Best Screenplay 1938

1927/28 through 1997
Post Reply

What was the best among the 1938 Best Screenplay nominees?

Boys Town (John Meehan, Dore Schary)
2
17%
The Citadel (Ian Dalrymple, Elizabeth Hill, Frank Wead)
0
No votes
Four Daughters (Lenore Coffee, Julius J. Epstein)
0
No votes
Pygmalion (Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis, W.P. Lipscomb, George Bernard Shaw)
4
33%
You Can't Take It With You (Robert Riskin)
6
50%
 
Total votes: 12

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

Re: Best Screenplay 1938

Post by The Original BJ »

This is a tricky choice, because as in the Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? year, the best piece of writing also comes with an asterisk.

The writers also didn't do an especially good job here, omitting most of the best films of the year -- Grand Illusion, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Bringing Up Baby (though the latter obviously gained its strong reputation over time) -- all of which would have been superior to many (or even all) of the actual nominees.

Four Daughters is a strange movie, because most of it is totally silly, full of contrived storylines about young girls finding the perfect romance. But then John Garfield's character swoops in, and for a brief period, the film becomes something far darker and more complex, with a subplot that feels like it's out of a much different, more mature movie altogether. Had Garfield been the film's main character, perhaps this might have been a piece of writing worth choosing, but I can't just forget about everything else that surrounds him.

The Citadel is a more consistent, but pretty wan effort. The episodic plot line isn't that engaging, the tone throughout is fairly somber, and the narrative material feels similar to numerous biographies of doctors and scientists during the era, despite being based on fictional characters and events. It's far too distant and impersonal a piece of writing to get my vote.

I discussed Boys Town in the Story thread, and once again, my response is, it wouldn't be a terrible choice, but it just isn't really my style.

Now we come to the Pygmalion problem. It's clearly the best writing on option, a delightful romantic comedy of great literacy and sensitivity, translated to the screen in a manner that feels livelier than many theatrical adaptations of the era. But...if you've been following along...you know I have my issues with rewarding play adaptations here when not that much revision was done. So what are we looking at here? The party sequence, most obviously, was added for the film, and became such a memorable part of the story it made its way into My Fair Lady years later. There's a few montages of Eliza learning here and there. There's quite a bit of trimming down of the play. Oh, and the ending, with the famous "where the devil are my slippers, Eliza?" is different too. But is all of this enough new material to qualify? I'm not sure.

You Can't Take It With You is a play I know extremely well. Not only have I read it, but I acted in a production of it in high school, and have seen it performed on stage on other occasions as well. And one of my first thoughts when watching the movie was, wow, Capra and Riskin took the foundation of the play and really did their own thing with it, doing a fairly sizable restructuring and opening it up beyond the house with the entire trial sequence. You Can't Take It With You is not as strong a play overall as Pygmalion -- it's comedy of a broader sort. But there's a lot of funny dialogue along the way, and it has a lot of heart as well, in its story about the importance of connecting with people different from you and living life in the moment. Under the criterion that it's simply more of a screenplay, I'll give it my vote.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Re: Best Screenplay 1938

Post by Big Magilla »

These were all splendid screenplays in their day.

I already voted for Boys Town in Motion Picture Story - one writing award for that film in such strong company is enough.

Four Daughters was hugely successful, spawning several sequels and a popular remake, 1954's Young at Heart with Doris Day and Frank Sinatra in the roles created here by Priscilla Lane and John Garfield. Haunting and memorable, but not the best choice.

I'm not sure what the other contributors had to do with Pygmalion, but then I'm not sure what G.B. Shaw did either, other than allow his play to be filmed, so no vote from me here.

The Citadel is a mostly faithful adaptation of A.J. Cronin's novel which I read before I saw the film. The ending is strong, but it cops out on the book, which was even stronger. [SPOILER ALERT: It's not the central character's best friend (played by Ralph Richardson) who is hit by the bus and killed, bringing the good doctor (Robert Donat) back to his senses, but his wife (played by Rosalind Russell). END OF SPOILER]. For that reason it has to be content with runner-up status from me.

My pick is Robert Riskin's screenplay for You Can't Take It With You which improves on Kaufman and Hart's play, providing a great deal of Capraesque heart that was missing in the original.
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Best Screenplay 1938

Post by Big Magilla »

The poll is open.
Post Reply

Return to “The Damien Bona Memorial Oscar History Thread”