Best Motion Picture Story 1956

[Big Magilla]

I couldn't tell you whether or not I've seen High Society as I haven't seen a Bowery Boys movie in decades. WPIX in New York used to run them whenever a Yankees game was rained out in the late 50s and early 60s. They were all pretty much the same. I own copies of all the rest, although neither I nor anybody else around is able to say how much of the story made it into the final screenplay. All we really have to go on is whether of not we liked the concept.

In any event I wouldn't vote for High Society anyway as it was a fluke nomination and should have been withdrawn by the Academy as per the writers' request. I wouldn't vote for The Proud and the Beautiful, lovely as it is, because the nomination was a cheat. It was not written for the screen. I certainly wouldn't vote for it over Umberto D..

[Precious Doll]

Probably no one outside of Precious Doll can cast an honest ballot here, since The Proud and the Beautiful remains obscure, and, even though I've seen more than one Bowery Boys movie, High Society remains among the missing for me (plus, of course, we know the voters didn't really mean to pick it).

The Proud and the Beautiful is out on Blu Ray in France (with English subtitles) in a gorgeously resorted print which I purchased and re-watched last year, though I first saw it back in the 1990's on television. It's also region free: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Les-Orgue ... ray/85427/

High Society is on DVD via Warner Archives. The problem is that is that it is part of The Bowery Boys Volume 2 box set which is a bit pricey just to watch one film, but what the hell I couldn't resist. I also purchased this last year (when thankfully the exchange rate was very good) and it was the only film in the Volume of films that I watched before selling them to a local second hand dealer.

High Society is mildly amusing, very slight and gave me no desire to watch any of the other films. The print was excellent. I imagine that all the Bowery films are probably the same but life is too short to actually find out.

[Mister Tee]

Probably no one outside of Precious Doll can cast an honest ballot here, since The Proud and the Beautiful remains obscure, and, even though I've seen more than one Bowery Boys movie, High Society remains among the missing for me (plus, of course, we know the voters didn't really mean to pick it).

The most interesting thing about The Eddy Duchin Story (well, not truly interesting, but notable) is, according to Wikipedia, Duchin wasn't all that well known in life. What he had was a number of quite famous friends, Cary Grant among them, who leaned on Harry Cohn to make a film of his tragically shortened life. Since the film ended up one of the top box-office hits of the year, it worked out well for Cohn -- not so much for audiences, who saw two hours of unhappiness with a sappy ending, and not even very interesting music (give me The Glenn Miller story any day). I'd actually managed to avoid this film my entire life till a month or two ago; my due diligence enables me to give it a big thumbs down.

The Brave One eluded me even longer: I only watched it on Labor Day. And when I say "watched", I mean forced myself to sit there as it played on my TV. Heart-warming little Mexican child, pet bull in peril, improbable intervention from on high -- if you were to assemble a list of ingredients
designed to make a movie unendurable for me, this would be it. Is it politically improper to say I never thought Dalton Trumbo was much more than a hack?

Umberto D. is such a clear winner of the three I've seen it barely needs explication. A simple story full of nuance; a story of loneliness that tells us much about the human condition. A beautiful film, among de Sica's best, and my easy choice were I voting.

[Precious Doll]

Umberto D. is the very easy choice here.

The Proud and the Profane is worthy nominee but the others are just fillers.

[Big Magilla]

No problem.

[Kellens101]

Yes, definitely. Sorry about that.

[Big Magilla]

And 1955 shouldn't go up for two weeks, otherwise this pace will just be impossible to keep up.

Agreed.

[The Original BJ]

And 1955 shouldn't go up for two weeks, otherwise this pace will just be impossible to keep up.

[Kellens101]

Oh sorry Big Magilla. I forgot that Motion Picture Story started this year. I will get it right for 1955.

[Big Magilla]

We may not get as many participants in this story awards category as a lot of the nominees are somewhat obscure and hard to find. to say nothing of the confusion as to what the category represents.

It is supposed to be the outline or treatment of the story that either the story writer or someone else will fashion into a screenplay, not the screenplay itself. These treatments were not published so none of us is going to know how much of the story was used or not used. But take heart, we're not the only ones confused. The writers themselves were often confused as this year's nominees prove.

The writers of High Society asked that their nomination be withdrawn because they realized their fellow writers confused their Bowery Boys comedy with another film with the same title, the box-off ice hit, High Society which was a musical adaptation of The Philadelphia Story. Why they would think an adaptation of The Philadelphia Story would be eligible for this award, no one knows.

There's also a ringer in the mix. The Proud and the Beautiful was not written by Jean-Paul Sartre as a motion picture story. It was part of a short story collection he had written over a decade earlier, but which was not yet published creating a loophole through which the nomination was able to slide.

Although Academy records now give credit to Dalton Trumbo for The Brave One, the Oscar was originally awarded to "Robert Rich".

The Eddy Duchin Story is a standard musical bio. Umberto D. is a masterpiece. For me it's an easy choice.