Divorce, Italian Style (winner)
Freud
Last Year at Marienbad
That Touch of Mink
Through a Glass Darkly
What’s Missing
Once again, we have an embarrassment of riches for year and category, a pile of riches that is not clearly evident based on the five nominations. For whatever reason, the Oscar nominating committee was heavily into non-English films in 1962, at least in the Original Screenplay category. Even here, though, there are plenty of places to go. For instance, Cleo from 5 to 7 is a worthy film, as is An Autumn Afternoon. The Exterminating Angel was probably too weird for the Oscars, but I’d consider it. Staying in the foreign language area, Knife in the Water might get some consideration, but I’m saying that based on reputation since I haven’t seen it yet. A movie like Carnival of Souls doesn’t have much of a hope at the Oscars, and yet it manages to pull off an overused “twist” ending better than most. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is one of those cases where I’m not entirely sure if the film is eligible, but it’s worth considering. We can stick with westerns and bring up How the West was Won which seriously seems like a huge miss. The last one worth bringing up is Days of Wine and Roses, another film I’m a bit shocked to not see on the list.
Weeding through the Nominees
5. Anyone who knows me and/or this blog will not be surprised when Last Year at Marienbad ends up in last place here. This is the movie that officially turned the blog from a PG-13 rating to R, since that movie’s review caused a profanity-fueled rant from which there was no coming back. I hate this movie so much. While there are plenty of times when I simply disagree with a nomination, it’s rare that I’m this close to being offended by a nomination. Yes, I know this is a controversial opinion. I don’t care. This movie is shit.
4. The biggest problem with Freud is that it’s not very interesting. There are a lot of ways to make a film about Freud and his theories interesting and this film manages to avoid all of them. Some of this may well come from the rapidly-disintegrating world of Montgomery Clift at the time, which undoubtedly forced the film in particular ways. This is a film that I can’t imagine wanting to sit through a second time because there’s simply not enough here to warrant a second viewing. Freud deserved better, and that’s saying something.
3. I think it demonstrates the weakness of the actual nominations in a year this potentially rich that a flimsy nothing like That Touch of Mink is coming in third. There’s nothing really objectively wrong with the film for 1962, although it is ridiculously and painfully dated by today’s standards. But there’s no substance to this film. It’s airy and flighty and serves mainly as a showcase for Doris Day to be fashionable and for Cary Grant to be world-shatteringly wealthy. Beyond those two things, I remember almost nothing about it, and that bodes ill for a screenplay category.
2. Through a Glass Darkly is perhaps the quintessential Ingmar Bergman film in many ways. When I used to think of Bergman, I thought of that shot of Max von Sydow playing chess with Death (from The Seventh Seal) and everything I figured that entailed—existentialism, pain, slow-moving plots, angst, and black-and-white footage. Honestly, that’s so much more Through a Glass Darkly, an exploration of schizophrenia, than The Seventh Seal could ever be.
My Choice
1. Ultimately, Best Original Screenplay for 1962 puts me in a bit of a quandary. I would rework this set of nominations almost entirely, and Divorce, Italian Style would be one of the few films (perhaps the only) to make it to my list of nominations. And yet, this is one of those rare instances where the Academy nominated poorly in general but still managed to zero in on either the correct winner or a damn good one. In an open field, Divorce, Italian Style would be very much in the running for me; it still works and it’s still funny. It would compete with An Autumn Afternoon and Cleo form 5 to 7, but in cases like this, the tie always goes to the Academy.
Final Analysis
Oscar got it very right. You really do need to see The Days of Wine and Roses. Something for your un-list? Knife in the Water good as well. For me Harakiri is the best screenplay of the year but I see its based on a novel.
ReplyDeleteI may have been a little unclear in the first paragraph. I've seen Days of Wine and Roses. Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon were both nominated for it. Knife in the Water is the one I'm missing. Ironically, I own a copy of it; I just haven't watched it yet.
DeleteIf I for some reason had to be limited to English-only screenplays, Days of Wine and Roses would be a solid choice, as would The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
I think from the movie mentioned I would go for Cleo from 5 to 7 as this is one few new wave movies that actually worked for me. Through a Glass Darkly is good, but ultimately too gloomy.
ReplyDeleteCleo would definitely be in my set of nominations. I'm not sure it would win, but it would gain some consideration.
DeleteThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is based on a short story. I read it for school around fifth or sixth grade, probably at least a decade before I saw the movie.
ReplyDeleteI'm just sort of STUNNED that That Touch of Mink got a nomination for screenplay. I have a weird relationship with That Touch of Mink. It's pretty spectacularly stupid. It makes me mad! The jokes were outdated in the 1960s. I call my mom (she hates it too) and we just bag on it for an hour.
ReplyDeleteBut it's The Movie I Love To Hate in a way that other movie could ever aspire to. I love watching that great cast struggle with the banal fluffiness and the egregious stupidity of so many scenes in this movie. I've seen parts of it quite a few times but I've only seen it all the way through once.
I don't have much comment on the other nominees because I either haven't seen them or it's been a while. But among the un-nominated films to be considered, I would give it to The Exterminating Angel. I love that movie! It's been almost 30 years since I saw it and I think about it a lot. Quite possibly the best Mexican movie ever made.
One of the problems with films like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is that sometimes, they are based on stories that were never published, so it's not always easy to tell.
DeleteI suppose it says something about how much I hate Last Year at Marienbad and how boring Freud is that That Touch of Mink ended up in third place.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was published in 1953. It was written by the same woman who wrote A Man Called Horse.
DeleteFair enough. With a lot of these, especially in this era when movie studios employed writers to just write stories that would be turned into films, it's hard to tell specifically. And, truth be told, I'm not going to track down every possible "was it published?" question.
DeleteThat said, it's why I hang the question mark on instances like this, and the knowledge of others is really helpful in cases like this.
I'm at a slight disadvantage because I haven't seen Through a Glass Darkly yet but of the other four possibilities Divorce, Italian Style is really the only one that even merits consideration.
ReplyDeleteI will have to go back and read your take on Last Year at Marienbad. I hadn't seen your opinion so when I clicked on today's entry I feared that you might lavish it with praise and maybe even say it should have won. With relief I see its dead last (and shouldn't even be in the running!!). Good Lord I hated that movie with a passion like a hot white flame! It was like being trapped in the longest, dullest French perfume commercial imaginable. Just horrible.
Divorce, Italian Style wouldn't be my winner in an open field though. Since The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance isn't eligible, it would be my winner if it were, I like the suggestion of How the West Was Won. I love that film and have watched it many times but I'd choose Knife in the Water-something I admire but rarely revisit but which has a tight, exemplary screenplay.
I really need to get around to Knife in the Water one of these days. Days of Wine and Roses would get some consideration from me as well because I think it's a hell of a screenplay.
DeleteI'm not sure I'd nominate Through a Glass Darkly. I might, but it's on the edge. Divorce, Italian Style is a clear nomination, though, and I think I can argue it for the win. If nothing else, it's a 56-year-old comedy that still mostly works.
I'm 100% with you on Marienbad. Had to watch it for a podcast, and I was so mad at it just minutes in.
ReplyDeleteEvery now and then, I'm proud of my review titles. I'm proud of that one.
DeleteYeah, I'm with you. Cleo from 5 to 7, The Exterminating Angel, and Days of Wine and Roses (for sure) would be on my list. But Bergman would ultimately win out for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't greatly object to that. Bergman didn't always get a lot of Oscar love, and he should have received much more than he did.
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