Best Motion Picture Story 1955

1927/28 through 1997
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What was the best motion picture story of 1955?

Love Me or Leave Me (Daniel Fuchs)
1
8%
The Private War of Major Benson (Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher)
0
No votes
Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray)
11
92%
The Sheep Has Five Legs (Jean Marsan, Henri Troyat, Jacques Perret, Henri Verneuil and Raoul Ploquin)
0
No votes
Strategic Air Command (Beirne Lay Jr.)
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 12

Big Magilla
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Re: Best Motion Picture Story 1955

Post by Big Magilla »

Mister Tee wrote:Magilla, I truly doubt any Oscar voter in the time frame went through the mental gyrations you are in deciding who qualifies as responsible for the story. I figure they just voted for the script they liked best.
I'm sure they didn't either. They knew the difference between a "story" or "treatment" and a "screenplay". They were voting for the story, not the screenplay which started out in early talkies as "dialogue".

Basically the story would be "this happened, then that happened". The screenplay fleshes it out. What the adapter does in this situation, I have no idea.
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Re: Best Motion Picture Story 1955

Post by Mister Tee »

Magilla, I truly doubt any Oscar voter in the time frame went through the mental gyrations you are in deciding who qualifies as responsible for the story. I figure they just voted for the script they liked best.

I can't vote here, because, The Sheep Has 5 Legs. That's just as well, because I last saw both The Private War of Major Benson and Strategic Air Command back when I was in high school, and have negligible memories of either.

The remaining two aren't exactly models of screenwriting, either. Love Me or Leave Me is abusive showbiz bio with a side order of gangster film; I find the Cagney performance the only notable element.

Rebel Without a Cause is certainly famous, and emblematic of a certain part of the 50s. But I've never really taken it especially seriously. The acting elevates it, but much of it feels like the screenwriting equivalent of purple prose. I'd probably have to vote for it despite that, were I voting. But I'm not, so I can sit smugly in the corner and hurl spitballs.
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Re: Best Motion Picture Story 1955

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I've never seen The Sheep Has Five Legs. It's available on YouTube but you have to register with some unknown company in order to view it. It's available on DVD for under $10 at Amazon but reviewers complain it's a bad copy - fuzzy with white subtitles on white background so until it's available in a more watchable format, I'll pass.

Most conspicuous by its absence is All That Heaven Allows, which would be my choice over all the remaining nominees.

The Private War of Major Benson is a clever kid's film - enjoyable, but nothing (excuse the pun) "major".

Strategic Air Command is a well-made Cold War drama with James Stewart in top form. It's not a bad choice.

Rebel Without a Cause has a story by the film's director, Nicholas Ray, but then it has an adaptation by Irving Shulman and a screenplay by Stewart Stern, so I have no way of telling how much of Ray's original story ended up in his film.

My vote goes to Love Me or Leave Me. After wincing at the nominations for writing awards bestowed on Doris Day films from 1956 on, I have to say that this is both a superb rags to riches show biz story and a lacerating account of an abusive relationship. It's also the film for which D.D. should have gotten her only acting nomination. The Academy go this one right.
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Best Motion Picture Story 1955

Post by Kellens101 »

What was the best motion picture story of 1955?
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