Best Screenplay 1937

1927/28 through 1997
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Among the nominees what was the Best Screenplay of 1937?

The Awful Truth (Vina Delmar)
7
58%
Captains Courageous (Marc Connelly, John Lee Mahin, Dale Van Every)
0
No votes
The Life of Emile Zola (Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, Norman Reilly Raine)
1
8%
Stage Door (Morrie Ryskind, Anthony Veillder)
2
17%
A Star Is Born (Alan Campbell, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker)
2
17%
 
Total votes: 12

The Original BJ
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Re: Best Screenplay 1937

Post by The Original BJ »

I'm in agreement that the great Make Way for Tomorrow surpasses the actual nominees.

The actual winner here is probably my least favorite of the bunch, as I think the script to The Life of Emile Zola falls into a lot of biopic trappings I just can't stand. The opening scenes are full of reductive storytelling (like the way the prostitute encounter leads to him writing Nana), and though the narrative certainly becomes more engaging once the Dreyfus affair takes over, the film depicts the whole trial sequence with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. And the ending is ridiculous, the kind of thing you know immediately had to have been invented for the movie, because the coincidence seems far too impossible to be real. I would happily take away this Oscar.

Captains Courageous falls into a genre -- men at sea movies -- that isn't remotely my thing. But I can acknowledge the movie works, with the central relationship between Tracy and the kid realized with genuine sensitivity. It's fairly obvious the bratty kid at the beginning is going to bond with Tracy over time, but the script depicts this progression with more nuance than I would have expected, and the ending is a genuine heart-tugger. But other nominees have far stronger writing credentials.

I've not read the play Stage Door, but my understanding is that it's pretty different from the film version. Regardless, what's on screen has a lot of fun wise-cracking humor, and gives a bunch of memorable actresses the opportunity to play off one another. I don't think it's a great-great comedy -- it doesn't quite have the zing as the best in the genre from this era -- but it's plenty entertaining, with some added emotional heft along the way, as it doesn't shy away from exploring the more unsettling aspects of what life in show biz can do to a young woman.

At this point, A Star is Born has been remade (unofficially and not) so many times, it's amazing this first version holds up at all. (And maybe even "first" isn't the right word, if you the acknowledge the similarities to What Price Hollywood?) I had seen the musical version first, and I'd say that I definitely find the Garland/Mason rendition of this material overall more memorable. But I was nonetheless still plenty engaged with Gaynor/March's story, the lively depiction of 1930's Hollywood, and of course, the emotional ending.

The Awful Truth, though, is such a gem of a romantic comedy, it gets my vote easily. (I see I've joined the clear board consensus as well.) This script has a great premise -- I'm only now just realizing how many movies over the decades have mined humor out of stories of divorced couples getting back together. But this film did it best, with a lot of strong dialogue, and plenty of entertaining sequences depicting Grant and Dunne trying to destroy one another, while falling in love all over again at the same time. The "As long as I'm different...maybe things could be the same again...only different?" scene is classic romantic comedy writing -- off-kilter enough to make the viewer laugh, but human enough to touch the heart as well. It's the clear Best Screenplay choice.
Greg
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Re: Best Screenplay 1937

Post by Greg »

Big Magilla wrote:Although it meanders a bit and spends more time on the Dreyfus case than it took in Zola's life, the winner here, The Life of Emile Zola, was nevertheless the reason why the film was made in the first place. It is easily the best of the numerous biopics of the era.
I remember in some poll I did about our favorite Oscar-winning pictures that The Life Of Emile Zola just made my top-ten list. I was surprised that BJ said he was less than impressed by it.
Big Magilla
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Re: Best Screenplay 1937

Post by Big Magilla »

These were all fine choices.

The winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, A Star Is Born, pales a bit in relationship to the other nominees in this category in that it is an overly familiar story now, but it is expertly written and in some ways better than the 1954 version which has become the gold standard by which all versions are now measured against. A deserved nominee, but not the best choice.

Although it meanders a bit and spends more time on the Dreyfus case than it took in Zola's life, the winner here, The Life of Emile Zola, was nevertheless the reason why the film was made in the first place. It is easily the best of the numerous biopics of the era.

My only problem with Captains Courageous has always been Spencer Tracy's tortured Portuguese accent, but I liked his performance despite it. He and the rest of the cast bring out the best in Kipling's stalwart characters and the screenplay does them full justice.

The quick witted Stage Door is a gem from start to finish. I'm not sure if the once-in-a-lifetime cast makes it as it as brilliant a piece of work as it is or whether the material was itself as wryly funny and ultimately moving on the page, but I do know that the stage version had one great star in Margaret Sullavan, whereas the film version has a screenful of them. I'm assuming, rightly or wrongly, that the screenplay was therefore even more sparkling than the original play.

The jewel among the nominees, however, is Vina Delmar's screenplay for The Awful Truth. In retrospect, she, like Leo McCarey, should have won for Make Way for Tomorrow instead, but it is a damn fine consolation prize she was nominated and should have won for.
Big Magilla
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Best Screenplay 1937

Post by Big Magilla »

The poll is open.
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