No preamble, folks. The nominees for Best Story and Screenplay Not Adapted from Material Previously Produced and/or Published are....
Showing posts with label Terry Southern. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terry Southern. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Monday, July 11, 2011
From One Author to Another: Adapted Screenplay, 1964
Let us begin our journey the way all movies begin: with a script. Let us, specifically, focus on the scripts inspired by other tales, taking as their inspiration novels, plays, musicals and children's books. The year 1964 was a year of consensus: not only were Best Picture and Best Director five for five, but Adapted Screenplay was drinking the Kool-Aid as well. All five of the Best Picture nominees were adapted, and all five found themselves up against each other in yet another category. From the dramatic to the comedic, the historic to the fantastic, here are your Best Adapted Screenplays of 1964:
It works so smoothly as cinema that it's hard to believe this was a play...in French! The action is opened up seamlessly, allowing for a great use of horses (horses!), coronations, discovery of dead bodies...you know, stuff that is probably only discussed on stage. It's wickedly funny, too.
Strangelove's strength is in taking a very serious book on a very serious subject and playing it for sardonic laughs. You're giggling at the absurdity of the American President and the Russian Premier discussing how little or often the other calls just to chat, and before you know it you realize that the world really does rest on the shoulders of people who are just as insecure and fallible as any of us. It tells a joke to tell the truth.
This could have been just a series of vignettes, but the creation of Bert, the emphasis on Mr. Banks, and the development of that moderation/balance theme make the story flow more naturally. They've done a swell job making Mary both stern and kind, Mr. Banks strict and loving, and Bert just the coolest guy on Earth. And it cannot be stressed enough how great it is that they wrote kids who act like kids.
As much as I love the movie, I can't really award its screenplay in good conscience. It's the full libretto for the stage version, but instead of "ACT ONE - SCENE 3: HIGGINS' STUDY" we get "INT. HIGGINS' STUDY - DAY". Hardly a challenge. Give it a Tony, but not an Oscar.
Zorba has a lot of interesting things to say about life, love, humanity, war, sex, etc. The characters are strongly developed and consistent. There's some subtle work here -- look at the silent characters of the widow and her admirer's father. Good stuff, though I will ding it points when it comes to Basil. I don't get his romance with the widow or his laughter at Madame Hortense or his behavior at all.
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Oscar gave Becket its only win in this category, and while that screenplay is certainly high-fiveable, there can be only one...
Edward Anhalt for Becket, from the play by Jean Anouilh
****
It works so smoothly as cinema that it's hard to believe this was a play...in French! The action is opened up seamlessly, allowing for a great use of horses (horses!), coronations, discovery of dead bodies...you know, stuff that is probably only discussed on stage. It's wickedly funny, too.
Stanley Kubrick, Peter George and Terry Southern for Dr. Strangelove, from the novel Red Alert by George
****
Strangelove's strength is in taking a very serious book on a very serious subject and playing it for sardonic laughs. You're giggling at the absurdity of the American President and the Russian Premier discussing how little or often the other calls just to chat, and before you know it you realize that the world really does rest on the shoulders of people who are just as insecure and fallible as any of us. It tells a joke to tell the truth.
Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi for Mary Poppins, based on the books by P.L. Travers
*****
This could have been just a series of vignettes, but the creation of Bert, the emphasis on Mr. Banks, and the development of that moderation/balance theme make the story flow more naturally. They've done a swell job making Mary both stern and kind, Mr. Banks strict and loving, and Bert just the coolest guy on Earth. And it cannot be stressed enough how great it is that they wrote kids who act like kids.
Alan Jay Lerner for My Fair Lady, based on the musical by Lerner and Loewe and the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
**
As much as I love the movie, I can't really award its screenplay in good conscience. It's the full libretto for the stage version, but instead of "ACT ONE - SCENE 3: HIGGINS' STUDY" we get "INT. HIGGINS' STUDY - DAY". Hardly a challenge. Give it a Tony, but not an Oscar.
Michael Cacoyannis for Zorba the Greek, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis
***
Zorba has a lot of interesting things to say about life, love, humanity, war, sex, etc. The characters are strongly developed and consistent. There's some subtle work here -- look at the silent characters of the widow and her admirer's father. Good stuff, though I will ding it points when it comes to Basil. I don't get his romance with the widow or his laughter at Madame Hortense or his behavior at all.
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Oscar gave Becket its only win in this category, and while that screenplay is certainly high-fiveable, there can be only one...
WALSH & DAGRADI
for
MARY POPPINS
a spoonful of talent helps the competition GO DOWN
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