Best Screenplay 1954

1927/28 through 1997
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What were the best original and adapted screenplays of 1954?

The Barefoot Contessa (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
2
7%
Genevieve (William Rose)
2
7%
The Glenn Miller Story (Valentine Davies and Oscar Brodney)
0
No votes
Knock on Wood (Norman Panama and Melvin Frank)
0
No votes
On the Waterfront (Budd Schulberg)
9
31%
The Caine Mutiny (Stanley Roberts)
1
3%
The Country Girl (George Seaton)
0
No votes
Rear Window (John Michael Hayes)
11
38%
Sabrina (Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman)
2
7%
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich and Dorothy Kingsley)
2
7%
 
Total votes: 29

The Original BJ
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Re: Best Screenplay 1954

Post by The Original BJ »

The Original slate has some pretty dreary contenders. The blacklisted Salt of the Earth, while a bit raw on the craft level, at least still feels relevant today, unlike most of the actual nominees.

It's pretty baffling to see something like Knock on Wood nominated for major prizes -- it would be like if Spy had been nominated for Best Original Screenplay last year. But that's actually not fair to Spy, which for all its innate silliness, at least manages a pretty hefty dose of laughs. For me, Knock on Wood is just leaden, a not terribly clever spy plot peppered with strained attempts at physical humor. I barely even chuckled.

The Glenn Miller Story is yet another example in the long line of musical biographies that feel endless simply because there is just no conflict in the story. It's just a laundry list of things that happened, with little insight along the way, buoyed along solely by a great soundtrack.

I'm not sure where to start with The Barefoot Contessa. At a dialogue level, it's pretty purple -- like the first draft of a Mankiewicz script without any of the zing of his better efforts. But I don't know that it ever could have been great, because the plot itself is exceedingly lame stuff -- for a movie that clocks in at over two hours, there's very little actual story, and what's there is greatly unfocused. By privileging so many different characters' points of view, the film seems lost at determining what story it's actually telling.

Genevieve is definitely a lightweight thing -- the last section, especially, is little more than an extended chase sequence. But it's pretty consistently amusing, and the marital conflicts that drive the first portion of the plot are humorous without being sour. Not a major piece of writing, but a thoroughly likable one.

But On the Waterfront is so clearly the best nominee, it gets my vote in a walk. The script is full of fascinating characters, legendary dialogue, and a narrative that culminates in an ending of great emotional power. It's also pretty complex politically -- if you're able to pretend you don't know about the filmmakers' HUAC testimonies, the script doesn't come across like a reductive propaganda piece. As a portrait of mid-century labor relations, it's actually pretty nuanced -- the heroes and villains are clearly well-defined, but there's quite a bit of moral murkiness around the edges that makes the film feel bracingly fresh even today. The obvious choice.
Heksagon
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Re: Best Screenplay 1954

Post by Heksagon »

I can only vote in Adapted, and it’s an easy choice with Rear Window.

The Caine Mutiny is a good film also, and it would be my runner-up choice. I’m not particularly enthusiastic about the other nominees. The Country Girl and Sabrina are both helped by splendid casts, but the screenplays are far from great.

I have only seen Seven Brothers as a teenager. I don’t remember much about, but I’m confident in saying I wouldn’t vote for it even if I saw it again.
The Original BJ
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Re: Best Screenplay 1954

Post by The Original BJ »

My Adapted alternates would have been foreign entries -- The Earrings of Madame de..., Diary of a Country Priest, and if the Original Story candidates are considered eligible here, Forbidden Games.

I'm surprised by BOTH Mister Tee and Big Magilla's reaction to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers here. I'm puzzled anyone would so actively dislike the movie -- I find much of it a pretty charming and endearing musical comedy, at least until the brothers kidnap the brides in the last reel, and some groan-worthy gender politics set in. But I also could never go so far as to vote for it in this category -- I find the movie a far more impressive display of Stanley Donen's gift at mounting and filming choreography, most of all in the barn dance number, than great dramaturgy.

