Your favorite adapted/original screenplay

[skimpole]

I'm going to use this thread to list my choices by For Best Adapted/Original Screenplay.  However looking at it, I realize that while the adapted screenplay has always existed, the best original screenplay only began in 1940.  There was an Academy Award for best story which goes back to 1927/1928, and which lasted until 1956. 

Adapted screenplay 1927/1928:  Three nominees

1928/1929 Eleven nominees

1929/1930-1930/1931 Five nominees

1931/1932-1935  Three nominees

1936-Present Five nominees

Original Screenplay

1940-Present  Five noninees

Best Story

1927/1928  Two nominees

1929/1929-1929/1930 No award

1930/1931 Five nominees

1931/1932 four nominees

19321933-1934 Three nominees

1935 Four nominees

1936-1956 Five nominees

 

 

[skimpole]

Before I begin,  you'd think that the best picture of the year would also be a strong contender for the best director, best lead performance, and best relevant screenplay.  That isn't always the case:

Wings, Sunrise, The Broadway Melody, nominated for nothing.

All Quiet on the Western Front loses to The Big House, when it appears the award is being given to the best overall screenplay, though there is still a best story award.

Cavalcade, Grand Hotel not nominated.

Mutiny on the Bounty loses to The Informer. 

The Great Ziegfeld loses best story to The Story of Louis Pasteur, which also wins best screenplay.

You Can't Take it With You loses to Pygmalion. 

Rebecca loses to The Philadelphia Story

How Green was my Valley loses to Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

More unsuccessful best picture nominees later.

[skimpole]

Gentleman's Agreement loses adapted screenplay to Miracle on 34th Street

Hamlet is not nominated at all.

All the King's Men loses adapted screenplay to A Letter for Three Wives. 

Ben-Hur loses adapted screenplay to Room at the Top.

West Side Story loses adapted screenplay to Judgement at Nuremberg.

Lawrence of Arabia loses adapted screenplay to To Kill A Mockingbird

My Fair Lady loses adapted screenplay to Becket

The Sound of Music is not nominated at all.

[skimpole]

Oliver! loses adapted screenplay to The Lion in the Winter

Rocky loses original screenplay to Network. 

The Deer Hunter loses original screenplay to Coming Home.

Platoon loses original screenplay to Hannah and Her Sisters.

Unforgiven loses original screenplay to The Crying Game.

Braveheart loses original screenplay to The Usual Suspects

The English Patient loses adapted screenplay to Sling Blade.

Titantic is not nominated at all.

[skimpole]

Gladiator loses original screenplay to Almost Famous.

Chicago loses adapted screenplay to The Pianist.

Million Dollar Baby loses adapted screenplay to Sideways.

The Artist loses original screenplay to Midnight in Paris

The Shape of Water loses original screenplay to Get Out.

[skimpole]

OK, I'm going to start with 1940, since it's the first year with original screenplays:  I might go back in time, although the difficulty of finding which film is nominated in which year before 1934 is such a hassle. 

Adapted Screenplay

Charles Lederer, His Girl Friday, based on the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur

Donald Ogden Stewart, The Philadelphia Story, based on the play of the same name by Philip Barry

Ted Sears, Otto Englander, Webb Smith, William Cottrell, Joseph Sabo, Erdman Penner and Aurelius Battaglia, Pinocchio, based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Nunnally Johnson, The Grapes of Wrath, based on the novel of the same name by John Steinbeck

Samson Raphaelson, The Shop Around the Corner, based on the play Perfumiere by Miklos Laszlo

Original Screenplay

Joe Grant, Dick Hummer, Fantasia

Charles Chaplin, The Great Dictator

Emeric Pressburger, Contraband

W.C Fields, (as "Mahatma Kane Jeeves"), The Bank Dick

Howard Koch, Seton I. Miller, The Sea Hawk

[skimpole]

I should point out that while two of the seven sequences in Fantasia are clearly inspired by the music about, five are not.  I should add that I have not seen Angels Over Broadway, Foreign Correspondent (best original screenplay nominees), Arise my Love, Comrade X (best original story).

