Re: Best Screenplay 1936
Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 4:48 pm
Among alternates, I agree that Libeled Lady merited inclusion. As did Modern Times, which I assumed was eligible only here, because it doesn't have a separate writer credited for story...
...but neither does The Story of Louis Pasteur! The same two guys won BOTH the Original Story prize and the Screenplay prize. At this point, I'm completely perplexed by the eligibility requirements for these early writing categories. One thing I know to be true: Louis Pasteur didn't even merit ONE writing award, let alone TWO.
After the Thin Man hews pretty closely to the structure and formula of the first film -- you really get the sense that no one wanted to tamper with the mix of ingredients that proved successful the first time around. As a result, there's no way it could come off as fresh as the earlier movie, though the suitably twisty plot and engaging Powell-Loy dialogue make it engaging enough.
It's a limitation of the auteur theory that Robert Riskin never gets much credit for shaping the worldview espoused by so much of Capra's filmography, when he wrote so many of the director's key films. And Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is certainly a worthy piece of writing, a thoughtful and human comedy exploring the filmmakers' favorite theme: the nature of class in America. But I've picked Riskin before, and (spoiler alert!) will do so again, and I don't think this script reaches the heights of the other two nominees.
Choosing between Dodsworth and My Man Godfrey feels pointless, given that both movies are excellent pieces of writing that are practically polar opposites. Dodsworth is a sad movie, but it's not one that wallows in despair -- there's too much bite to the scenes of marital discord, and too much complexity in its portrait of human behavior, to ever be ponderous. And the characters here behave like real people in a manner that puts many films of the era, even the better ones, to shame.
And then there's My Man Godfrey, one of the zippiest comedies of all time, full of laugh-out-loud dialogue, a consistently surprising plot, and subject matter that taps into Depression-era themes in a resonant way. It's clearly not as bitter a film as Dodsworth, but I could never dismiss Godfrey as lightweight either -- it's got too much on its mind for that, despite its robust sense of humor.
As I said, choosing between them feels like something that would depend on my mood on any given day, but today I'll say that the sparkle of Godfrey's dialogue and cleverness of its plotting gets a slight edge, in recognition of the numerous comic classics from this era that were underappreciated in their time.
...but neither does The Story of Louis Pasteur! The same two guys won BOTH the Original Story prize and the Screenplay prize. At this point, I'm completely perplexed by the eligibility requirements for these early writing categories. One thing I know to be true: Louis Pasteur didn't even merit ONE writing award, let alone TWO.
After the Thin Man hews pretty closely to the structure and formula of the first film -- you really get the sense that no one wanted to tamper with the mix of ingredients that proved successful the first time around. As a result, there's no way it could come off as fresh as the earlier movie, though the suitably twisty plot and engaging Powell-Loy dialogue make it engaging enough.
It's a limitation of the auteur theory that Robert Riskin never gets much credit for shaping the worldview espoused by so much of Capra's filmography, when he wrote so many of the director's key films. And Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is certainly a worthy piece of writing, a thoughtful and human comedy exploring the filmmakers' favorite theme: the nature of class in America. But I've picked Riskin before, and (spoiler alert!) will do so again, and I don't think this script reaches the heights of the other two nominees.
Choosing between Dodsworth and My Man Godfrey feels pointless, given that both movies are excellent pieces of writing that are practically polar opposites. Dodsworth is a sad movie, but it's not one that wallows in despair -- there's too much bite to the scenes of marital discord, and too much complexity in its portrait of human behavior, to ever be ponderous. And the characters here behave like real people in a manner that puts many films of the era, even the better ones, to shame.
And then there's My Man Godfrey, one of the zippiest comedies of all time, full of laugh-out-loud dialogue, a consistently surprising plot, and subject matter that taps into Depression-era themes in a resonant way. It's clearly not as bitter a film as Dodsworth, but I could never dismiss Godfrey as lightweight either -- it's got too much on its mind for that, despite its robust sense of humor.
As I said, choosing between them feels like something that would depend on my mood on any given day, but today I'll say that the sparkle of Godfrey's dialogue and cleverness of its plotting gets a slight edge, in recognition of the numerous comic classics from this era that were underappreciated in their time.