Best Original Story 1948

1927/28 through 1997
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What was the Best Original Motion Picture Story of 1948?

Louisiana Story (Frances H. Flaherty, Robert J. Flaherty)
1
7%
The Naked City (Malvin Wald)
1
7%
Red River (Borden Chase)
6
43%
The Red Shoes (Emeric Pressburger)
2
14%
The Search (Richard Schweizer, Robert Wehcsler)
4
29%
 
Total votes: 14

The Original BJ
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Re: Best Motion Picture Story 1948

Post by The Original BJ »

Despite having the very word in the title, Story seems like a truly bizarre place to honor Louisiana Story. I think the movie is kind of interesting as a curio -- the documentary-like photography of the bayou setting gives it an authenticity that sets it apart from studio movies of the era. But as a plot it just doesn't amount to much, and a lot of the scripted scenes are pretty clunky.

The location shooting in The Naked City gives it a sense of verisimilitude that's exciting -- I certainly can't recall another film from the 1940s that shows off so much of New York in that era, which makes it compelling enough for historical purposes. But the story is pretty ho-hum, a fairly routine mystery that proceeds along without all that much narrative surprise along the way. Oh, and I know this probably doesn't count as "story," but I thought the voice-over throughout was really cheesy.

The Search, as previously discussed in the Screenplay thread, is a moving enough postwar drama that its prize here isn't objectionable. And yet, despite a sensitive handling of the material, there isn't a ton of wow to the plot, which as Magilla often reminds us, is what we're supposed to be evaluating here. (Side note: the same people nominated in this category were also nominated in Screenplay -- but I thought the Story category honored writers who DIDN'T write the film's screenplay? Or was that only in years with three writing categories? Will any of this ever make sense?)

The Red Shoes had a very weird Oscar haul -- it was well-liked enough to get 5 nominations including Best Picture, but missed in Director and Cinematography despite the visuals being the movie's supreme achievement. And then it got this writing nomination for one of its least impressive aspects. The film's story has an innate power to it -- the ending especially, from the big tragedy through the final performance of the show, is really gripping on an emotional level. But I find the central love triangle a bit wan, and remember the amazing dance sequences far more than the narrative.

Red River is one of the best westerns of the 1940s, an engrossing adventure centered around the fairly complicated adoptive father-son relationship between Wayne and Clift's characters. I might have preferred a more fatalistic ending -- the "you love each other!" scene doesn't exactly feel like the finale the movie has been heading toward -- but the oppressive, increasingly erratic behavior of Wayne's character throughout the cattle drive propels the story into some pleasingly thorny dramatic territory. This feels like the most substantive piece of writing of this batch, and it gets my vote.
Mister Tee
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Re: Best Motion Picture Story 1948

Post by Mister Tee »

I've been slow dealing with this one, because I don't have very strong feelings about who should win. Don't have any especially appealing alternates, either.

I finally caught up with Louisiana Story just a year or two back, and found it fairly underwhelming. The whole thing was just a bit wan -- not up to Flaherty's famous earlier efforts. And it was weird seeing a movie where oil company exploitation of the environment was seemingly viewed positively.

The Naked City is a watchable enough police procedural, most notable in its day for its extensive (at the time unusual) use of NYC locations. I certainly get a kick out of one shot that's about four blocks from where I live. But the story isn't all that inventive or special.

The Red Shoes goes for broke narratively, and has lots of interesting film-making along the way, but it's not one of my favorite Powell/Pressburger efforts.

The Search is a touching story, and presumably had great resonance for the many displaced people in the years just after the war. It doesn't tilt too far into the sentimental -- though that's something of a negative virtue. Not a bad winner, but nothing to be enthused about.

Unusually, for western-phobic me, I find myself gravitating to Red River as the most enjoyable and satisfying of the group. Part of my affection for the film is the contrast it offers to the authoritarianism for the typical John Ford western -- in a Ford film, Clift would probably have had to ultimately bow down to the superior wisdom of the tough-but-wise Wayne; here, it's pretty clear that Wayne's character is a jerk in a lot of ways, and the movie doesn't whitewash him. That fresh approach, and a generally strong narrative knit around the cattle drive, made Red River the rare western about which I have real enthusiasm, enough to get my vote.
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Re: Best Motion Picture Story 1948

Post by Big Magilla »

This one's a tough call for me. The storylines for The Red Shoes and Oscar winner The Search are certainly deserving, bit my vote goes by a hair to Red River, my favorite film of the three.
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Re: Best Motion Picture Story 1948

Post by Precious Doll »

This is an outstanding selection. The Search is my ultimate choice but 3 others (Red River, Louisiana Story & The Red Shoes would make equally deserving winners).
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Big Magilla
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Best Original Story 1948

Post by Big Magilla »

1948 was an anomaly. For the first and only time since Original Screenplay was introduced in the 1940 awards, there were no nominations and no wins in that category so next week's poll will be for Adapted Screenplay of 1948 only.

And now for best Motion Picture Story of 1948...
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