TODAY'S NUGGET: A Medal for Benny (1945) - Why Does This Slapstick Girl Fight Land Well? Unpredictability, Good Setup-Payoff

[Quick Summary: Benny's unsuspecting dad and girlfriend face chaos when the town wants to popularize his unexpected Medal of Honor ceremony.] 

TWO THOUGHTS:

1) SOMETIMES THREE COMEDY WRITERS ARE BETTER THAN ONE.

If you can believe IMDB, silent film comedy gag writer Jack Wagner got this idea during WWII but couldn't interest anyone. 

So he enlisted his friend John Steinbeck to write the script and gin up interest.*

The script was also shaped by writer Frank Butler, also no comedy slouch.**

2) WHY DOES THIS SLAPSTICK GIRL FIGHT LAND WELL?

I would strongly recommend this script to comedy writers who are looking for slapstick comedy that comes out of character.

I think it was because Wagner and Butler were silent film writers that they naturally went the extra mile to find inventive ways to SHOW and not rely on dialogue.***

For example, I really liked clever use of payback (from a good setup-payoff) and unpredictability in the scene below.

Note:
- Lolita is loyal to Benny, though he hasn't written in 9 months.
- Joe pines for Lolita, Benny's girlfriend.  He buys her a new dress for a dance.
- Lolita rejects the dress, but she is secretly attracted to Joe.
- Joe goes to a bar to sulk and meets Toodles, who says SHE is engaged to Benny.
- Joe gives Toodles the new dress and takes her to the party. (setup)
- Lolita sees Joe with Toodles, who wears HER dress. (setup)
- This is an inventive way for Joe to get his payback (payoff), as you'll see below.

What happens now happens fast: Toodles, boiling now, rushes Lolita back against the table, grabs up a beer bottle, and swings it savagely at Lolita's head. Lolita ducks, Toodles makes another wing at her, but Joe, stepping in, wrenches the bottle from her hand, turns and tosses it over the veranda rail. Simultaneously, and with a berserk yelp of fury, Toodles snatches up a large earthen-ware pot of chili-and-beans, raises it high and inverts in neatly over Joe's head, jams it well down over his ears, then straight arms him clear over the rail of the veranda. --But even as Joe's heels vanish, Lolita pins a terrific haymaker on Toodles' jaw and knocks her spinning through one of the doors into the pavilion - glass, frame and all. [I did not expect the beer bottle or haymaker!]

Six feet below the veranda rail, the pot wedged firmly over his head, Joe rises into a sitting position. The faces of Lolita, Charlie, and the others, appear over the rail staring down. They get one look at the "potted" Joe and burst into a roar of laughter. [Payoff is the reaction shot.]

Joe tries to get the pot off, but fails. Panic seizes him. He gets up, lunges forward --smack into one of the veranda pillars. The impact shatters the jar, and bangs him down again into a sitting position --his head and face a solid, indistinguishable mass of chili and beans. --There is another roar of laughter from the veranda. But Lolita is running down the steps toward the hapless Joe. [More payoff with the jar shattering, face full of chili.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I thought this girl fight was constructed well: Good setup. Good payoff. Good character motivation (both mad at each other and Joe). Unexpected use of props.

A Medal for Benny (1945)
by Frank Butler
Additional dialogue by Jack Wagner
Adapted from a story by Jack Wagner & John Steinbeck

* It worked. Plus an Oscar nomination for them both.

** Butler wrote comedies for Bing Cosby and Bob Hope (Road to Moracco). He won an Oscar for Going My Way.

*** Read the script for a funny scene with farm animals let loose in a bank.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Over Twenty-One (1945) - Why Is This "Woman Joins Her Man" Script Still Relevant? (Partnership)

[Quick Summary: When her 39 yr. old newspaper editor husband quits his job to join the army, his wife  finishes her Hollywood screenwriting job and  joins him.]  

