OVP: Best Original Screenplay (1931-32)
The Nominees Were...
Frances Marion, The Champ
Grover Jones & William Slavens McNutt, Lady and Gent
Lucien Hubbard, The Star Witness
Adela Rogers St. Johns & Jane Murfin, What Price Hollywood
My Thoughts: A lot of categories for 1931-32 we are skipping over. Editing, Makeup, Visual Effects, even Sound & Score...not categories in the 5th Academy Awards. But today we are going to be doing something we haven't done since we started this series-introducing a new category. From 1927 to 1956, the category of Original Story (also known as "Motion Picture Story," and "Best Story"...we'll call it "Original Story" in the title and "Motion Picture Story" in the tags to hopefully catch the largest number of curious readers) existed, for many years concurrently with the category of Original Screenplay. This led to some confusion (including by me) over what this exactly is. Based on my reading, the difference is largely that a screenplay is the finished product (including dialogue) that is used in the film, while the story is a broader based idea (similar to a film treatment) that outlines the concept of the film. That is how we're going to treat it (and also, because it's such a loose category, we're skipping it for the My Ballot even though we'll obviously do it every year for the OVP, but we'll get to that later). In 1931-32, there were four nominees.
The first of those nominees is maybe the most famous story of all time, at least when it comes to the Oscars, though you wouldn't know it at first. What Price Hollywood is the tale of a young waitress who rises from nothing to become the biggest actress in Hollywood, all while another man sees his power decline. Yes, What Price Hollywood is essentially the story of A Star is Born, so much so that RKO considered filing a lawsuit against David O. Selznick over plagiarism. But the film actually is a spin on the story, less a classic and more invested in the female lead than her male counterpart. The man who falls is not her lover, but instead just a friend, and the film's fresh takes on feminism are honestly refreshing for 1932.
Our second nominee is also playing with a classic story, one that would be remade later called The Champ. The concept of a washed-up boxer trying to prove his worth to his son was actually pretty refreshing in 1931, and the film plays it well. It's helped that Beery & Cooper have strong chemistry together, but the detailing with the story (the wealthy unknown mother, the juxtaposition of rich/poor, talent/no talent, and lost dreams) is really strong. The Champ is not a movie that I love as much as some of my friends (I am featured on an episode of Gilded Films podcast if you want to hear me talk about this movie and all of the 1931-32 Best Picture nominees more in-depth), but I am very aware of how strong the story is-this was a smart choice by Oscar.
We'll move next to The Star Witness, a nomination that I can't defend in nearly the same breath as the first two pictures. To give it credit, the gangster film had not yet reached its most formulaic spot in 1931. Films like The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, & Scarface all came out in a 15-month period between January 1931 and April 1932, and would be foundational for the genre until the 1970's...but this isn't those movies, and really it neither invites a lot of the tropes nor is it particularly strongly executed. It's hard to not judge the dialogue when it comes to story, but let's just say that isn't helping the matters either and the film feels rudimentary, even for a genre in its infancy.
The final nomination is Lady and Gent, which is a twist on the boxing trope, where a boxer's gal decides to adopt a young child, completely out of her nature. The movie is solid, don't get me wrong, but I don't know if it deserves a lot of credit for the story, but more so the great work by Wynne Gibson as the picture's lead. It does have a bit of Pre-Code naughtiness (if you ever wanted to hear John Wayne make a joke about cocaine, this is your movie), but it's just solid work in terms of the story, not really creating a trope or breaking into something properly original.
Other Precursor Contenders: We've been through this already, and I'll be honest-I know so little about this category that I'm not going to hazard a guess at who was in contention. It's also worth noting that original screenplays were REALLY hard to come by in this time frame, so honestly it may well have been a film that wasn't nominated anywhere else (which is true for all but The Champ in this lineup). If you have theories, I'm all ears in the comments.
Films I Would Have Nominated: We will do original screenplay instead of original story for the My Ballot, but I think Monkey Business, a charming little diversion from the Marx Brothers, would be a safe bet for either category on my personal ballot.
Oscar’s Choice: Oscar gave the trophy to The Champ, the only Best Picture nominee here, probably over What Price Hollywood. It's worth noting that in a nicely progressive moment for the Academy, both films featured female screenwriters, which was quite unusual in the early 1930's.
My Choice: I'm going to do the reverse, giving What Price Hollywood our first Motion Picture Story Oscar, here over The Champ, as I think it being the most important building block for the Hollywood myth cannot be denied. Lady and Gent is in third, followed by The Star Witness.
Those are my thoughts-what about you? Are you hoping to become a star with me, or do you want to enter the ring with Oscar? Why do you think Oscar picked so many gangster films in this category in its infancy? And since it's new-are we all in agreement this is the best way to judge Original Story? Share your thoughts below!
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