The Country Girl does a fairly cohesive job at blending numerous scripted elements (the melodrama of the romance, the social issue resonance of the alcoholism, the energy of the backstage milieu), and there is some strong dialogue from scene to scene. But I don't find the main arc of the plot to be particularly noteworthy, and in fact, the horrifying event from Kelly and Crosby's past didn't register to me as an especially inventive backstory at all. (Though I grant that it might have come off that way sixty years ago.) And, of course, it's a filmed play.

I was kind of dreading The Caine Mutiny -- my tolerance for men at sea movies from the '50's is pretty low -- but I admit to being pleasantly surprised by the level of wit involved in the writing, and I think the mutiny and trial sequence are pretty engaging as narrative. This isn't to say there's nothing stolid about the movie -- the audience surrogate protagonist character is mostly a wash, especially up against Bogart's malevolent captain -- and it, too, doesn't have the most original narrative, as much of it blends together in my mind with other mutiny movies from the era. But I think it's better written than it might have been.

I'm once again surprised that Magilla could dismiss Sabrina so quickly, as I actually thought about voting for it. And I also like it for the reason Mister Tee gave as a criticism -- Billy Wilder somehow manages to make this one of the most quintessential celebrations of Audrey Hepburn's bewitching charm, while at the same time injecting just enough cynicism into the proceedings to give it more gravity than your average airy romantic comedy. (With this film and The Apartment, Wilder practically mastered the art of making romantic comedies with a side of attempted suicide.) I think a lot of the dialogue just sparkles, and even if it's pretty clear which guy Sabrina will end up with in the end, the film explores the conflict they represent -- of materialism versus romantic passion -- in intelligent and entertaining ways throughout. Of course, I've voted for Wilder multiple times already, and will do so again, and this isn't one of his top-tier achievements, so...

I cast my vote this year for Rear Window, the year's best film, and one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest masterworks. As with so many of the director's movies, it can be easy for people to give him the majority of the credit, and certainly the directorial elements here are world-class. But the writing is pretty top-notch too, balancing a fiendishly gripping mystery plot (which culminates in that great, gasp-inducing moment of Kelly in the murderer's apartment), insightful commentary about the nature of voyeurism in urban society, a pretty winning romance, and memorable dialogue full of black humor (mostly spouted with perfection by Thelma Ritter). And the level of detail given to the apartments across the courtyard is sublime -- each one is like its own little mini-movie narrative. Many thrillers over the years have tried to recreate what Rear Window accomplished here, and a big reason is because the script is such an imaginative and effective piece of craft.
Mister Tee
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Re: Best Screenplay 1954

Post by Mister Tee »

I can’t come up with anything interesting as substitution on the original side, even though l find it a largely unimpressive lot.

Joe Mankiewicz had without doubt previously demonstrated an ability to write flavorful dialogue, but in The Barefoot Contessa (and in too much of his career that followed), he slipped into over-flavoring. His storyline by itself is on the silly side (the climax is something out of Harold Robbins), but it’s the ripe dialogue that really pushes the movie toward camp.

I mentioned, in regard to The Eddy Duchin Story, that I’d choose The Glenn Miller Story any day. This is not to be confused with preferring The Glenn Miller Story over an actually interesting movie. Strictly biopic territory, livened by some still great-sounding music.

My tolerance for Danny Kaye is pretty low in general; even in his best vehicles, like The Court Jester, I don’t truly like HIM. And Knock on Wood definitely isn’t in the laugh-class of Court Jester. It borrows its premise from Dead of Night, then spins an elaborate, “wacky” spy thriller that goes through all sorts of contortions. There are SOME funny moments – and that grudging fact makes this I guess the pinnacle of the Panama/Frank Oscar nominations. But nothing worth a vote

It’s now some time since I saw Genevieve, but my memory is of a genuinely funny movie -- more droll than laugh-out-loud, close in tone to New Yorker cartoons, but hugely enjoyable. It’s not a bad choice.

But, you know….On the Waterfront is here, and it’s the closest to a great movie of the bunch. Yes, knowing that Kazan and Schulberg thought of the film as justification for their HUAC testimony sours the feeling a bit, but this is just such a powerful film, with so many beautifully-written, legendary scenes, that I can’t imagine not giving it my vote.

