Best Motion Picture Story 1952

[Big Magilla]

Story writers are still eligible for Oscars, but along with the screenplay writer in Original Screenplay which makes much more sense than in a category of their own where their contributions have been blurred by the actual screenplay. Honoring both the story writer and the screenplay writer together makes it much easier on the voter who doesn't have to try and figure out who contributed what.

Does this mean that when movies are compared to each other as to how many Academy Awards they won, that one award should be deducted from the official total of films such as Going My Way and Here Comes Mr. Jordan, in that they won awards both for Best Story and Best Screenplay?

You can't change the rules retroactively but under the rules set in place in 1957 they wouldn't have won either because the award they would have been eligible for is Original Screenplay. Screenplay at the time of Going My Way and Here Comes Mr. Jordan's wins meant adapted screenplay, i.e. either adapted from a pre-existing source or a new story written by someone else. Only if the same person or persons had written both the original story and screenplay they would have eligible for Original Screenplay of 1941 and 1944 so Here Comes Mr. Jordan would have been competing with Citizen Kane for Original Screenplay which it would have most likely lost. Going My way would have been competing with Wilson which it most likely would have won.

[Greg]

Story writers are still eligible for Oscars, but along with the screenplay writer in Original Screenplay which makes much more sense than in a category of their own where their contributions have been blurred by the actual screenplay. Honoring both the story writer and the screenplay writer together makes it much easier on the voter who doesn't have to try and figure out who contributed what.

Does this mean that when movies are compared to each other as to how many Academy Awards they won, that one award should be deducted from the official total of films such as Going My Way and Here Comes Mr. Jordan, in that they won awards both for Best Story and Best Screenplay?

[Big Magilla]

Yes, based on storyline or plot, The Narrow Margin gets my vote as well. I think the only thing that makes The Greatest Show on earth stand out as far as story is concerned is the 11th hour mercy killing back story which must have been seen as one of those "how could they get away with that" scenarios at the time.

Story writers are still eligible for Oscars, but along with the screenplay writer in Original Screenplay which makes much more sense than in a category of their own where their contributions have been blurred by the actual screenplay. Honoring both the story writer and the screenplay writer together makes it much easier on the voter who doesn't have to try and figure out who contributed what.

[The Original BJ]

Ah, but was the crackling dialogue in the original story? I tend to think not.

Fair point, though I'd still pick The Narrow Margin on the rubric of best plot, which definitely would qualify as "story."

The WGA still hands out "story by" credits today, of course. Among recent Oscar nominees, Inside Out, Straight Outta Compton, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moneyball, and The Fighter received recognition for both those who wrote the story as well as those credited under screenplay (although the animated entry, of course, wasn't arbitrated by the WGA). In many cases today, "story by" credits are handed out to those who wrote an earlier draft of the script, which served as a foundation for the final product, but which was heavily rewritten by those who went on to receive screenplay credit. It's certainly possible that back then, there were also instances where there was no actual "story" written by anyone, but prior written material that influenced the final product and merited a separate credit different from "screenplay by." Which is to say, evaluating the category is probably a bit like evaluating Best Film Editing -- you'd probably have a more knowledgeable idea of actually what the editor/story writer contributed if you could see the work in the progress, but as in any other category, all you've got is the finished film.

[Big Magilla]

Ah, but was the crackling dialogue in the original story? I tend to think not. I also wonder if the writers' branch had access to the stories they were nominating or just going by their perceptions. Certainly the Academy at large did not have that kind of access. The 1957 combining of story and screenplay and elimination of this category was the best change the Academy ever made.

[The Original BJ]

Slates like this really make you wonder why anyone thought this category needed to exist.

The Greatest Show on Earth didn't deserve any awards (well, maybe Worst Way to Spend Three Hours), but of all the categories this bloated bore could have won, writing is probably the most outrageous.

So does EVERYONE famous need to have a biopic? Even if their life is a total bore as narrative? I thought the Pride of St. Louis had virtually zero incident, and barely any conflict. Even setting aside the question of whether or not true-life scripts merit "story" prizes, the actual plot beats here are just so mundane, even by biography standards.

I agree with Mister Tee that the infamous My Son John is likely the most interesting movie on the ballot. It probably had to be, given that it so directly addresses a subject many films of the era only alluded to, and because Leo McCarey is still the most talented filmmaker on this ballot, whatever issues this movie has. But, oh boy, does it have them! The first portion of the movie seems to be setting up a more nuanced treatment of the subject, as if the father's suspicions of his son's Communist leanings are mere paranoia -- had the story gone further down this road, it might have been something...well, I don't want to say good, but certainly something better. But instead, the messages in the second half start to land with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, culminating in the movie's bizarre final scene, which brings new meaning to the term speechifying. I also have to say I find much of the movie's script to be a very ragged thing -- for example, the early car accident scene seems to have NOTHING to do with the narrative set up to that point; watching it, you think, this is taking so much time, it has to be setting up something that will become more important later. But the writer in me just felt like there HAD to be a more organic way to set up that story thread so it didn't feel so clunky. The script is full of moments like this, which make the film feel like even more of a strange misfire when viewed sixty-plus years later. Certainly worth seeing as a product of its time, but nothing I could choose for writing prizes.

