And the two newly minted masters of ceremony, James Franco and Anne Hathaway, wasted no time acknowledging their youth, and the notion that their presence might help lure a generation of television viewers who have increasingly tuned out the Oscars in recent years.

“Anne, I must say, you look so beautiful and so hip,” Franco, 32, himself a nominee as best actor, deadpanned as the two walked on stage to open the show.

“Oh, thank you, James,” replied Hathaway, the youngest host in Oscar history at 28. “You look very appealing to a younger demographic as well.”

The pair were only half-joking, as producers of the Academy Awards show went out of their way this year to incorporate technological elements and imagery designed to engage younger movie fans.

Early in the show, presenter Justin Timberlake appeared to use a smart-phone computer ‘app’ to illuminate a Shrek backdrop to introduce awards for animated films.

Two films wildly popular with young moviegoers this past year, Twilight sequel Eclipse and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, figured prominently in a pre-taped comic lip-syncing sequence.

But the show hardly turned its back on Hollywood of yesteryear. Kirk Douglas, 94, his speech badly slurred from a stroke 15 years ago, shuffled on stage with a cane to present the first acting award, the Oscar for best supporting actress, which went to Melissa Leo for The Fighter.

Douglas, himself, alluded to the Oscar generation gap in complimenting Hathaway on her looks.

“She’s gorgeous,” he said as the young actress blew him kisses. “Where were you when I was making pictures?”

CONNECTING YOUNG FANS TO HOLLYWOOD HISTORY

A short time later, the night’s Oscar winner for best original screenplay, 73-year-old David Seidler for The King’s Speech, proclaimed in his acceptance speech that he was the oldest person ever to claim that award.

The programme frequently conjured up images and music from Oscar-winning film blockbusters of yore, from Gone with the Wind to Star Wars and Titanic.

The tension between young and old was orchestrated by producers, who have said they sought to reconnect movie fans with Hollywood history while giving the show a contemporary feel that would attract viewers in the key 18-to-49-year-old ratings demographic prized by advertisers.

But in one of the night’s biggest nods to Hollywood’s older set, actor-comedian Billy Crystal, an eight-time Academy Awards host, widely hailed as one of the best, made a surprise appearance to introduce a salute to the first televised Oscars in 1953, and its master of ceremonies, the late Bob Hope.

Hearkening back to an era that predated the birth of many of the stars who filled the Kodak Theatre on Sunday, Crystal said he was just five years old then.

A clip of that historic telecast showed Hope — who presided over more Oscars than anyone, 18 in all — opening the show that year with the now-famous line, “Welcome to the Academy Awards, or as it’s known at my house, Passover.”

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Here are the winners of the 83^rd Academy Awards in the main categories, followed by the number of awards won by each of the 10 best picture-nominated movies, including four which left empty handed.

MAIN WINNERS

Best picture: The King’s Speech

Best director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

Best actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Best actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best supporting actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best supporting actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Best adapted screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Best original screenplay: David Seidler, The King’s Speech

Best animated film: Toy Story 3

Best foreign language film: In a Better World (Denmark)

HOW MANY OSCARS FOR MAIN MOVIES

The King’s Speech - nominated for 12, won four (best picture, actor, director, original screenplay)

Inception - nominated for eight, won four (best cinematography, sound mixing, sound editing, visual effects)

The Social Network - nominated for eight, won three (adapted screenplay, original score, film editing)

The Fighter - nominated for seven, won two (supporting actor, supporting actress)

Toy Story 3 - nominated for five, won two (animated feature, best song)

Black Swan - nominated for five, won one (best actress)

True Grit - nominated for 10, won none.

127 Hours - nominated for six, won none.

The Kids Are All Right - nominated for four, won none.

Winter’s Bone - nominated for four, won none.

Fit for a king

British Royal Drama The King’s Speech reigned over the Oscars on Sunday, taking three of the top prizes at the climax of Hollywood’s annual awards season.

The movie took best picture, best director and best actor for Colin Firth as a stammering King George VI, helped by an Australian voice coach to rally wartime Britain.

It also won for best original screenplay, giving the film four Academy Awards overall — the same as hi-tech thriller Inception and one more than Facebook movie The Social Network, which had been tipped as possible best film winner.

The movie’s screenwriter, David Seidler, used his acceptance speech to jokingly thank Queen Elizabeth II, among others, as well as stutterers everywhere.

“I would like to thank Her Majesty the Queen for not putting me in the Tower of London for using the Melissa Leo F-word,” he said, referring to Leo’s X-rated acceptance speech for best supporting actress in The Fighter.

