat: High Noon, The Quiet Man and the not-even-nominated Singin’ in the Rain to Best Picture in 1952 Another embarrassing choice: the academy rewarded Cecil B De Mille’s circus extravaganza over Fred Zinnemann’s classic western, High Noon, and John Ford’s Irish favourite The Quiet Man. Helen Hunt for As Good as It Gets Beat: Judi Dench for Mrs Brown and Kate Winslet for Titanic to Best Actress in 1997 Helen Hunt is charming opposite Jack Nicholson in this comedy drama, but even at the time viewers would have struggled to remember her character’s name.