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Alternate Best Picture Winners (1927-Today)
1927/1928
Outstanding Picture, Production: Wings
Unique and Artistic Production: Sunrise What should have won BP of 1927: Metropolis If it could win for BP of 1928: The Passion of Joan of Arc 
 479  8.7  8.1 This is my pick of the best film of 1928, even over The Wind and The Circus.
1929
What won: The Broadway Melody
What should have won: Pandora's Box 
55 6.6 6.3 Won, and really dated today. Probably borders on so-bad-it's-good today anyways.
1930
What won: All Quiet on the Western Front
Distant Runner-up: Earth 1931
What won: Cimarron
What should have won: City Lights Runner-ups include: Dracula, Frankenstein, and Little Caesar. 1932
What won: Grand Hotel
What should have won: Shanghai Express 1933
What won: Cavalcade
What should have won: King Kong 1934
What won: It Happened One Night
What should have won: The Thin Man 
604 8.2 8.2 This film won, and I regret giving this film a 9 star rating already.
225 8 8 A highly iconic who-done-it film and the movie that should have won Best Picture of the year.
1935
What won: Mutiny on the Bounty
What should have won: The 39 Steps 1936
What won: The Great Ziegfeld
What should have won: My Man Godfrey Runner-ups include: Dodsworth, Libeled Lady, and Modern Times 1937
What Won: The Life of Emile Zola
What should have won: Grand Illusion Runner-ups include: The Awful Truth, Lost Horizon, and Stage Door Overrated: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1938
What Won: You Can't Take It With You
What should have won: The Adventures of Robin Hood Honorable Mentions: Angels with Dirty Faces, Bringing up Baby, A Christmas Carol, Jezebel, and Pygmalion 
176 7.4 7.9 I am not a fan of Frank Capra. But it doesn't take a genius to tell that this is quite possibly the worst film he's ever done (personally, it's runner up to Arsenic and Old Lace).
421 7.6 8 The purest of all Robin Hood movies. Definitely should have been the winner over YCTIWY.
1939
What won: Gone With the Wind
What should have won: The Women Runner-ups include: Dark Victory, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Stagecoach, and Wuthering Heights Overrated: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Wizard of Oz 
1954 7.8 8.2 I only saw this movie one time, and I can safely say that this is definitely a good movie that I highly recommend all of you to watch if you haven't already.
91 7.5 7.7 Regardless, Gone with the Wind is a touch overrated, with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington AND The Wizard of Oz extremely so. If anything, the best of the best of 1939 is the Citizen Kane of all chick flicks, 1939's The Women (NOT the remake).
1940
What won: Rebecca
What should have won: Fantasia Runner ups include: Foreign Correspondent, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Dictator, The Letter, Pinocchio, The Philadelphia Story, and The Thief of Bagdad 
858 8 8.3 A common misconception is that either Grapes of Wrath or Philadelphia Story won Best Picture in 1940. Neither is true. Instead, the true Best Picture winner of 1940 was a little film by Alfred Hitchcock, and trust me when I say that, inspite of how good a year 1940 was, this was perhaps his weakest of all of his movies (not that that's saying much).
1631 7.5 7.8 Again, a ton of truly great movies in 1940; Grapes of Wrath, Philadelphia Story, Foreign Correspondent, The Great Dictator, and Pinocchio just to name a few. But if I were to choose which film won Best Picture in 1940, I would have to give it to the pure embodiment of art in film itself, Fantasia.
1941
What won: How Green Was My Valley
What should have won: Citizen Kane (of course) My personal favorite: The Maltese Falcon 
207 7.6 7.8 Seriously, who remembers this movie in any way other than that film that beat Citizen Kane for Best Picture?
2033 8.1 8.5 Personally, prefer The Maltese Falcon, but there's no denying its status as arguably the greatest movie ever made.
1942
What won: Mrs. Miniver
What should have won (for this year): Casablanca Runner-up: The Magnificient Ambersons 
109 7.7 7.6 A cloyingly sentimental propaganda film won Best Picture. Why? Because by that time, we already declared World War II.
2542 8.2 8.7 An interesting story here. Even though this is one of the greatest films ever made and deserved to win Best Picture, there's only one problem: It won for 1943 when it was a 1942 movie. Therefore, it should have won for 1942 rather than 1943.
1943
What won (instead of the year before): Casablanca
What should have won: Shadow of a Doubt 
2 9 6.3 See above for Casablanca.
NOTE: I know this is the wrong movie, but I can't use the same poster twice. 
554 8 8 If we are to play by the literal calender date, this would have been my choice for Best Picture of 1943.
1944
What won: Going My Way
What should have won: Double Indemnity 
717 8.3 8.5 The film that should have won, and is easily Billy Wilder's best movie by far.
1945
What won: The Lost Weekend
What should have won: Spellbound 1946
What won: The Best Years of Our Lives
What should have won: Beauty and the Beast Runner-ups include: Great Expectations, Notorious, The Razor's Edge, and The Yearling Good, but overrated: It's a Wonderful Life 
301 7.9 8.2 Personally, I really enjoyed this movie, even moreso than It's a Wonderful Life.
302 7.9 8 Even compared to the Disney version of 1991 (which I like a great deal), this is one of the truly great fantasy films of all time. So many fantasy that was snubbed in the past, but at the bare minimum, this should have been the first pure fantasy film to have taken home top honors.
Oh, and did I mention I find It's a Wonderful Life to be overrated? Good, but overrated. 1947
What won: Gentleman's Agreement
What should have won: The Bishop's Wife 
119 7.3 7.3 All I know about this film is that it won. Frankly, I never saw this movie.
102 7.4 7.5 Of the films I saw (and truly eligible for Best Picture of 1947), this is the one that I'd highly recommend the most.
1948
What won: Hamlet
Tied for win: The Red Shoes Runner-ups include: Macbeth, Oliver Twist, The Three Musketeers, and The Treasure of Sierra Madre Overrated: Bicycle Thieves 
155 7.4 7.8 The only Shakespeare film to have won Best Picture (not counting West Side Story as a remake).
1949
Winner: All the King's Men
Should have won: The Third Man Honorable Mentions: Colorado Territory, The Fountainhead, The Heiress, Little Women, and White Heat 
79 7.5 7.6 One of the few political films I greatly admire. But whatever you do, do not watch the Sean Penn remake.
786 8.2 8.4 This iconic noir film should have won over All the King's Men regardless.
1950
Winner: All About Eve
Runner-up: Sunset Boulevard Honorable Mentions: The Asphalt Jungle, Harvey, King Solomon's Mines, Rashomon, and Winchester '73 
773 8.2 8.4 Even though this film beat out Sunset Boulevard for Best Picture, I actually prefer this movie to Sunset.
1084 8.6 8.6 A dangerously close second. This was definitely a prime example of a film in which the top 2 best films of the year competed for Best Picture, and both are among the greatest films ever made.
1951
Winner: An American in Paris
Should have won: The Day the Earth Stood Still Honorable Mentions: The Racket, Strangers on a Train, and The Thing from Another World Overrated: A Streetcar Named Desire 
338 7.3 7.2 All style, and literally no substance. Heck, there isn't even a story to this movie, or any real characters. It's just stylish--albeit dated--musical numbers over cheesy sets in technicolor. And it won Best Picture over A Streetcar Named Desire!? Feh!
624 7.5 7.9 Yes, I am selecting this film as being superior to A Streetcar Named Desire because let's face it; that film is dated and overacted too. And this is one of the greatest Science Fiction films ever made.
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