As usual, I don’t know when certain overseas entries were eligible, but either of Ophuls’ Le Plaisir or The Earrings of Madame de… would be a welcome addition to the adaptation slate.

The writers nominated Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I had to type that to make myself believe it. Apologies to Magilla, but I find this movie insufferable – all that Manly Dancing and coy flirtation and snicker-snicker drives me mad. I understand this film was highly regarded in its day, but for me that ranks with Around the World in 80 Days in the “what was in their heads back then?” category.

When I was a high school freshman, I loved Wouk’s novel The Caine Mutiny, and this is a reasonably decent adaptation that reaches its peak in the mutiny and subsequent trial. 50 years on, I no longer find the moral aspects of the story as engaging – Greenwald’s excoriation of Keefer after the verdict verges on “my country right or wrong” and anti-intellectualism – but the basic story remains solid.

For me, Clifford Odets is a writer notable for historical reasons -- bringing Jewish family life and leftish social issues into the mainstream American theatre is a significant achievement, with Awake and Sing! and of course Golden Boy still performed to this day. But he’s one I’ve never really liked that much as a writer, and the plays that came along after his zeitgeist period – The Flowering Peach, The Big Knife and The Country Girl – to me display all his limitations without any of the offsetting immediacy. The film of The Country Girl benefits from strong performances, and is an easy enough watch, but it’s something like a soap opera in the end. And didn’t deserve its win. (Interesting-to-me trivia note: I looked up the original Broadway production, which won Uta Hagen a Tony, and found the Holden part was played by Steven Hill, who only achieved mainstream prominence almost four decades later as the DA on Law & Order.)

Sabrina has its moments – some bright lines of dialogue, delivered with panache by a good cast. But its fairy-tale air doesn’t really mesh with Billy Wilder’s cynicism, and some of it feels labored. It’s not a painful thing to sit through, like some of the 60s/70s Wilders, but it’s not worthy here.

So, Rear Window is pretty much the only strong choice available. There could be some tendency to dismiss the film as “just a thriller”, or to view it, thanks to its undeniable visual panache, as more a triumph of directing than writing. But I’d argue that 1) the film offers sharp commentary on the separateness/loneliness of contemporary urban life; 2) the storyline – establishing the many personalities in the building opposite, setting up a slowly unfolding mystery – is sturdily crafted; and 3) in terms of pure dialogue, the Stewart/Ritter and Stewart/Kelly scenes are beautitully written. An overwhelming choice, in my view.
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Re: Best Screenplay 1954

Post by Big Magilla »

Original

Panama and Frank's Knock on Wood is a frantic comedy tailor made for Danny Kaye. I watched it for the first time about a year ago. I can't remember a thing about it. No vote from me.

Joseph L. Mankiwicz's The Barefoot Contessa is an overheated melodrama that I've never warmed to. No vote from me.

Valentine Davies' and Oscar Brodney's script for The Glenn Miller Story follows the conventions of the show biz bio. It's good, but not really exceptional. No vote from me.

It comes down to a choice between Genevieve and On the Waterfront.

William Rose's script for the British road comedy, Genevieve is more award worthy than Guess Who's Coming to Dinner for which he won thirteen years later, but it can't compare to Budd Schulberg's groundbreaking script for On the Waterfront, which gets my vote.

Adapted

This is a tough one.

The weakest among the nominees is Billy Wilder and company's script for Sabrina.

George Seaton's screenplay for Clifford Odets' play The Country Girl is well done even if the film doesn't hold up particularly well today.

Stanley Roberts' adaptation of Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny is about as godo as an adaptation of a mammoth novel can be.

John Michael Hayes' screenplay for Rear Window is wonderfully written it's Hitchcock and the cast (especially Stewart, Kelly and Ritter) that lift it to the stratosphere of great films.

Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich and Dorothy Kingsley wrote some wonderful scenes and dialogue for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It may be the songs and dances we remember best but without the sparkling dialogue leading into them they would just hang there. It get my vote in a coin toss with Rear Window.
Kellens101
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Best Screenplay 1954

Post by Kellens101 »

What were the best screenplays of 1954?
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