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Talking Pictures: Screenwriters in the American Cinema
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 19, 2015
Hey, mirror on the wall. Aaron Sorkin is not the fairest of em all. You only know his name because he has the highest paid publicist in Lalapoop. Author Corliss, sane critic of TIME, examines the input of screenwriters from 30s to 60s. Hollywood only gives respect to those onhand during filming, like DP, editor, and such. Writers are long gone when shoot begins. Yet no "bad" sc has ever made a good movie. Anti-auteurist Corliss debunks his auteur rigid pal Andy Sarris, who knew nada abt filmmaking. Kael, Dwight Macdonald, Hollis Alpert and many others scoffed at the Sarrisian rule: No auteur can make a baaad movie. (Sarris always found ways to defend the generally awful Otto Preminger post-"Laura.")
In this valuable book, a mix of criticism and reportage, Corliss explains that in Eur a dir always receives sc credit whether he wrote anything or not. By late 70s, Holly-idiots demanded and got the same. Here we have Ben Hecht, Preston Sturges, Geo Axelrod, Howard Koch, Ernest Lehman, Samson Raphaelson and a dozen others w their work examined. Film is the most collaborative of all the arts.
Lehman : After "No x NoWest" for Hitch (who never took sc credit), Lehman worked on junk. Still, Corliss calls
NxNW "the most successful original screenplay ever written for Hitchcock." The sc is an anthology of Hitch spy pix as well as their apotheosis. The dialogue recalls "the diamond-hard repartee of classical Hollywood." Lehman delivers his punch within the framework of light comedy.
"Sunset Blvd," says Corliss, is "the definitive Hollywood horror movie." I used to be big, preens Norma Desmond, it's the pictures that got small. (Today we know this line comes fr Chas Brackett ; Corliss makes error of attributing this to Billy Wilder). Hollywood of 1950 didnt realize that it was fatally ill, avers Corliss, that the studios would soon be turned into parking lots and malls.
"Charade" : steeped in ambiguities, intrigues and deceptions, concocted x writer Peter Stone.
"Singin' in the Rain" : from Comden & Green, "the best original screen musical."
"Citizen Kane" : It took 30 years for people to recognize the importance of writer Herman Mankiecicz on "Kane."
"Trouble in Paradise" : The very best, "Lubitsch's visual subtlety matches Raphaelson's verbal sophistication."
Gaston: Waiter..?
Waiter: Yes, Baron..?
Gaston: You see that moon?
Waiter: Yes, Baron.
Gaston: I want to see that moon in the champagne.
Waiter: Yes, Baron.
Gaston: As for you waiter, I dont want to see you at all.
Waiter: No, Baron.
The dialogue reps America in 1932. Can you image how it might read today?? Civilization marches backwards...
==
Since a biopic on writer Dalton Trumbo opens soon :
Says Corliss : "His screenplays deserve oblivion."
Here's an intelligent look at the movies -- your favorites. I don't think you'll ever see this Hollywood again. And Aaron Sorkin can cram his $7m per borink script on more feelgoodies.
In this valuable book, a mix of criticism and reportage, Corliss explains that in Eur a dir always receives sc credit whether he wrote anything or not. By late 70s, Holly-idiots demanded and got the same. Here we have Ben Hecht, Preston Sturges, Geo Axelrod, Howard Koch, Ernest Lehman, Samson Raphaelson and a dozen others w their work examined. Film is the most collaborative of all the arts.
Lehman : After "No x NoWest" for Hitch (who never took sc credit), Lehman worked on junk. Still, Corliss calls
NxNW "the most successful original screenplay ever written for Hitchcock." The sc is an anthology of Hitch spy pix as well as their apotheosis. The dialogue recalls "the diamond-hard repartee of classical Hollywood." Lehman delivers his punch within the framework of light comedy.
"Sunset Blvd," says Corliss, is "the definitive Hollywood horror movie." I used to be big, preens Norma Desmond, it's the pictures that got small. (Today we know this line comes fr Chas Brackett ; Corliss makes error of attributing this to Billy Wilder). Hollywood of 1950 didnt realize that it was fatally ill, avers Corliss, that the studios would soon be turned into parking lots and malls.
"Charade" : steeped in ambiguities, intrigues and deceptions, concocted x writer Peter Stone.
"Singin' in the Rain" : from Comden & Green, "the best original screen musical."
"Citizen Kane" : It took 30 years for people to recognize the importance of writer Herman Mankiecicz on "Kane."
"Trouble in Paradise" : The very best, "Lubitsch's visual subtlety matches Raphaelson's verbal sophistication."
Gaston: Waiter..?
Waiter: Yes, Baron..?
Gaston: You see that moon?
Waiter: Yes, Baron.
Gaston: I want to see that moon in the champagne.
Waiter: Yes, Baron.
Gaston: As for you waiter, I dont want to see you at all.
Waiter: No, Baron.
The dialogue reps America in 1932. Can you image how it might read today?? Civilization marches backwards...
==
Since a biopic on writer Dalton Trumbo opens soon :
Says Corliss : "His screenplays deserve oblivion."
Here's an intelligent look at the movies -- your favorites. I don't think you'll ever see this Hollywood again. And Aaron Sorkin can cram his $7m per borink script on more feelgoodies.
March 20, 2025
Riposte to Andrew Sarris' "American Cinema" is a compelling read.
March 13, 2009
Interesting alternative to auteur theory, centered on the fingerprints of the screenwriter over a body of work. Feels a bit dated, but The Schreiber Theory takes up this same thesis in a more modern context.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews