Best Screenplay 1944

1927/28 through 1997
Post Reply

What were the Best Original and Adapted Screenplays of 1944?

Hail the Conquering Hero (Preston Sturges)
4
15%
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges)
6
23%
Two Girls and a Sailor (Richard Connell, Gladys Lehman)
0
No votes
Wilson (Lamar Trotti)
1
4%
Wing and a Prayer (Jerome Cady)
0
No votes
Double Indemnity (Raymond Chandler, Billy Wilder)
9
35%
Gaslight (John L. Nalderston, Walter Reisch, John Van Druten)
1
4%
Going My Way (Frank Butler, Frank Cavett)
0
No votes
Laura (Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Elizabeth Rheinhardt)
3
12%
Meet Me in St. Louis (Irving Brecher, Frank F. Finklehoffe)
2
8%
 
Total votes: 26

The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: Best Screenplay 1944

Post by The Original BJ »

The Original Screenplay lineup this year made me severely call into question my commitment to viewing all the nominees for these polls, because man, there are some LOUSY movies here. Thank god for the pair of gems at the top of the ticket.

Is Two Girls and a Sailor the worst nominee in this category's history? It's certainly in the running. A bunch of (mostly unexciting) musical numbers surrounded by a lame-ass plot that's so silly I sat there stupefied by the entire affair. I can get that the war movies the writers kept nominating in this era had more appeal in their time than they do now; I can't begin to fathom the appeal of this.

Which is not to say that the WWII movie they DID nominate is much better. I swear, in the coming years, all of the war films I've watched these past few months for these polls are just going to meld together in my mind into some kind of elephantine, endless mush of a WWII movie, with parts of one film utterly undistinguishable from the one next to it. All of this is to say that Wing and a Prayer is a totally generic film of this ilk, with nothing interesting about the writing in terms of plot, character, or dialogue, and merits no consideration.

I find Wilson to be a giant bore, yet another in the long line of biographies from this era that dutifully check off incidents in its protagonist's life, while naturally omitting any aspect that would complicate the hagiography. I imagine, given the double-digit nominations this movie received, it was the easy winner here. It's another one I reject without a second thought.

Were "TIE" an option, I'd say just give it to Preston Sturges for his pair of triumphs and call it a day. But a choice needs to be made -- I see we've basically split right down the middle, as it probably should be. Hail the Conquering Hero is a perfect example of comedy being used to explore a subject with decent weight, and the zippy ways in which Sturges lampoons the excesses of American patriotism, military heroism, and the political sphere provide plenty of laughs along with substance.

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek deals with similar milieu -- small-town American life, G.I.s home from war, impersonated identities, local politics -- and blends them together into perhaps an even more wildly inventive comic plot. As everyone has said, it's amazing to see humor of this kind in a 1940's movie -- the first time I saw it, I remember thinking... Trudy Kockenlocker? NO ONE put the kabosh on that? This level of subversion runs through the film from beginning to end, making it feel delightfully fresh even today. A very funny script, and in the apples/apples comparison of wartime Sturges movies, it's my preference by an inch.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Screenplay 1944

Post by Big Magilla »

Gas Light (two words) was the original title of Patrick Hamilton's play when it opened in London in 1938. The screenplay for the 1940 British film, Gaslight expanded the play to include the murder of Diana Wynard's aunt by Anton Walbrook 20 years earlier and add several additional characters, but was darker in tone than the 1944 Hollywood version and closer in style to the play.

The play opened as Angel Street on Broadway in 1941 with Vincent Price and Judith Evelyn in the leads. The 1940 British film was suppressed by MGM but was released by them internationally in 1946. The play was performed on radio in 1945 as Gaslight with Boris Karloff and Helen Hayes. It was revived on Broadway in 1948 with Jose Ferrer and Uta Hagen and again in 1975 with Michael Allinson and Dina Merrill.

When the British film was released by Commercial Pictures in the U.S. in 1952 it was called Angel Street presumably to avoid confusion with the 1944 film.

Warner Bros. released a long out-of-print DVD with both versions but when Warner Archive reissued the 1944 version they did not include the 1940 version as a bonus. That version has since been released on DVD and more recently on Blu-ray in Europe.
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: Best Screenplay 1944

Post by The Original BJ »

Well, my main issue with Gaslight is just that it's not Double Indemnity, but no, I'm not familiar with the source material, and yes, I should probably not dismiss theatrical adaptations when I don't really know what I'm talking about.

Thanks for the warning about Two Girls and a Sailor -- that just about sounds like my worst nightmare...which god knows, I will probably still put myself through.
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Best Screenplay 1944

Post by Mister Tee »

I can come up with a whole bunch of other 1944 films I find suitable for screenplay nominations: The Seventh Cross, The Uninvited, Experiment Perilous, Phantom Lady, Ministry of Fear, It Happened Tomorrow. The problem? They’re each and every one adaptations (I had to check IMDB to verify this), and the adaptation slate, while maybe not perfectly matched to my taste, is completely defensible. The original slate…well, I’ll get to that.

First, the adaptations.

BJ, I wonder if you’re familiar with the Patrick Hamilton play upon which Gaslight was based (called Angel Street during its long NY run; Gaslight in London). Though it shares the film’s basic premise, in many ways It’s quite different – not just in structure (with all the play’s action taking place in, I believe, one day) but in detail and tone: the play doesn’t take itself very seriously – it’s much closer to penny dreadful/pure thriller (I worked on a production in college, and the Boyer character’s last-act entrance brought hisses from the audience) – and much of the background material (like Bergman being Boyer’s student) is missing. Even perhaps the film’s most famous ploy – Boyer convincing Bergman she’s misremembering the night they’re to go out – doesn’t exist in the play. As it happens, I’ve always preferred the play to the film (possibly because I got so familiar with it from that college exposure): the film strikes me as straining to apply psychological realism to material that’s pulp at its core. But my point here is, if your main issue here with the film is its dependence on source material…you may be surprised by just how much work was done on it.

I already dealt with Going My Way in the Original Story category. Fond as I am of it, it can’t compete, in writing terms, with the heavy hitters in the rest of the category.

Musicals had been nominated previously in the less-competitive original screenplay category, but Meet Me in St. Louis was the first to make it in the tougher field of adaptation (it was another ten years – till Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – before it happened again). This is a fitting tribute to what was probably the best film to come out of the legendary Freed unit during the 40s: a tribute to small-town life that didn’t overlook dark elements lurking below the surface. Quite a beautiful film, but, as BJ says, not dominated by its writing, so not my choice here.

Laura can clearly be appreciated for the quality of its dialogue – nearly every line out of Clifton Webb’s mouth is a gem -- and for its host of well-drawn characters. But (SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO’VE NEVER SEEN LAURA) if you want to put focus on the element of the film that most qualifies it for consideration here, you have to cite the plot, specifically the mid-film twist. I’ve seen/read an enormous number of mysteries over the last 50 years; truly, I get pleasure out of the mildest efforts. But a select few among those have story elements/concepts that truly give the work distinction – and even spark genre-imitators. Psycho, Murder on the Orient Express, The Usual Suspects – films like these are remembered far longer than other perfectly satisfying mysteries because they display ingenuity and creativity beyond the norm. And when Gene Tierney walks in the room, half an hour or more into this film where she’s been labeled dead, Laura (the film) joins that select group: the “Wow — didn’t see that coming” thrillers. I do wonder: Might audiences at the time have maybe guessed Tierney would return, given that she was the star of the film – or did they think her entire performance would be in flashback? In any case, it’s a wonderfully effective plot-element, and makes the film one of the most memorable in the genre. (Tangential item I’ve always loved: James Ellroy, who worked closely with cops in trying to solve his mother’s murder, said an inordinate number of cops have Laura as a favorite film, because it caters to their deepest fantasy: an ability to wish the beautiful victim back to life.)

For all those reasons noted above, I could, and would even like to, vote for Laura here. But…Double Indemnity is also present, and it just jumps to the head of almost any class. Like BJ, my first impulse in touting the film is just to throw out a sampler from its multitude of delicious lines – “I wonder if I know what you mean”/”I wonder if you wonder”…”You’re not smarter, Walter – just a little taller”…”How could I know that sometimes murder smells like honeysuckle”. More than any Chandler adaptation, this film captures the full flavor of Chandler’s dialogue and narration. And the film’s storyline is just incredibly solid – structured around, essentially, a love triangle (MacMurray caught between Stanywck and Robinson), and filled with so many memorable episodes along the way (each duly noted by BJ), culminating in a heartbreaking final scene between MacMurray and Robinson. Double Indemnity is perhaps the greatest of all hard-boiled movies, and I can’t possibly deny it my vote.

