Re: Best Original Story 1939
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 3:26 pm
It probably says something about Hollywood that three of these Original Story nominees were eventually remade in one form or another.
Bachelor Mother (which re-emerged as Bundle of Joy) is an enjoyable enough romantic comedy. Not much to say about it beyond that.
I had the same experience with Love Affair that I did earlier with Lady for a Day/Pocketful of Miracles: seeing the bigger Technicolor remake long before I saw the original. This had a doubly-diluting effect: one's first experience with a story-line is almost bound to be the dominant one, favoring the remakes for me; and the remakes were (to my eye) more elaborate, making the earlier versions feel simpler/less powerful. In this case, though I can see Love Affair laid out the template, like BJ (I think it's what he's saying), I found An Affair to Remember simply more emotionally engaging.
Young Mr. Lincoln is Peter Bogdanovich's favorite movie of 1939, which to me illustrates just how far in the tank Bogdanovich was for John Ford. I find the film enjoyable enough as courtroom drama, but see no particular greatness in it.
Ninotchka's remake, Silk Stockings, took the circuitous route of first becoming a Broadway musical and then returning to the screen. To be honest, I've never been inspired to watch that version -- I can't imagine it living up to the original. I find most of Ninotchka wonderfully funny, with Billy Wilder wit and Lubitsch style.
But for once I'll apply the Magilla emphasis on story here: Ninotchka may be a better screenplay, but the storyline of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is as strong -- and as cynical, even if in the end hopeful -- as any movie made in its era. Capra as usual puts his hero through the Stations of the Cross -- bringing him to the brink of actual martyrdom -- before allowing the audience a narrow escape into a happy ending. The film famously offended both members of Congress and the even-more-thin-skinned press corps, and both deserved every whack they took. As I've noted here before, the heralded class of 1939 doesn't much impress me -- I find too many of the films on display impersonal/officially-designated art -- but Mr. Smith is one of the few of the group to merit its historical reputation. It gets my vote here.
Bachelor Mother (which re-emerged as Bundle of Joy) is an enjoyable enough romantic comedy. Not much to say about it beyond that.
I had the same experience with Love Affair that I did earlier with Lady for a Day/Pocketful of Miracles: seeing the bigger Technicolor remake long before I saw the original. This had a doubly-diluting effect: one's first experience with a story-line is almost bound to be the dominant one, favoring the remakes for me; and the remakes were (to my eye) more elaborate, making the earlier versions feel simpler/less powerful. In this case, though I can see Love Affair laid out the template, like BJ (I think it's what he's saying), I found An Affair to Remember simply more emotionally engaging.
Young Mr. Lincoln is Peter Bogdanovich's favorite movie of 1939, which to me illustrates just how far in the tank Bogdanovich was for John Ford. I find the film enjoyable enough as courtroom drama, but see no particular greatness in it.
Ninotchka's remake, Silk Stockings, took the circuitous route of first becoming a Broadway musical and then returning to the screen. To be honest, I've never been inspired to watch that version -- I can't imagine it living up to the original. I find most of Ninotchka wonderfully funny, with Billy Wilder wit and Lubitsch style.
But for once I'll apply the Magilla emphasis on story here: Ninotchka may be a better screenplay, but the storyline of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is as strong -- and as cynical, even if in the end hopeful -- as any movie made in its era. Capra as usual puts his hero through the Stations of the Cross -- bringing him to the brink of actual martyrdom -- before allowing the audience a narrow escape into a happy ending. The film famously offended both members of Congress and the even-more-thin-skinned press corps, and both deserved every whack they took. As I've noted here before, the heralded class of 1939 doesn't much impress me -- I find too many of the films on display impersonal/officially-designated art -- but Mr. Smith is one of the few of the group to merit its historical reputation. It gets my vote here.