Best Screenplay 1948

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What was the best Adapted Screenplay of 1948?

A Foreign Affair (Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Richard L. Breen)
0
No votes
Johnny Belinda (Irma von Cube, Allen Vincent)
0
No votes
The Search (Richard Schweitzer, David Wechsler)
2
14%
The Snake Pit (Frank Partos, Millen Brand)
2
14%
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston)
10
71%
 
Total votes: 14

The Original BJ
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Re: Best Screenplay 1948

Post by The Original BJ »

This is another very solid lineup -- the 1940s were much stronger for the kinds of movies Oscar likes than the 1950s, I think. Among alternates, I'd probably advocate most strongly for Letter From an Unknown Woman and The Lady from Shanghai.

The Search is an absorbing and moving postwar drama, which avoids a lot of the potential for hokiness that the set-up (cute child and G.I. bond) could have involved. I especially like the fact that the experiences of Clift's character don't cause him to "learn" something -- the film dwells more in the haunting realities of wartime life than reductive character arcs. Still, the story is a bit on the simple side, and not as much of an emotional knockout as what the Neorealists were turning out in the same era.

A Foreign Affair is an interesting genre mash-up -- portions of the film's plot feel like a cousin of The Third Man, with its evocative depiction of war-ravaged Germany, and suspenseful plot sequences. But other aspects of the movie are straight-up romantic comedy, with the kind of witty dialogue typical of most Wilder efforts. I think the screenwriters do a very solid job of keeping the movie's story elements cohesive -- I'd be hard-pressed to argue whether or not this was more a Marlene Dietrich movie or a Jean Arthur movie -- but as others have said, Billy Wilder's career has much higher peaks.

If ever a movie felt both dated and still somehow biting, it's The Snake Pit. It clearly comes from a different era of psychology, and yet as a time capsule of how those suffering from mental illness were treated in this era, it remains quite horrifying to watch. When evaluating this as a script, I'd probably make the argument that the narrative isn't quite a structural wow -- it's more successful in terms of individual scenes than as a plot with real drive -- but a lot of those moments are memorable ones, and de Havilland's character is a richly detailed creation.

Johnny Belinda is the kind of movie where if you summed up the plot elements (deaf/mute adult, rape, unwanted pregnancy), you'd assume you were in for something really overwrought, like a Nova Scotia-set Peyton Place. And yet the script navigates these highly dramatic subjects in a manner that I think is quite thoughtful and sensitive, digging into many characters' lives in a well-rounded manner, and creating a portrait of a community that feels detailed and lived-in. I'm going to give the script a lot of credit for how much it gets right when you could imagine this material going very wrong.

But I view this award as basically a gimme for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which excels as a gripping suspense narrative, a fascinating character study of one man's descent into madness, and a rich thematic exploration of the effects greed has on human beings. The whole script is shot through with a bleak sense of cynicism -- cynicism which, as in The Maltese Falcon, was often laced with laugh-though-it-hurts irony -- and it's beautifully plotted up to its perfect final scene. You can see the movie's influence in so many contemporary films -- everything from Fargo to A Simple Plan to There Will Be Blood -- and that legacy helps make it my clear choice for Best Screenplay this year.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1948

Post by Big Magilla »

I thought I had done this one. Yes, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, followed byThe Snake Pit, The Search, Johnny Belinda and A Foreign Affair in that order pretty much for the same reasons Mr. T cites although I probably have a greater affection for the latter than he does.

Wilder revisited Dietrich's character in this to an extent in the flashback scenes in Witness for the Prosecution and of course did the whole Berlin thing all over again in One, Two, Three, albeit to a sharper degree. Dietrich pretty much eviscerates Jean Arthur here as she would Jane Wyman two years later in Hitchcock's Stage Fright, proving that you should never cast her as the second female lead - either give her a starring role or reduce her scenes to a cameo as in Touch of Evil and allow her to play all her scenes opposite leading men, never leading ladies.
Mister Tee
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Re: Best Screenplay 1948

Post by Mister Tee »

Force of Evil and Letter from an Unknown Woman are the two additions for which I'd most vigorously advocate.

The group as it stands is rather solid, certainly by comparison to some recent years.

Johnny Belinda is a bit of a melodrama, but it's got a number of nice touches along the way, and never sinks into the turgid. It's a perfectly solid contender.

A Foreign Affair is second-tier Wilder -- maybe even halfway to third-tier -- but only because the rest of his resume is so sparkling. On its own, A Foreign Affair is a perfectly well-crafted, witty and perceptive view of post-war reconstruction. It's nice it got this recognition.

I already discussed The Search under original. If I didn't view it as the strongest choice in the somewhat weaker original category, I certainly won't be choosing it here.

I've always held a rather high view of The Snake Pit. People over the years have referred to it as dated, and, certainly, there are moments in the asylum sections that verge on the baroque. But I find the film's treatment of deHavilland's neurosis remarkably detailed for the era. Consider that, a decade later, The Three Faces of Eve was still peddling the old "one primal trauma caused all the trouble" nostrum. The Snake Pit, by contrast, sees the neurosis developing by fits and starts -- one detail following on another to create a complex portrait. I also like the moment near the end, when deHavilland says she knew she was getting better when she realized she wasn't really in love with the doctor. Transference is a commonly-enough discussed matter today, but in 1948 -- hell, in 1968 -- it was rarely mentioned. These small touches are part of the reason why I like the movie more than many; I see it as a strong runner-up.

But my choice -- and the Academy's, and that of most so far here -- is John Huston's great adaptation of Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The film is an exciting enough adventure saga, but even more a fascinating probe into the dark heart of Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs -- seeing a guy who's been a loser most of his life get consumed by greed when success and riches finally come into his orbit. The film's got a rich atmosphere despite its studio settings, a glorious villain in Alfonso Bedoya's "stinking badges" outlaw, and one of the great characters Walter Huston ever got to play. A terrific film, 1948's best, and the easy choice for adapted screenplay.
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Best Screenplay 1948

Post by Big Magilla »

With the 1948 awards, the Academy decided to drop the original screenplay category. It lasted one year.

Original Story became Motion Picture Story and Screenplay apparently still meant Adapted Screenplay but could now include screenplays from original stories by the same writers considering that The Search which won the Oscar for Best Motion Picture Story was also nominated for Best Screenplay by the same two writers. Had this been any other year from 1940 to the present it would have been considered for Story and Screenplay or Original Screenplay. It was the only nominee that hadn't had a prior incarnation. The other nominees ran the gamut from short story (A Foreign Affair) to novel (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) to play (Johnny Belinda) to fairy tale (The Red Shoes). The WGA (Writers Guild of America) avoided the distinction altogether when they began handing out screenplay awards the following year. Their awards were split between genre - drama, comedy, western and musical, regardless of source.
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