Recently, I read an interview with screenwriter Garson Kanin, a three time Oscar nominee with his wife Ruth Gordon* (A Double Life, Adam's Rib, Pat & Mike).**

Given those two writers' long partnership, and that they liked to write about partnerships, it still was a surprise to see a great partnership on the page.

And that is why I think this kind of script is still interesting and relevant.  How does the couple cope with self-doubt? Conflict? Obstacles?

I think it helped that the couple was three dimensional and set up for success:
- They are both writers (she's an author & screenwriter; he's newspaper writer).
- They have similar values (believe in making a difference).
- They have goals, though different.  He joins the army so that he can speak to real policy issues later.  She keeps the home afloat until her next job.

Also, there were also many examples of what one relationship expert termed "fondness and admiration," i.e., appreciating and cherishing the other person:

Ex. 1: Max is asked to write for army newspaper, but has been vacillating in doubt.

Polly comes to the sofa. But before she can reach it, Max swings his feet off again, almost hitting her. 

MAX: But that's up to me, isn't it? Whether I get dragged into a controversy or not - is up to me! Suppose I write it - and forget it - absolutely  forget it! 

POLLY: If you can, darling, that's --

MAX (jumping up): Sure I can! Why can't I?

POLLY: Max - I'm on your side!

MAX: Where's the typewriter, darlin?

POLLY (flying for the typewriter): Hurray! We've decided! [Note that she says "we."]

Ex. 2: Polly has been secretly on an editorial deadline for Gow, Max's ex-boss.

In the next frantic second, she glares down at her work, shoves a few papers together - then runs for Max.  Then Polly and Max are seen together as she comes rushing into his arms.

POLLY: Darling! What a surprise! How long can you stay?

MAX: Just long enough to press my pants. (Indicating the table) What are you doing?

POLLY (nervously) Oh. Well, Joel Nixon finally caught up with me. I mean - the script. I've got to make some changes. He's been phoning from Hollywood like a maniac.

MAX (leaving her; taking a few steps toward the table): My gosh - you've really been working! Look at the place.

POLLY (getting around in front of him): Well, I'm doing it against time, Max. The picture's shooting now. Your pants, sweetheart. Take 'em off. I-I'll get the board ready (She pushes him in the direction of the bedroom.)

MAX: You don't look as if you've slept. 

POLLY: Yes, I have - as much as I need. Go on. Go on.

MAX: Gee, honey - that's too bad. [This is a writer empathizing with another writer.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I rooted for Polly and Max, in great part because I believed in their partnership

Over Twenty One (1945)
by Sidney Buchman
Adapted from the play by Ruth Gordon

*Yes, that Ruth Gordon, of Harold and Maude (1971) and Rosemary's Baby (1968) fame.  However, my first encounter with her work was as a murderous mystery writer on a Columbo tv show episode.

**Interestingly, they STOPPED writing together afterwards because it didn't work for them any longer!

TODAY'S NUGGET: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) - A New Twist on "The Plane Won't Start" (Humor in Situation)

[Quick Summary: Leaving behind a new, pregnant wife, an army lieutenant and his crew rendezvous with the navy for a top secret mission. Based on a true story. ]

I was all prepared not to like this script about WWII. I'm simply bored by the over saturated political and "message" films.

However, this one managed to paint an interesting picture about cooperation - between Army and Navy, and between soldiers and allies in China.

Also, I really liked how the writer created a three-dimensional world.

One way was through the humor in character (ex. army soldier fleeced both army and navy colleagues alike) and humor in situation (scene below).

I particularly liked how the scene below rose in tension AND was humorous:
- Timing is crucial on this mission in the dark of morning. 
- Since there are so many planes that must be deployed (and cannot be turned around), any non-starting aircraft would be shoved into the ocean.
- This is such an unexpected twist that increased the tension!

Red reaches forward, turns the switch, and the starter gets into action. Then we see the left motor. It gives a chug, turns over and stops. Then two more chugs. It stops again. The Navy crew in the background look serious, and move forward, prepared for the emergency of pushing the plane overboard if she doesn't function. The motor gives another helpless snort, and chokes out.

