Pages

Friday, December 14, 2012

Best Screenplays: 1940s

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1940: The Philadelphia Story (Donald Ogden Stewart)
Oscar winner: The Philadelphia Story (Donald Ogden Stewart)

1941: The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)
Oscar winner: Here Comes Mr. Jordan (Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller)
Was this nominated?: Yes

1942: The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
Oscar winner: Mrs. Miniver (George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, and Arthur Wimperis)
Was this nominated?: No

1943: Casablanca (Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch)
Oscar winner: Casablanca (Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch)

1944: Double Indemnity (Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder)
Oscar winner: Going My Way (Frank Butler and Frank Cavett)
Was this nominated?: Yes

1945: Brief Encounter (Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean, and Ronald Neame)
Oscar winner: The Lost Weekend (Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder)
Was this nominated?: Yes

1946: The Best Years of Our Lives (Robert E. Sherwood)
Oscar winner: The Best Years of Our Lives (Robert E. Sherwood)

1947: Out of the Past (Geoffrey Homes)
Oscar winner: Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton)
Was this nominated?: No

1948: The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles)
Oscar winner: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston)
Was this nominated?: No

1949: The Bicycle Thief (Cesare Zavattini, Suso D'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Oreste Biancoli, Adolfo Franci, and Gerardo Guerrieri)
Oscar winner: A Letter to Three Wives (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Was this nominated?: Yes (only Zavattini was credited)

Best Original Screenplay:

1940: The Bank Dick (W.C. Fields)
Oscar winner: The Great McGinty (Preston Sturges)
Was this nominated?: No

1941: Citizen Kane (Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles)
Oscar winner: Citizen Kane (Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles)

1942: Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges)
Oscar winner: Woman of the Year (Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner, Jr.)
Was this nominated?: No

1943: Shadow of a Doubt (Gordon McDonell, Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville)
Oscar winner: Princess O'Rourke (Norman Krasna)
Was this nominated?: Yes (won for Best Original Story)

1944: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges)
Oscar winner: Wilson (Lamar Trotti)
Was this nominated?: Yes

1945: I Know Where I'm Going! (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
Oscar winner: Marie-Louise (Richard Schweizer)
Was this nominated?: No

1946: Notorious (Ben Hecht)
Oscar winner: The Seventh Veil (Muriel Box and Sydney Box)
Was this nominated?: Yes

1947: Monsieur Verdoux (Charlie Chaplin)
Oscar winner: The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (Sidney Sheldon)
Was this nominated?: Yes

1948: The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
Oscar winner: The Search (Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler)
Was this nominated?: Yes (for Best Motion Picture Story)

1949: The Third Man (Graham Greene)
Oscar winner: Battleground (Robert Pirosh)
Was this nominated?: No (wasn't eligible until 1950)

Note: Oscar winners listed in the Best Adapted Screenplay category are actually the Best Screenplay winners, since the Adapted Screenplay category didn't exist yet.

Updated: 9/10/14

6 comments:

  1. Saw The Maltese Falcon recently, the screenplay and dialogue are terrific, I love when a story has twists and turns, and is unpredictable.

    I also watched Double Indemnity and Out Of The Past this year, the former is the more famous, but I think the later impressed me the most in terms of dialogue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love all three films and their respective screenplays.

      I prefer Double Indemnity's screenplay over Out of the Past's, but the dialogue is great in both films.

      Delete
  2. Great to see Double Identity and Red Shoes here! Nice that many of those was actually nominated, apparently Academy used to have good taste :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm a big fan of both films. Haha. It's amazing what the Academy actually has nominated in the past.

      Delete
  3. Another terrific list! I need to rewatch Casablanca and Notorious.

    ReplyDelete