Woody, or wouldn't he?

Considering Hollywood believes its main target audience is the 14-35 age group, it was a remarkable night for the oldies at this year's 84th Academy Awards.

There was Christopher Plummer, just two years younger than Oscar, winning Best Supporting Actor for Beginners, and to Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese, who will be 70 later this year, went five of the coveted statuettes.

And what about Meryl Streep, no spring chicken at 62, who snared Best Actress for The Iron Lady?

But perhaps the most heart-warming award of all was the "comeback" of Woody Allen at 76.

He won his fourth Oscar (from no fewer than 23 nominations) for Midnight in Paris's Original Screenplay fully a quarter of a century after his last - Hannah and His Sisters in 1987.

And in his own great tradition, he wasn't on hand as usual to receive the prestigious prize, preferring instead to stay in his native New York, possibly playing clarinet at a local hostelry.