Fair enough on 1945, though I think it's a three or four film race at most. 1943 Has a clear favourite and two outside shots, and 1949 is Third Man's to lose. I'd say 1939, with two favourites and 3 outside shots, and 1999, with three clear favourites, are more competitive than 1943 and 1949, but a little less than 1945.
Anything from the 30s or 40s is fine by me, though.
I wonder if we'd be able to field a full set of five Non-English Language nominees from some of these years.
If people are willing to watch them, yes. Though they likely won't be a super varied field of nominees, largely a western European field with maybe some Soviet or the occasional Japanese film. The war years might be a little thin, though.