The Original category mostly pales next to the outstanding offerings under Adapted, but thankfully there are two scripts by the other great screenwriter of the era – offering us a chance this year to honor the two men side by side.

I haven’t seen Wing and a Prayer. BJ told us months ago it was on YouTube, and perhaps it was, then, but when I checked the other night, it was available only through the shady “give us your data” method. Normally, this would make me a non-voter, but I refuse to pass up a chance to vote for Sturges simply for yet another war movie I know couldn’t possibly compare.

I did manage to find Two Girls and a Sailor on YouTube. That this film got a nomination from the writers’ branch is simply mind-boggling. It’s basically a series of variety acts -- something for people dying to see Hollywood Revue again – loosely strung together with a barely-worth-it plot that’s so predictable, one wishes the word “predictable” had never been used before, so it could now be trotted out to apply only to this one pristine example. If there’s any value to the film, it’s a chance to see Lena Horne sing, or to catch Jimmy Durante enacting all his trademark bits (singing “Inka Dinka Doo”, saying both “Umbriago” and “Everybody wants to get into the act”). Your mileage may vary on whether that makes it worth enduring OVER TWO HOURS of this fluff.

Wilson is a moderately engaging but uninspired biopic that skirts over Wilson’s many deficiencies (notably his stone-cold racism) while highlighting his genuinely progressive achievements. The film has all the drawbacks of the genre, and nothing especial to recommend it beyond Zanuck’s clear admiration for the subject.

Bringing us to the two Sturges films, and the need to choose between them. Hail the Conquering Hero had the higher critical profile at the time (finishing second for both film and director with the NY critics), likely because it dealt with a semi-serious subject (one, as we noted back in 2006, also dealt with in Flags of Our Fathers). And it’s certainly got a number of Sturges-like laughs (my favorite: DEMAREST: Most establishments won’t let soldiers pay for their meals. Are you following me? WAITER: I’m ahead of you.) But, for me it doesn’t have the unbridled joy that Sturges at his comic best could bring.

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, though – that is one truly funny movie. As Magilla says, it’s always been a mystery how this film ever got past the Hays Office bluenoses – starting with, how did the name Kochenlocker slip through? The plot – a solder-crazy small town girl being tricked into drunken sex – would seem to violate everything the censors stood against. But, somehow, Sturges’ frantic comic invention made it all acceptable. There are more laughs than you can count in this movie, and some truly inspired lines (NORVILLE: I remember the dance. You said you had fun there, Trudy. TRUDY: Well, I did – but some kinds of fun last longer than others, if you know what I mean.) And the plot just spins wilder and wilder till it reaches its outrageous conclusion (a conclusion that was more topical back then, when Dionne madness was within recent memory). A lot of people I know pick Sullivan’s Travels as Sturges’ high-water mark, and I certainly admire much about that film. But Morgan’s Creek is, for me the peak of what he could achieve – the epitome of the sophisticated pleasure he offered that still feels fresh seven decades later. A solid vote for the Miracle.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Screenplay 1944

Post by Big Magilla »

Makes sense.

If memory serve,s I saw the 1968 TV movie with Lee Radziwell, Robert Stack, George Sanders, Arlene Francis and Farley Granger before I saw the original. Again, if memory serves, the Truman Capote-Thomas Phipps version had the multiple narrations.

Poor Rouben Mamoulian. He would only complete two more films (1948's Summer Holiday and 1957's Silk Stockings) and be fired from his last two attempts, Porgy and Bess (replaced again by Preminger) and Cleopatra (replaced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz).
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: Best Screenplay 1944

Post by The Original BJ »

Big Magilla wrote:Laura remains one of the greatest murder mysteries ever written, but why did it take three writers to adapt Vera Caspary's lean novel?
Some years back, I was the researcher for a Laura-related project. Here's some info that I plucked from my research about the development process of Laura, and what all those writers (plus uncredited Ring Lardner, Jr.) provided.

Vera Caspary turned down the offer to write the screenplay to Laura, lamenting, “I was sick and weary of an old passion. I’d worked too hard on the abandoned first play, the novel, the second play that had been re- and re-written, and I had heard the various ideas of the directors who had hoped to do the play. (CONCEALED FOR SPOILERS) Let Laura stay dead in the first act, I said. I’m through with her.”

