"The last time the Academy Awards nominated 10 films for best picture, it was wartime — 1943, and a wartime picture, 'Casablanca,' took home the statuette.

Here we are again. It's wartime once more, literal and economic, and in the battle to get the Oscar telecast shored up in the ratings, the Academy announced its re-expanded 10 titles, up from the usual five in recent decades, in the best picture race."