This cuts to the PILOT'S COMPARTMENT as Ted and Davenport exchange frantic looks. They work the starting button once more. There is another helpless little snort from the engine.

DAVENPORT: Those navy guys are moving up to push us over!

TED (viciously): They're not gonna toss this ship overboard! C'me on, baby -give-give...give...!

Another try at the starter, and this time there are four chugs. --This cuts to the LEFT MOTOR as she takes hold weakly, gives a dozen snorts, and suddenly grabs on; and to the NAVY CREW as they move back from the plane with looks of relief.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I really liked how relatable this script was: A guy wants to go home as soon as he can, but can't start his plane. Not philsophizing or preachy.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
by Dalton Trumbo
Based on the book and Collier's story by Capt. Ted W. Lawson and Robert Considine

TODAY'S NUGGET: Story of G.I. Joe (1945) - Feeling as if You Belong (Showing Camaraderie Without Words)

[Quick Summary: Near the end of WWII, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ernie Pyle follows troops, in the good and bad, as they liberate Italy.]

Journalist Ernie Pyle wrote in a way that brought his readers close to the troops.  I was surprised at how this script did the same thing for me.

I'm glad that the writers did not focus on politics or the problems of an on-going war.*  Instead, they focused on what these soldiers really fought for - each other.  

All throughout the script, there is this feeling as if you belong, i.e., camaraderie.  It shows up particularly in very small moments.

In the scene below:
- Notice how Murphy's death is handled tactfully, quietly.
- Mew, who has no family, had to fill out his insurance forms earlier.
- Notice how the scene speaks without words of taking care of each other.

Ernie looks at the corner where Murphy always sat. Then at Red's picture. Then at Mew, who slowly takes out his tattered insurance paper and a pencil, and starts to rub something out, following which we see the INSURANCE PAPER: Crossing out Murph's name, Mew changes the sum opposite Mrs. Murphy's name to $4000. The list now reads: Warnicki $2000; Junior $2000; Mrs. Murphy $4000.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I thought the Pyle character would be a throw away, but he was part of that camaraderie  He showed that it mattered to tell these soldiers' stories.

Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
by Leopold Atlas, Guy Endore, Phillip Stevenson

*When this film was made in 1944, WWII had not ended yet and Italy was still being liberated.

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Southerner (1945) - How Important is Being Important to a Character?

[Quick Summary: The kind, hard-working Tucker family arrives on rented farmland to grow cotton for the first time on their own.]

I was not keen on the only other Renoir script I've read,* but this one was heart warming in the best way. I knew why the characters felt/did not feel important.

The man who is robbed of the privilege of becoming important in his own esteem or in the society in which he lives, is a dangerous man. The importance of being important is second only to self-preservation. -Egri 

The best example of this "robbed man" is the scene below.  Note:
- Unwelcoming Mr. Devers has had an eye on the property Sam Tucker just rented.
- Devers has been trying to discourage Sam from staying.
- Devers cut the bucket rope from the common well, then allowed his animals to eat Sam's vegetable garden. Devers and Sam have just had a fist fight.
- Walking home, Sam saw the elusive catfish legend twitching on his line.
- Notice WHY Devers wants the fish. It's not to eat.

The scene dissolves to a close view of Lead Pencil, who is lying on the river bank, and then we see the three men squatting around the fish. Sam is winding up the cable which has served as a line to catch Lead Pencil. Devers is looking at the fish in almost insane admiration. Finally, unable to control himself any longer, he speaks.

DEVERS: Tucker. (As Sam doesn't answer) That's my fish.

SAM: So ya own the river too, huh/ But maybe the Law will call my hook 'n line an Act o' God.

DEVERS: Ya gimme that fish, 'n swear never t'tell ya caught it, 'n I'll give ya (hesitating) a dollar.