The remaining two films are the strongest on the list -- both are engaging thrillers, though clearly B-movies, and I'd use that term to describe both the budget and the quality, as neither is especially deep as drama. The Sniper actually seems like it COULD have probed the psychology behind its protagonist's actions in a much more interesting manner, but it remains mostly focused on the nuts and bolts of his crimes and the manner in which he eludes escape from the police rather than anything that might have elevated it above a simple cat-and-mouse story.

Like most, I ended up voting for The Narrow Margin, although that, too, doesn't necessarily excel on any deeply original thematic level. But what it does have is a story with some decent twists -- including a big third-act turn that I didn't see coming at all, yet had been set up throughout in a totally organic way -- and some crackling hard boiled dialogue ("You make me sick to my stomach." / "Well, use your own sink!"). Not a great choice -- both screenplay categories this year offer numerous stronger options -- but the most fully rewarding story in this lineup.

[Mister Tee]

Overall, a pretty lackluster group. Since I'll pretty much never understand what qualifies a film for inclusion in this category, I'll save alternate suggestions for the screenplay thread.

I did see The Pride of St. Louis, but it was way back in grade school; I can't say I recall it being anything special. Dizzy Dean was certainly quite famous in his day -- the Gashouse Gang Cardinals were pretty much the second most illustrious baseball team of the era, after of course the Ruthian Yankees -- and he was still widely enough known in the late 50s to be a mystery guest on What's My Line? (ON EDIT: I discovered belatedly that the movie was on YouTube, so I watched it last night. I see no need to revise my opinion: a completely routine sports biopic -- one that in fact has strong similarities to The Stratton Story, with which we'll be dealing in a few years. The most interesting thing was the sudden surprise appearance of Chet Huntley in the final reel.)

It took me three tries, over nearly 20 years, to finally make it through The Greatest Show on Earth. Even at my first attempt, at age 15, my reaction was a very strong "This piece of crap won best picture?".

My Son John is certainly not a good movie, but I find it a bad movie with a whole lot of interesting elements. Though its red-baiting stance forces it to make Walker's John a villain in the end, the script is close enough to the Arthur Miller-ish tradition that it makes the rah-rah father almost as repellent (and, in the early scenes, I was rooting for Walker all the way). Helen Hayes' mother is clearly the character we're meant to see as on the side of the angels, and she isn't right-wing at all -- she sees value in the share and share alike aspects of Communist economics, even while rejecting the totalitarianism. (This points up that, in that era, many of even the most ardent anti-Communists were New Dealers -- unlike post-1980.) I also find the climactic recorded lecture by Walker a fascinating gimmick -- I understand, it only came about because Walker had recorded the speech and but didn't survive to shoot the scene. But in this case, the filmmakers lucked into a concept more interesting than a straightforward delivery would have brought about... I'm not saying I LIKE this film or anything. But I find it a fascinating artifact -- probably more interesting than anything else on the slate.

The Sniper and The Narrow Margin are cut from the same cloth: low budget thrillers of the sort the writers' branch always appreciated more than the Academy at large. I don't think either is a truly exceptional example of the genre, but both are eminently watchable, and, in this shabby grouping, one of them has to be the choice. Like many, I've gone for The Narrow Margin, but if some one preferred The Sniper, I couldn't argue very vociferously.

[Big Magilla]

It's always a crap shoot voting in this category Inasmuch as the "story" could be anything from a brief outline of the story to a detailed synopsis of events. It's difficult to tell what voters considered when assessing this category.

My Son John is ludicrous anti-Communist poppycock from the usually great Leo McCarey. It deserves no consideration whatever.

The Pride of St. Louis was a hum-ho biography of baseball great Dizzie Dean. There's nothing special here.

The outline of The Greatest Show on earth probably sounded great. Too bad the film DeMille made of it wasn't, despite its hefty box-office take and mystifying Best Picture win.

The Sniper was an excellent early serial killer movie but it's been topped many times since.

The Narrow Margin remains a fresh and exciting noir, long considered one of the best of the genre. It's an easy choice.

[ksrymy]

I didn't get around to seeing My Son John recently.

The Greatest Show on Earth is an absolute piece of garbage.

The Sniper is pretty alright, but I think its psychology and dialogue are both pretty shallow.

The Pride of St. Louis is actually pretty good. I think Dan Dailey's performance is pretty swell, and the film avoids diving into hagiography. Dizzy Dean isn't a particularly noteworthy player in terms of popular culture, so the fact that they made a really interesting film about him is nice.

The Narrow Margin, like Detour and others, is B-noir at its best. A cop escorting a gangster's moll to the stand isn't too original, but, at this point, it probably was. The script is fresh and it feels rightfully claustrophobic. It's the easy choice.

[Big Magilla]

The poll is open.