Novelist Jay Dratler, who had studied at La Sorbonne, was chosen to write the adaptation of Laura because of his sophisticated and urbane background. By Oct. 30, 1943, Dratler had finished a first draft of the script. He remained faithful to the novel in terms of character, plot, and structure, even keeping the device of having Waldo, Mark, and Laura narrate sections of the script.

On Nov. 1, 1943, Darryl F. Zanuck sent Preminger five typed pages of notes on the first draft of Laura, stating, “Laura is a mess. She is neither interesting nor attractive, and I doubt if any first-rate actress would ever play her…The only chance this picture has of becoming a big-time success is if these characters emerge as real, outstanding personalities. Otherwise, it will become nothing more than a blown-up whodunit.” He specifically wanted the characters to be more like those in The Maltese Falcon, and used that film as the bar by which he would measure Laura’s success.

After reading the first draft of the script, Vera Caspary had the following conversation with Preminger. Caspary: “Why don’t you give [Laura] the character she has in the book?” Preminger: “In the book, Laura has no character…Laura has no sex.” Caspary: “Perhaps you don’t know anything about love, Mr. Preminger.”

Screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr. was brought on to revise Dratler’s script. Lardner retained its structure but altered the dialogue in an attempt to satisfy Zanuck, fleshing out the character of Laura and giving Shelby more charm. Although Preminger was originally onboard as producer, Zanuck initially refused to allow him to direct the film. Lewis Milestone, John Brahm, and Walter Lang were all offered Laura, but all of them turned it down. Rouben Mamoulian, having had a recent success on the Broadway stage with Oklahoma!, accepted and served as Laura’s first director.

Mamoulian then brought on Samuel Hoffenstein and Betty Reinhardt to further rewrite Laura’s script. Their draft, finished April 18, 1944, contained several references to Waldo Lydecker’s homosexuality that were cut before shooting began. In the first description of Waldo’s apartment, the script says, “the camera pans the room. It is exquisite. Too exquisite for a man.” Later, Mark says, “You like your men less than one hundred percent, don’t you, Mr. Lydecker?”

The final screenplay reduced the number of narrators featured in the novel: Waldo narrates the first portion of the film, and Mark dominates the second, though he does not narrate. As a result, in the film, it is more difficult to place the characters’ motives. The film also erases Laura’s point of view.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Screenplay 1944

Post by Big Magilla »

Original

Two Girls and a Sailor - an obvious comedy, strictly for fans of June Allyson and Van Johnson.

Wing and a Prayer - a decent war film, typical of its era.

Wilson - one of the better biopics of its era, richly detailed and informative but it was against those two sly Preston Sturges comedies that got away with murder under the Production Code.

Hail the Conquering Hero - a brilliant satire on hero worship and patriotism is probably the overall better written of the two, but it isn't the jaw-dropper that The Miracle of Morgan's Creek was in its day and still makes us wonder how they got away with what they did. It gets my vote.

Adapted

Meet Me in St. Louis - my overall favorite film of the year, but its primarily the music and the unabashed wholesomeness that set it apart, not the writing per se.

Gaslight is brilliantly acted and directed, but the original 1940 British version, not released in the U.S. until 1952, has a tighter screenplay.

Going My Way certainly has its moments, particularly that strong finish, but I still maintain that the sequel was better.

Laura remains one of the greatest murder mysteries ever written, but why did it take three writers to adapt Vera Caspary's lean novel?

Double Indemnity is probably the best suspense thriller not directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It keeps you on the edge of your seat no matter how many times you see it. It gets my vote.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: 1944 Best Original and Adapted Screenplay

Post by Big Magilla »

ksrymy wrote:I'm floored that anybody could have voted for "Wilson" which is one of the worst movies ever nominated for Best Picture.
No, it isn't, and its Oscar winning screenplay is quite good, although perhaps not as impressive as either of the Sturges comedies, then or now.

Though not the masterpiece Zanuck was aiming for, and a box office failure in its day, it's one of the better biographical films of the period with strong performances by Alexander Knox as Wilson, Ruth Nelson as the first Mrs. Wilson and Geraldine Fitzgerald as the second Mrs. Wilson outshining the more colorful characterizations of a who's who of character actors of the day.