SAM (busy with the fish-line): I don' need no dollar. My folks likes fish.

DEVERS: All right. I'll keep the fish long 'nuf to take it to the store 'n shoe it fer a day or two, and you kin have it back.

SAM (still busy with the fish-line): It ain' likely to be very good eatin' after that.

DEVERS: All right. Lemme have the fish 'n ya keep yer mouth shut, 'n ya kind use outta my whole garden. 

Sam is seen close, working the hook out as delicately as if the fish were the frailest gossamer.

SAM (pleasantly): He sure taken a holt of it, didn't he?

DEVERS (frantic): All right, then. You kin have the whole durn garden.

SAM (looking up): 'N the well rope? How we gonna draw water?

DEVERS: All right, durn it. I gotta another rope in the barn.

Sam rises. Devers and Finley are looking at him anxiously. In the background, Nona and Becky come running. We understand that Becky has gone to get Nona. Sam looks at them. The two women stop short, amazed at the friendly attitude of the men.

NONA: Sam! What's happened? Becky tole me....

SAM (nonchalantly): Oh, it ain't nothin! I wuz jes' helpin' Devers here pull this big catfish outten the river! He done caught Lead Pencil!

DEVERS (after a pause): Yeah.

Devers looks closely at Sam, gratitude and friendliness in his eyes, as the scene fades out.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I like how the audience can see that Devers wants to feel important, but I don't think Devers really realizes how much he does.

The Southerner (1945)
Written and directed by Jean Renoir
Adapted from the novel, "Hold Autumn in Your Hand," by George Sessions Perry

*La Grande Illusion (1937) is #85 on WGA's list of best scripts.  My blog post on it is here.

TODAY'S NUGGET: None But the Lonely Heart (1945) - Hiding a Setup in Plain Sight for Later Betrayal

[Quick Summary: When a wanderer returns home to help his mother run a pawn shop, they both secretly turn to crime to make ends meet.]

I should've known that Clifford Odets* would deliver another complex stunner. 

His script here is extremely well-written. It reads fast, very free and natural. 

When I looked closer, though, I was amazed how difficult it is on a craft level (ensemble, deep themes, 2-3 story lines, etc.)

Today I will focus on his use of a setup for a later betrayal (I never saw it coming!)

In the story:
- Ernie has been wandering all over the UK. 
- He runs out of money and returns home to Ma, a tough, honest pawn shop owner. 
- Ma is brusque but kind to Ernie: You can either stay for good or go. 
- Ma tells Ike, a long time friend and fellow pawn shop owner, about the cancer, but not Ernie. Ike gives Ernie a job fixing a clock to give him some funds.

In the scene below:
- Notice how kind Ike is to everyone - Ernie, Lesser, a random old lady.
- Notice also we're focused on Ike's discomfort at relaying bad news AND he's doing Ernie a favor. How will Ernie take it?
- Notice that this DOES NOT look like a setup for a later payoff, i.e., There is plenty of drama to occupy our attention for now...only much later will we recall this scene and grasp it was a setup when Ernie betrays Ike later. 

Ike's assistant, little Mr. Lesser, comes in from the shop, a ring in his hand.

LESSER: She wants a quid on this - an old lady.

IKE (looking at the ring): Give it to her - an old lady, Mr. Lesser. (Sighing) Everything with a kiss.

LESSER (shaking his head as he walks out): Clocks, clocks...tick tock.

ERNIE: Best I could do with that old main spring.

IKE (as he picks up the clock, looks it over, and puts it down): Tick tock, tick tock... (Then) Did you ever realize your mother was once upon a time maybe the most beautiful woman in the East End of London? (Ernie looks up, surprised at this irrelevancy. Ike continues soberly and shrewdly.) In the old days, I mean.

ERNIE (puzzled): What about it?

IKE: Excuse me if I put a flea in your ear. Your mother is a very sick woman...

Ernie slowly stands up. He looks tightly at the old man.