[skimpole]

Now it's time for 1941

Best Adapted Screenplay

John Huston, The Maltese Falcon, based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett

Nat Perrin, Warren Wilson, Alex Gotlieb, Helzapoppin', based on the play of the same name by H.C. Potter

Otto Englander, Joe Grant, Dick Huemer, Dumbo, based on a toy storyline by Helen Aberson, Harold Pearl

Preston Sturges, The Lady Eve, based on the story "Two Bad Hats" by Monckton Hoffe

George Bernard Shaw, Marjorie Deans, Anatole de Grunwald, Major Barbara, based on the play of the same name by Shaw.

Best Original Screenplay

Herman K. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles, Citizen Kane

Aeneas McKenzie, Wally Klein, Lenora J. Coffee, They Died with Their Boots On

Preston Sturges, Sullivan's Travels

John T. Neville, Prescott Chaplin, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break

Walter Reisch, R.C. Sherriff, That Hamilton Woman

I have not seen The Devil and Miss Jones, Tall, Dark and Handsome, Tom, Dick and Harry (original screenplay), Night Train to Munich (original story)

 

[skimpole]

Now it's time for 1942!  The distinction between adapted and original screenplay is still a little wonky since for three of the Academy's nominations for best adapted screenplay that year, 49th Parallel/The Invaders, The Talk of the Town and The Pride of the Yankees, seem to have no independent existence outside a studio lot.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

Orson Welles, The Magnificent Ambersons, based on the novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington

Vincent Lawrence, Horace McCoy, Gentleman Jim based on the memoir The Roar of the Crowd  by James J. Corbett

Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, The Man Who Came to Dinner, based on the play of the same name by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman

James A. Fields, Jerome Chodorov, My Sister Eileen, based on their play of the same name

Laurence Stallings, The Jungle Book, based on the story collection of the same name by Rudyard Kipling

Best Original Screenplay

Preston Sturges, The Palm Beach Story

Robert Buchner, Edmund Joseph, Yankee Doodle Dandy

Melchiir Lengyel, Edwin Justus Mayer, To Be or Not To Be

Tadao Ikeda, Yasujiro Ozu, Takao Anai, There was a Father

Peter Viertel, Joan Harrrison, Dorothy Parker, Saboteur

 

I have not seen One of our Aircraft is Missing, Wake Island, The War Against Mrs. Hadley (original screenplay) or Holiday Inn (original story)

[skimpole]

Now it's 1943! This may change if I ever find enough movies from this year that I truly like.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard E. Koch, Casablanca, based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison

Carl Theodor Dreyer, Poul Knudsen, Mogen Skot-Hansen, Day of Wrath, based on the play Anne Pedersdotter by Hans Wier-Jenssen

Samson Raphaelson, Heaven Can Wait, based on the play Birthday by Leslie Bush-Feteke

Curt Siodmak, Adrel Way, I Walked with a Zombie, based on the article of the same name by Inez Wallace

Paul Osborn, Hans Rameau, Walter Reisch, Madame Curie based on the novel of the same name by Eva Curie

 

Best Original Screenplay

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger,  The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, Alma Reville, Shadow of a Doubt

Maya Deren, Meshes of the Afternoon

Pierre Laroche, Jacques Prevert, Lumiere D'Ete

Noel Coward, In Which we Serve

I have not seen Princess O'Rourke, So Proudly We Hail (original), Holy Matrimony (adapted), Action in the North Atlantic (story).  I think I've seen The North Star, but I can't be sure.

[skimpole]

Now it's time for 1944:

Best Adapted Screenplay

Raymond Chandler, Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity, based on the novel Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain

Jay Drafter, Samuel Hoffenstein, Elizabeth Reinhardt, Laura, based on the novel of the same name by Vera Cropsey

Irving Brecher, Fred L. Finkelhoffe, Meet me in St. Louis, based on the novel of the same name by Sally Benson

Jules Furthman, William Faulkner, To Have and Have Not, based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway

Clive Brook, Terrence Young, On Approval, based on the play of the same name by Frederick Lonsdale

 

Best Original Screenplay

Sergei Eisenstein, Ivan the Terrible (Part One)

Preston Sturges, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, A Canterbury Tale

Albert Valentin, Charles Spaak, Le Ciel est a Vous

John Steinbeck, Lifeboat

I have not seen Two Girls and a Sailor, Wing and a Prayer (original screenplay), A Guy Named Joe, None Shall Escape, The Sullivans (original story)

[skimpole]

Now it's time for 1945.  Here is Best Original Screenplay:

Jacques Prevert, Children of Paradise
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, I Know Where i'm Going!
Sergio Amidei, Federico Fellini, Rome: Open City
Irving Brecher, Yolanda and the Thief
Alvah Bessie, Objective Burma!