Seidler, himself a stammerer, added, “I accept this on behalf of all the stutterers throughout the world. We have a voice, we have been heard,” echoing a key phrase from the movie.

The Social Network, which had been nominated in seven Oscar categories, ended up going home with only three, and none of the major ones: film editing, original score and adapted screenplay for writer Aaron Sorkin.

Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a hired hand who penetrates people’s dreams, won four Oscars: cinematography, visual effects, sound mixing and sound editing.

Natalie Portman won best actress for her role in disturbing ballet thriller Black Swan.

Portman wiped tears from her eyes onstage while cradling her gold statuette. She thanked her family, co-stars and director Darren Aronofsky.

“This is insane,” she said, “and I truly, sincerely wish the prize was to get to work with my fellow nominees.”

Boxing movie The Fighter notched two gongs — with best supporting actor going to Christian Bale in addition to Leo’s trophy.

‘LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER’

One of the night’s few surprises came with Social Network director David Fincher’s loss to relative newcomer Tom Hooper.

Hooper used his best director acceptance speech to tell the extraordinary story of how he came to make The King’s Speech — thanks to the help of his Australian mother, who was in the audience.

“My mum in 2007 was invited by some Australian friends — she’s Australian — in London, to a fringe theatre play reading of an unproduced, unrehearsed play called The King’s Speech,” said the 38-year-old Brit.

He explained, “She’s never been invited to a play reading her entire life before. She almost didn’t go because it didn’t sound exactly promising, but thank God she did.

“She rang me up after (and) said, ‘Tom, I think I found your next film,’” he said, before addressing his mother directly, saying: “So, with this tonight, I honour you. And the moral of the story is: listen to your mother.”

In other prizes, Toy Story 3, the third installment of the family-friendly franchise won best animated feature Oscar as expected, and also picked up best original song for Randy Newman’s We Belong Together.

Wall Street meltdown movie Inside Job took top documentary,

and the best foreign film prize went to In a Better World by Danish director Susanne Bier, who vanquished movies from Algeria, Canada, Greece and Mexico.

The Oscars is the culmination of the multi-billion movie industry’s awards season and has been preceded by months or frantic campaigning for the coveted gold statuettes handed out on Sunday night.

Co-hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway started the show with a filmed skit in which they were transplanted into the main films nominated for best picture, after ‘entering the dreams’ of Alec Baldwin in the style of Inception.

At one point, Franco came onstage in a dress and blonde wig, looking like Marilyn Monroe.

“The weird part is, I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen,” he joked.

Firth won over Jeff Bridges — who beat him to the best actor Oscar last year — in True Grit, Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network, James Franco in 127 Hours and Spanish heartthrob Javier Bardem in Biutiful.

Portman’s rivals for best actress were veteran Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right, Australia’s Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole, Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine.

And the Oscar doesn’t go to...

True grit was left in the dust at the Oscars, failing to win a single prize despite receiving 10 nominations.

It marked the worst performance by a film at the Academy Awards since 2003, when Gangs of New York also went zero for 10.

The Coen brothers’ western remake was a major box office hit but was never much of a contender during awards season. Its prominence in the Oscar race just behind newly crowned champion The King’s Speech, nominated in 12 categories, was a surprise.

Among the less fortunate True Grit nominees, cinematographer Roger Deakins was seeking his first Oscar on his ninth attempt. He was beaten by four-time contender Wally Pfister for Inception.

Other leading films frozen out of the winners’ circle included 127 Hours with six nominations, and The Kids Are All Right and Winter’s Bone with four each.

Among actors, The Kids Are All Right star Annette Bening was snubbed for the fourth time since 1991, losing to best actress front-runner Natalie Portman for Black Swan.

Inception filmmaker Christopher Nolan, whose omission from the best director race was one of the biggest shocks when the nominations were announced last month, received a pair of nods in other categories. But while the sci-fi saga ended up with four prizes, his name was never called out.

GOLDEN CURSE

Meanwhile, next year’s winner of the top Golden Globe can probably kiss its Oscar chances goodbye.

For the sixth time in seven years, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s pick for best drama failed to win the corresponding best picture prize at the Academy Awards.

The unlucky picture this time was The Social Network, which was hailed by critics’ groups earlier during awards season but overtaken by The King’s Speech in the home stretch as Hollywood’s guilds weighed in at their various awards shows.

The Golden Globes often are hailed as a key Oscars barometer despite a very small votership of about 80 critics for largely obscure foreign outlets. The Oscars, by contrast, are determined by about 6,000 movie professionals.