ERNIE: You owe me two pounds, Mr. Weber. Pay it an' I'll be on my way.

Silently Ike takes some bills from his pocket and gives them to Ernie. Ernie puts on his cap and starts out through the front of the shop, the dog after him. He passes the counter where Lesser is polishing some rings. About to leave the shop, Ernie stops with his hand on the doorknob. Then he slowly turns, calling back sarcastically, hand still on the knob.

ERNIE: What's it she's got? A pain for her no-good son?

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This is a very sophisticated setup because it doesn't look, smell, or sound like a setup.

In the age where audiences are always looking for something new, a twist, something NEW, this kind of craft can really set one apart as a writer.

None But the Lonely Heart (1945)
by Clifford Odets
Adapted from the novel by Richard Llwellyn

*He was a well-known playwright and writer of the famous film Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (my blog on it here).

TODAY'S NUGGET: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) - Emotion: Earning the Audience's Sympathy

[Quick Summary: In 1900s Brooklyn tenements, Francie Nolan (12) and her brother Neeley grow up with an alcoholic father and determined mother.]

I did not expect to cry, so I was surprised when I teared up around part 9 (this printed edition is divided into 10 parts).  How did this script earn my sympathies?

First, it showed me a "oh-I-know-that-character," Francie:

"[She is] about thirteen. She is a rather quiet child. She has inherited from Johnny, her father, a sensitiveness and an imagination that make her by the far the more difficult problem in parenthood for the Nolans."

Then it showed me an "oh-I-know-that-role" in her family's situation. 

This is best seen in the scene below:
- Francie is closer to her father Johnny, a loving father, but drinks because he cannot provide well. 
- The burden falls on her mother Katie, who is the janitor of their apartment building, and the kids to look out for Johnny.
- Note the recognizable dynamic: an overly responsible child who loves her still impractical parent.

Suddenly he stops at the window of the hardware shop as they pass it.

JOHNNY: Look at all the things they got. No use talkin', some day I'm gonna get you them skates.

FRANCIE (maternally): Mama said not to be late, papa.

JOHNNY: God invented time, Prima Donna, and whenever He invents somethin' there's always plenty of it. (Moving down the window) Look at them knives!

FRANCIE (gravely): Mama says time is money.

JOHNNY: Well, I guess maybe He wasn't worryin' about money right then.

FRANCIE (a little worried): There's your car, papa.

JOHNNY (looking, and grinning at her): Might as well catch it, I guess.

He kisses her quickly and goes toward the car. Francie calls "goodbye" after him and stands watching anxiously.

Johnny swings onto the car just as it starts to move on. He smiles back, then tips his hat with a fine flourish to Francie.

Nobody but papa has ever tipped his hat to her. She is so proud her eyes glisten suspiciously. Her concern is gone and nothing is left but worship. She waves till the car is out of sight. And the scene fades out.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: The audience will not sympathize if it cannot recognize a situation.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
by Tess Slesinger & Frank Davis
Adapted from the novel by Betty Smith

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Lost Weekend (1945) - Two Steps in Thinking About Emotion

[Quick Summary:  Don, an alcoholic, failed novelist, tries to survive the weekend alone at his brother's apartment.]

The premise of an alcoholic getting drunk over a long weekend? Boring, right?

I read this script and had to begrudgingly admit that the writers Wilder and Brackett got my emotions invested.  How? 

Lagos Egri said it best in his chapter "Emotion: The Source of Identification":

Here is where the writer's intelligence is tested to the full. The first step is to make your reader or viewer identify your character as someone he knows. Step two - if the author can make the audience imagine that what is happening can happen to him, the situation will be permeated with aroused emotion and the viewer will experience a sensation so great that he will feel not as a spectator but as the participant of an exciting drama before him. 

Here, the writers first establish how Don uses alcohol to numb him from fear as a failed writer (we ALL know that person).  