I just might vote for it myself.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Screenplay 1944

Post by Big Magilla »

The Original BJ wrote:Can I make a borderline OCD request? Can the title to this thread be changed to "Best Screenplay 1944"? After some time has passed, there's virtually no way to find anything in these historical threads without alphabetizing all the post titles, and this one won't pop up in order with the other screenplay polls unless it's changed. The spelling of the word "Original" in the Original Story 1944 thread is also incorrect, which will also cause alphabetization problems. I truly don't mean to be obnoxious about this, and hope it doesn't come off that way -- just trying to do anything to make it easier to find old threads around here, particularly when the search function isn't terribly useful.
Not borderline OCD at all. They were goofs on my part. I fixed both and also changed Best Motion Picture Story 1948 to Best Original story 1948.
ksrymy
Adjunct
Posts: 1164
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 1:10 am
Location: Wichita, KS
Contact:

Re: 1944 Best Original and Adapted Screenplay

Post by ksrymy »

I'm floored that anybody could have voted for "Wilson" which is one of the worst movies ever nominated for Best Picture.
"Men get to be a mixture of the charming mannerisms of the women they have known." - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Re: 1944 Best Original and Adapted Screenplay

Post by The Original BJ »

Because I'm already complete in the Adapted race, I'll pop in here to discuss that category while I catch up on some of the late '40's entries.

(Can I make a borderline OCD request? Can the title to this thread be changed to "Best Screenplay 1944"? After some time has passed, there's virtually no way to find anything in these historical threads without alphabetizing all the post titles, and this one won't pop up in order with the other screenplay polls unless it's changed. The spelling of the word "Original" in the Original Story 1944 thread is also incorrect, which will also cause alphabetization problems. I truly don't mean to be obnoxious about this, and hope it doesn't come off that way -- just trying to do anything to make it easier to find old threads around here, particularly when the search function isn't terribly useful.)

I actually think this is a pretty impressive roster, and don't have much objection to any of the actual nominees. Gaslight is a very strong thriller, with some tense suspense sequences, witty black humor, and a pair of dynamic central characters. It's the kind of play adaptation that works well on screen, simply because the claustrophobia of the setting aids rather than detracts from the cinematic incarnation. But I still have the usual difficulty voting for play adaptations, to say nothing of the fact that there are numerous scripts on the ballot -- even within the thriller genre -- that top this one.

Going My Way is a sweet movie. It's not a bracing piece of work -- it certainly doesn't have much bite to it -- but the screenplay manages to trot out sentiment without dipping too much into sentimentality, and the movie remains a humorous and poignant story about human goodness from beginning to end. The central relationship between Crosby and Fitzgerald is totally winning, and you'd have to have a heart three sizes too small not to be won over by the movie's final scene. Two writing awards, though, is probably overkill given the competition.

I love Meet Me in St. Louis, and think it's one of the best screen musicals ever, with a really moving narrative about the struggle to maintain tradition in a quickly changing world, with one family's story symbolizing that of an entire nation at the turn of the century. (Even the movie's opening image -- a car passing a horse-drawn carriage -- sums up the central thematic conflict in a single shot.) Still, as with so many musicals, what does one remember most, the screenplay, or "Meet Me in St. Louis," "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and, above all, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"?

Laura is a terrific mystery, with a very strong narrative -- it merits attention for the mid-film plot turn alone, a wonderful surprise that flips the entire movie on its head. But the script is rich on a thematic level as well, as the various characters negotiate their varying degrees of obsession with the title character. And the dialogue ("A doll in Washington heights once got a fox fur out of me"..."Self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention"..."I can afford a blemish on my character, but not on my clothes.") is among the wittiest hard-boiled language in any noir. In many years, this would be my enthusiastic choice.

But Double Indemnity is a nominee, and in my book, there are few scripts this decade that compare. Talk about great dialogue: the entire "How fast was I going, officer?" exchange, "I think you're swell, so long as I'm not your husband," and of course, "I killed him for money and a woman. And I didn't get the money, and I didn't get the woman" are pretty much all-timers in the film noir pantheon. And the plot is flawlessly constructed, full of tension-filled moments -- Stanwyck hiding behind the apartment door, the car horn, the car failing to start, the man standing outside the caboose, the witnesses in the office -- that just take your breath away. Even in a strong field, this is an easy winner, as Phyllis would say, straight down the line.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19319
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Best Screenplay 1944

Post by Big Magilla »

The poll is open.
Post Reply

Return to “The Damien Bona Memorial Oscar History Thread”