[skimpole]

And here's the award for Best Adapted Screenplay: 

Martin Goldsmith, Detour, based on his novel Detour: An Extraordinary Tale
Robert Bresson, Jean Cocteau, Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, based on the novel Jacques the Fatalist, by Denis Diderot
Ronald MacDougal;, Catherine Turney, Mildred Pierce, based on the novel by the same name by James M. Cain
Robert Nathan, Joseph Schrank, The Clock, based on the story by Paul and Paula Gallico
Dudley Nichols, Scarlett Street, based on the novel La Chienne by Georges de La Fouchardiere

I have not seen Marie-Louise, Dillinger, Music For Millions, Salty O'Rourke, What Next, Corporal Hargrove (original screenplay), Pride of the Marines (adapted screenplay), The House on 92nd Street, The Affairs of Susan, A Medal For Benny (original story)

[skimpole]

Now it's time for 1946.  Here's Best Adapted Screenplay

Jean Renoir, A Day in the Country, based on the short story of the same name by Guy de Maupassant
Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Jo Swerling, It's a Wonderful Life based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern
William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, The Big Sleep based on the novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler
Robert E. Sherwood, The Best Years of Our Lives based on the novella Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor
Jean Cocteau, Beauty and the Beast based on the fairy tale by Gabrrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve

[skimpole]

And here's Best Original Screenplay:

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, A Matter of Life and Death
Ben Hecht, Notorious
Leo de Laforgue, Helmut Kautner, Walter Ulbrich, Under the Bridges
Sergio Amidei, Adolfo Franci, Cesare Giulia Viola, Cesare Zavattini, Shoeshine
Jo Eisinger, Marion Parsonnet, Gilda

I have not seen The Seventh Veil, Road to Utopia (original), Vacation from Marriage, The Dark Mirror, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (story)  Children of Paradise won the year before while Rome: Open City was nominated the previous year.

[skimpole]

Now it's time for 1947.  Here is Best Adapted Screenplay:

David Lean, Ronald Neame, Anthony Havelock-Allen, Great Expectations, based on the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens
George Seaton, Miracle on 34th Street, based on a story by Valentine Davies
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Black Narcissus, based on the novel of the same name by Rumer Godden
Daniel Mainwaring, Out of the Past, based on his novel Build my Gallows High
Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jean Ferry, Quai des Orfevres, based on the novel Legitime Defense by Stanislas-Andre Freeman

[skimpole]

And here is Best Original Screenplay

Charles Chaplin, Monsieur Verdoux
R.C. Sherriff, Odd Man Out
Cai Chusheng, Zheng Junli, The Spring River Flows East
Tadao Ikeda, Yasujiro Ozu, Record of a Tenement Gentleman
Richard Brooks, Brute Force

I have not seen The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, A Double Life (original) A Cage of Nightingales, It Happened On Fifth Avenue (story)

This is the first year (going back to 1940) where neither winner is my best picture of the year.

[skimpole]

And here's 1948, which is the one year since 1940 not to have a best original screenplay award. 

So here's my Best Original Screenplay:

Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours
Roberto Rossellini, Max Kolpe, Sergio Amidei, Germany, Year Zero
Leo McCarey, John D. Klorer, Ken Englund, Good Sam
Yasujiro Ozu, Ryosuke Saito, A Hen in the Wind
Robert J. Flaherty, Frances H. Flaherty, Louisiana Story

[skimpole]

And here's Best Adapted Screenplay:

Arthur Laurents, Rope, based on the play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton
Cesare Zavattini, The Bicycle Thieves, based on the novel of the same name by Luigi Bartolini
Borden Chase, Charles Schnee, Red River, based on the short story "The Chisholm Trail" by Borden Chase
Orson Welles, The Lady From Shanghai, based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Keith Winter, The Red Shoes, inspired by the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen

[skimpole]

Now it's 1949.  Here is Best Original Screenplay:

Henri Marquet, Rene Wheeler, Jacques Tati, Jour De Fete
Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzu Kikushima, Stray Dog
Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin, Adam's Rib
Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani, Gianni Puccini, Bitter Rice
John C. Higgins, Border Incident