The King’s Speech, with four statuettes out of 12 nominations, marks the lowest tally for a best picture Oscar winner since the Coens’ No Country For Old Men also won four awards in 2009.

All was not lost for The Social Network. It won three prizes, beating King’s Speech in two races. In one of them, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and fellow composer Atticus Ross won the original score prize on their first try, beating four-time nominee Alexandre Desplat.

Bling when you’re winning

The women of Hollywood returned to glory with an array of strong colours and sparkling gowns on the Oscar red carpet, in contrast to more sombre ensembles that have been in vogue over the past few years.

The bright fashion choices turned the tide from more muted and conservative styles of recent years that reflected the world’s economic woes. Indeed, Hollywood seemed jubilant when arriving for the world’s top film honours.

Among the ladies in red were Oscar co-host Anne Hathaway in a Valentino dress with volume in the back, Sandra Bullock in a strapless Vera Wang and young best-actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence in a minimalist Calvin Klein.

“It’s simple and beautiful,” said Lawrence of her gown.

“Oscar gowns have gone so far away from the classic gowns with those plunging necklines,” said InStyle magazine’s fashion director Hal Rubenstein. “This year so much is about cut and shape and really strong colour.”

Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, appearing on the arm of husband and best actor nominee Javier Bardem, wore a figure-hugging, sparkling red gown after giving birth to her first child only a month ago. Jennifer Hudson went even brighter, amping up with a tangerine Versace halter dress.

Stylist Quela Renee said the form-fitting gowns were very “Hollywood glamour.” “It was back to the 60s, very ‘I Am Woman,”’ said Renee, citing such actresses as Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johansson and Anne Hathaway as examples.

There were also several shades of purple, like the aubergine Rodarte on a pregnant Natalie Portman, a best actress nominee. Her Black Swan co-star Mila Kunis chose a wispy lavender Elie Saab.

“It was the first dress that I tried on today. It was between this dress and another one I tried on,” Kunis said of her ultimate decision.

SILVER BELLES

Silver seemed to be everywhere, either head-to-toe or embroidered into the gowns in tiny beads.

Gwyneth Paltrow shone brighter than an Oscar statuette with a modern silver sheath by Calvin Klein. “They made it for me,” said Paltrow, “I wanted to wear a kind of a wetsuit, a glamorous wetsuit.”

Hilary Swank wore a silver strapless Gucci with gray feathers at her feet. Halle Berry also went strapless and silver in her Marchesa gown.

Nicole Kidman, nominated for best actress for Rabbit Hole, wore a white strapless Dior with silver embroidered throughout. “I just liked it, I’m very simple like that,” said Kidman. Her competitor in that category, Michelle Williams of Blue Valentine, had sparkle in her pearl grey Chanel.

Amy Adams, nominated for best supporting actress for The Fighter, chose a tight-fitting midnight blue L’Wren Scott gown punctuated by little silver lights.

“Black has almost been eliminated,” said InStyle’s Rubenstein. “And that is reflective of the runway. When the economic turndown hit and everything came to a halt, designers had to look and see what would get people back in stores again. Black was not going to do that. Designers needed to look at new colours, new dressmaking techniques.”

Despite the two days of rain in Los Angeles ahead of the show, Sunday proved to be dry and chilly. Up close, actresses were covered in goose bumps that were missed by TV cameras.

Stylist Michael O’Connor said because of the cold, he was “fully expecting to see long sleeves or bolero jackets on gowns or wraps.” However, when the stars hit that carpet, all weather considerations were put aside.

“The weather had no effect on people’s choices,” said O’Connor. “I think everyone said, ‘Buck it up, let’s bare the cold, this is the Academy Awards’ and they stuck it out.”

Not everyone gets in on the act

As for the famously quirky British actress Helena Bonham Carter — shock! — she wore a surprisingly normal-looking black dress.

“I thought it would be nice to celebrate film not fashion. I’ve got a bit of a complex about my bum so thought I’d make it even bigger,” she joked, shortly before the 83^rd Academy Awards show got under way.

Bonham Carter, who lost out later in the best supporting actress category for her role in The King’s Speech, is known for her unpredictable dress sense and had forecast whatever she wore could be “catastrophic.”

At the Golden Globes she wore one red shoe and one green, but on Sunday she kept her vow to wear same-coloured footwear, below a Gothic-looking black dress described as “something I got together with costume designer Colleen Atwood.”

Apart from a large bustle, the striking black silk taffeta gown with a velvet bodice and Elizabethan style cutaway sleeves was supremely conservative compared to outfits she has stunned fashion-watchers with in the past.