Post by kijii on Sept 18, 2017 17:03:08 GMT
I think Preston Sturges is a pioneer, in that respect: He wrote (the original story) for almost every film that he directed, plus a few more.
For the most prolific author who wrote (from story to screenplay), one need look no further than Woody Allen, with 50+ ---and counting.
Actually, kijii, Sturges wrote all the original screenplays for every film he directed. Of those he didn't direct, my favorite of his original scripts was Remember the Night (1940), directed by Mitchell Leisen. But a pioneer he was. And you're certainly right about Woody Allen, at least in America. I wonder what the count is on Ingmar Bergman?
For the most prolific author who wrote (from story to screenplay), one need look no further than Woody Allen, with 50+ ---and counting.
Actually, kijii, Sturges wrote all the original screenplays for every film he directed. Of those he didn't direct, my favorite of his original scripts was Remember the Night (1940), directed by Mitchell Leisen. But a pioneer he was. And you're certainly right about Woody Allen, at least in America. I wonder what the count is on Ingmar Bergman?
Spider,
You are right about him writing all of the original screenplays for all of his movies. But, I was referring to him being the author of both the source material (story, play, novel) and screenplay.
There are a few "source stories" that he used in his directed movies that came from someone else.
For example:
Thankfully, The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949) was derived form a story by Earl Felton.
The French, They Are a Funny Race (1955) was based on a book by Pierre Daninos.
The Great Moment (1944) was first a book by René Fülöp-Miller.
On the other hand, his source material was used for movies by other directors:
As you mentioned, Remember the Night is a wonderful story.
Strictly Dishonorable (1951) was a play written by Sturges, but directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama (a writing duo who often worked together and often wrote from source to screen)
I would love to find The Power and the Glory (1933), written by Sturges and directed by William K. Howard.
Hotel Haywire (1937) was totally written by Sturges, but the movie was directed by George Archainbaud, etc.
Sturges seems to have been a writer long before his first directed movie, The Great McGinty (1940). And, for that reason, IMHO, he has a place as pioneer for writing so many movies from source to screen.
There are a lot of great young writers, today, that write directly for the screen, but I don't think there were many before Sturges.
The line of writers like Woody Allen may have had its roots with Preston Sturges.
Neil Simon has several screenplays in which he was also the source writer, but his route often arose from stage plays to screenplays.
What is interesting to me is that playwrites such as Tennessee Williams, William Inge, and Arthur Miller only wrote a few screenplays and some of their screenplays were not based on their own stage plays.
By looking into this, I wonder if writing for the stage and writing for the screen aren't two totally different things that require totally different skills.....
I know you mentioned that Eugene O'Neill's play, Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), was filmed as written for stage, But can you think of any screenplays that he wrote? Teleplays, maybe, but screenplays?
I have heard that the his favorite movie (based on his own plays) was The Long Voyage Home based on 4 of his Sea Plays, but he didn't write the screenplay for that....Dudley Nichols did.
This movie is often considered an "essential," but it doesn't hold together for me. Since it was directed by John Ford, maybe I should try it again....looking for mise-en-scene. This concept is new to me. Does this movie demonstrate its qualities well?
What do you see there?