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Over the years, countless rundowns of the greatest, most popular films in history have done the rounds. It’s not too unreasonable to think that movies ranked high on these lists must have also cleaned up in awards season when they were released - but it’s not always the case.

As the world prepares for the 2024 Oscars, ����tv Bitesize takes a look at some well-known films that don’t have a single Academy Award between them - despite their golden reputations.

King Kong: The most unloved gorilla of 1933

More than 90 years after its release, the imagery surrounding this fantasy film can still be spotted on retro film posters and New York City souvenirs.

Made by RKO Pictures and starring Fay Wray as the woman an impossibly tall gorilla falls in love with, King Kong was a huge hit from the moment it hit cinemas. The special effects required to show Kong moving and interacting with the human cast involved lengthy sessions of stop motion animation, including him climbing - and falling from - the Empire State Building, which was only two years old at the time.

A mammoth technical achievement - the gorilla’s bellow involved the roars of lions and tigers played together at different speeds - as well as a modern retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story, King Kong’s success was not reflected at the Academy Awards. The third biggest film of 1933 was not nominated in any category, but it’s worth pointing out that the awards were only four years old at this point and were yet to recognise excellence in areas such as special effects and sounds.

In 2006, director Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong would win three Academy Awards - including one for visual effects and two others for its sound work.

It’s a Wonderful Life: Didn’t have a wonderful Oscars

If George Bailey had never been born, Christmas would be a little less magical.

Director Frank Capra’s film about life in the small US town of Bedford Falls starred James Stewart as George. In the final section of the movie, Clarence - a trainee angel - visits George at a dark time in his life and shows him how Bedford Falls would be a worse place if he had never existed.

The life-affirming nature of It’s a Wonderful Life led Capra, Stewart and co-star Donna Reed to declare it the best film of their careers. When it was released, the public didn’t quite agree and it was only through repeat showings on television that the film finally made its mark on popular culture.

Although it took the public a while to warm to the film, it did receive five Oscar nominations, including those for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for James Stewart at the 1947 ceremony. It didn’t win any - but the ‘what if…?’ concept behind the film has been mirrored in TV episodes featuring the Muppets and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, as well as films including The Family Man and Shrek Forever After.

Edward Scissorhands: Awards dreams in shreds

Edward Scissorhands - the gothic fairytale of a boy created by an inventor who sadly dies before he can give him real hands - came from the mind of director Tim Burton.

It starred Johnny Depp as the gentle soul who winds up with scissor blades for digits. When a kind saleswoman called Peg (Dianne Wiest) finds Edward alone at home, she takes him in, where he discovers his ‘fingers’ make him an expert hairstylist, along with a flair for topiary (hedge sculpture).

The film is said to be based on Burton’s own childhood where he often felt like an outsider and, visually, it has a strong look - contrasting between the gloom of the castle where Edward was created and the vivid, multi-colour pastels of Peg’s suburban world.

Joe Roth, chairman of 20th Century Fox at the time, was so confident of the film, he believed Edward Scissorhands would have the same impact on popular culture that Steven Spielberg's (Oscar winning) ET had made in 1982. Although it sparked one of Hollywood’s most enduring working relationships - Burton would go on to direct Depp in films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hollow and Corpse Bride - it didn’t get much love at the Academy Awards. Fittingly, considering Edward’s talents, its sole nomination was for Best Make-up and Hairstyling. The Oscar went to the retro detective hit Dick Tracy instead.

But Edward did make an impact, perhaps a more subtle one than ET. Acclaimed choreographer Matthew Bourne's contemporary dance version of the film is still touring - the first performance taking place in 2005.

The Shawshank Redemption: Sentenced to greatness with no prizes

Influential website Internet Movie Database (IMDb) asks its two million-plus regular readers to vote on the greatest film of all time. The Shawshank Redemption is top of that poll at the time of writing, 30 years after its release.

Based on a Stephen King short story, the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) somehow surviving his time in the harsh conditions of Shawshank prison alongside his close friend Red (Morgan Freeman), is seen by many fans as a life-affirming tale of triumph against the odds.

That positive opinion had to wait a while to be commonplace. The Shawshank Redemption was released during the successful run of the Tom Hanks hit Forrest Gump. This may have led to it performing poorly at the box office but Shawshank’s quality was still recognised by the Academy - to a point. Seven nominations came its way, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Morgan Freeman. It wasn’t to be - Forrest Gump was the night’s big winner with six awards - but despite receiving no Oscars, Shawshank would go on to become one of the most-loved films in history.

Amélie: A French fairytale without an Oscars ending

Audrey Tautou’s charming performance as Amélie, the young waitress in a Parisian cafe who took pleasure in making others happy, warmed the hearts of both cinemagoers and critics when released in 2001.

Her performance was BAFTA-nominated and, although Tautou didn’t win, the whimsical screenplay did.

Amélie did incredibly well in awards ceremonies around Europe, but her story didn’t seem to have the je ne sais quoi the Academy looks for in a winner. Nominated in five categories at the 74th Academy Awards, there was hope that it would take the Best Foreign Language Film honours at least. Instead, the honour went to No Man’s Land, a film from Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Amélie returned to Paris with no Oscars for company. C’est la vie.

This article was published in February 2024