by the haunting musical score by American composer Aaron Copland. The excellent supporting cast, including Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell and Guy Kibbee contributed to the Our Town nomination for Best Picture. Kitty Foyle (1940): Ginger Rogers Based on a Christopher Morley story entitled "Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman", Ginger Rogers plays the working class protagonist who struggles to choose between two men in a love triangle. Wood approached the filming of Kitty Foyle with immense care, delineating camera orientation, a precise script and "notes on interpretation" to achieve the "utmost clarity." However implausible the narrative of the love story, Wood maintained his signature control that balances the film's "tenderness and intelligence" with a firmness of direction that avoids sentimentality. The director was emphatic in his disdain for over-acting: "I find [over-acting] unforgivable because it destroys realism. I don't allow scenery chewing while emoting." Wood received the second of his three Academy Award Best Director nominations for Kitty Foyle and a nomination for Best Picture. Ginger Rogers won for Best Actress. Wood returned to Paramount Pictures to make an action-packed Western that borders on a burlesque of the genre, Rangers of Fortune (1940). Starring Fred Macmurray and Gilbert Roland with supporting cast Albert Dekker and Betty Brewer. The madcap escapades of these desperadoes stop short of "buffoonery" when Wood applies his story-telling skills to assert his "sense of balance...one of the most valuable assets" that Wood possessed as a filmmaker. The Devil and Miss Jones (1941): Jean Arthur, RKO Pictures Wood opted for RKO Pictures to film Norman Krasner's original screenplay The Devil and Miss Jones, a comedy starring Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn. Frank Ross, Arthur's husband, produced the picture. The stars delivered superb performances in a "social satire" that pits a department store saleswoman-cum-strike organizer (Arthur) against the Scrooge-like owner (Coburn). As with most of Wood's work, consistency, pace and balance characterized his expert handling of the story and script. A collaborative masterpiece: Kings Row (1942), Warner Brothers After a protracted struggle to formulate a screenplay satisfactory to censors at the Hays Office, Wood and Warner Brothers commenced to film Henry Bellamann's grim and anti-nostalgic novel of American small-town life: Kings Row. Wood's "discipline as a story-teller" was essential in conveying to the screen Kings Row "troubling message without sacrificing its integrity." The high quality of Wood's directorial performance was augmented by three of