Red-carpet gala for National Board of Review award winners

(CBS) The stars of this year's biggest films -- "The Help," "The Descendants," "Hugo," "J. Edgar" - walked the red carpet Tuesday night at the National Board of Review annual awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. Natalie Morales was the host.

Photos: The red carpet
Special Section: Awards Season

As announced last month, Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" was named the year's best film and Scorsese was picked as best director for his child friendly 3-D film about an orphan who lives in Paris.

"The Artist" was named among the group's top films of the year, along with "The Descendants," "Drive," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," "The Ides of March," "J. Edgar," "Tree of Life" and "War Horse."

Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" earned the most awards: Best actor to George Clooney, best supporting actress to 20-year-old Shailene Woodley and best adapted screenplay to Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's script, taken from Kaui Hart Hemmings' novel.

Tilda Swinton was awarded best actress and best supporting actor went to the 81-year-old Christopher Plummer for his performance in "Beginners."

The group awarded best ensemble to the Civil Rights-era drama "The Help." Its spotlight award went to Michael Fassbender, the Irish actor who stars in four films this year: "A Dangerous Method," "Shame," "Jane Eyre" and "X-Men: First Class."

Best animated feature was awarded to the movie-reference-stuffed "Rango." The West Memphis 3 documentary "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" was selected best documentary. Best foreign film went to the Iranian drama "A Separation."

Two actresses were honored for breakthrough performances: Felicity Jones in the young love drama "Like Crazy" and Rooney Mara in the adapted thriller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." J.C. Chandor was singled out for debut director for his first feature, the financial industry thriller "Margin Call."

Will Reiser was awarded best original screenplay for his script to the cancer comedy "50/50." Special achievement in filmmaking was given to the Harry Potter franchise for its "distinguished translation from book to film."