[skimpole]

And here's Best Adapted Screenplay

Kogo Noda, Yasujiro Ozu, Late Spring, based on the novel Father and Daughter by Kazuo Hirotsu
Ruth and Augustus Goetz, The Heiress, based on their play of the same name
Adolph Green, Betty Comden, On the Town, based on their musical of the same name, co-written with Leonard Bernstein
William Templeton, Lesley Storm and Graham Green, The Fallen Idol, based on the short story "The Basement Room" by Graham Greene
Mel Dinelli, Robert E. Kent, Henry Garson, Robert Soderberg, The Reckless Moment, based on the short story "The Blank Wall" by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding

I have not seen Champion (Adapted), Jolson Sings Again, Passport to Pimlico, The Quiet One (original), The Stratton Story, Come to the Stable, It Happens Every Spring, The Sands of Iwo Jima (story).  The Bicycle Thieves was nominated the previous year
 

[skimpole]

Now it's 1950.  Here are my choices for Best Adapted Screenplay

Joseph L. Mankiewicz, All About Eve, based on the short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr
Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, The Flowers of St. Francis, based on the anonymous novels Little Flowers of Saint Francis and The Life of Brother Juniper
Jacques Natanson, Max Ophuls, La Ronde based on the play of the same by Arthur Schnitzler
Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Rashomon, based on the short story "In a Grove," by Ryonosuke Akutagawa
Andrew Solt, Edmund H. North, In a Lonely Place, based on the novel of the same name by Dorothy B. Hughes

[skimpole]

And here's Best Original Screenplay

Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr., Sunset Blvd.
Graham Greene, The Third Man
jean Cocteau, Orpheus
Luis Alcoriza, Luis Bunuel, Los Olvidados
Sergio Amidei, Gian Paolo Callegari, Art Cohn, Renzo Cesana, Stromboli

I have not seen The Men (original), Panic in the Streets, Mystery Street, When Willy Comes Marching Home (Story), while Bitter Rice and Adam's Rib were nominated the previous year

[skimpole]

Now it's 1951  First, here's Best Adapted Screenplay

Milt Banta, Del Connell, William Cottrell, Joe Grant, Winston Hibler, Dick Huemer, Dick Kelsey, Tom Oreb, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldim, Ted Sears, John Walbridge, Alice in Wonderland, based on the novel of the same name by Lewis Carroll
Jean Renoir, The River, based on the novel of the same name by Rumer Godde
Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica, Suse Cecchi D'Amico, Mario Chiari, Adolfo Franci, Miracle in Milan, based on the novel Toto Il Buono by Cesare Zavattini
Robert Bresson, Diary of a Country Priest, based on the novel of the same name by Georges Bernanos
Raymond Chandler, Whitfield Cook, Czenzi Ormonde, Strangers on a Train, based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith
 

And here's Best Original Screenplay

Koga Noda, Yasujiro Ozu, Early Summer
Alan Jay Lerner, An American in Paris
Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, Walter Newman, Ace in the Hole
"Hugo Butler" (a.k.a. Dalton Trumbo), The Prowler
George Worthing Yeats, Art Cohn, The Tall Target

I have not seen David and Bathsheba, Go For Broke, The Well (original), Detective Story (adapted), Seven Days to Noon, Bullfighter and the Lady, The Frogmen, Here Comes the Groom, Teresa (story)

[skimpole]

And now it's 1952:  Here is Best Original Screenplay:

Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Singin' in the Rain

Cesare Zavattini, Umberto D

Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Ikiru

Charles Chaplin, Limelight

Garson Kanin, Ruth Gordon, The Marrying Kind

Somewhat unusually, this was an easier for original screenplay.

 

And here is Best Adapted Screenplay: 

Orson Welles, Othello, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare

Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, Forbidden Games, based on the novel The Secret Game by Francois Boyer

Yoshikata Yoda, The Life of Oharu, based on the novel The Life of an Amorous Woman by Saikaku Ihara

Carl Foreman, High Noon, based on the short story "The Tin Star," by John W. Cunningham

Frank S. Nugent, The Quiet Man, based on the short story "Green Rushes," by Maurice Walsh.

 

I have not seen Five Fingers, (adapted), The Atomic City, Breaking the Sound Barrier (original), The Pride of Saint Louis, The Sniper (story).