Don must, must have alcohol, but has not sold his precious typewriter or cheated on his faithful girlfriend Helen.  

But when his hits bottom (scene below) we all say, "That could happen to me too":

Don is shaking so that he can't pick up the glass. He bends down, sucks half of it, then lifts the glass and drians the rest. He holds out the empty glass to Nat, his eyes imploring.

NAT: That's all.

DON: Come on, Nat, come on. I'll let you have my typewriter.

NAT: I'm no writer. You're the writer. Now go. Go away.

DON: Nat --

NAT: I mean it. Get out.

Don takes the typewriter and drags himself out of Nat's place. Then we see Third Avenue, outside Nat's as Don emerges, and starts dragging himself up the street toward home. As he passes the antique shop, he suddenly stops. There stands the wooden Indian that Gloria spoke about, pointing up. That's where Gloria lives. Second floor, this same house. Don walks into the house.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I shall cogitate more about the second part ("could happen to me too") because it is the trickier bit for me.

The Lost Weekend (1945)
by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder
Adapted from the novel by Charles R. Jackson

TODAY'S NUGGET: Henry V (1944) - Silent, Visual Cues

[Quick Summary: Young Henry V attempts to conquer France in 1415.]

Q: You've never read this play before.
A: No. 

Q: So given that, how was the adaptation? Could you follow it?
A:  It IS exactly the play, but well-edited.  And yes, I could follow it.

Q: So how was it as a script?
A: Honestly? I was bored.  I tend to agree with P. Mosdell who wrote, "Henry V is not particularly significant in the history of cinema," because it's a film of a play.*

Q: This was a well regarded film, done for cheap after the war.  Did the script have any cinematic merit for you?
A: I'm unsurprised by the absence of narrative flourishes that are common today.  After all, this was written by Olivier, for himself to direct and star in.

I did like how the script breaks illusion with a silent, visual cue to convey, "We know this is a play." At the beginning, it is a boy with writing on a placard.

Here is how they did it at the end, simply with make-up (underlined):

Henry and Katharine are crowned and joining hands walk away from the camera to two thrones in the b.g. CAMERA TRACKS FORWARD following them.

C.U. Henry turns round on reaching the throne. He is wearing the crude Globe Theater make-up.

                                                                     APPLAUSE IS HEARD.

CAMERA PANS R. to show a boy made-up as Katharine acknowledging applause.

M.S. Henry and the Boy as Katherine, CAMERA TRACKS BACK to reveal the Stage of the Globe Theatre. Chorus enters L. and pulls the curtain across.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Plays are heavy on the auditory, and films on the visuals. So when transferring a play to film, find where the visuals can carry for the auditory.

Henry V (1944)(continuity script)
by William Shakespeare and Laurence Olivier & Dallas Bower

*Canadian Forum, Oct. 1946.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Duck Soup (1933) - The Importance of Laughs in Parody (Inventiveness)

[Quick Summary: When inept Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) is appointed dictator of Freedonia, he faces two enemy spies from Sylvania (Chicolini and Pinky).]

I love, love, love Airplane and Naked Gun, but could never figure out why that writing doesn't come naturally to me. 

Seasoned comedy writer Ken Levine explains that these are parodies/spoofs (vs. what he writers, which is more character based comedy):

Here are the pros and cons of parody/spoofs:

Pros: You can draw laughs from anywhere, any style.  Puns, wordplay, physical comedy, shock humor, absurdity — anything is fair game.  All the things you normally pitch in a room and wish you could do you CAN do.   And parodies give you a target right from the get-go. 

Cons: You’re only as good as your last laugh.  Stories are hard to construct because they mean nothing — just a coat rack to hang jokes.  So there’s no emotional investment.  The only thing keeping the souffle from collapsing is laughs.  So they better be damn good and lots and lots of them.

So what brings on the laughs? Inventiveness is definitely one key.

In this scene* from the Marx Brothers' famous Duck Soup:
- There is no real story.  It's just laughs.
- Note how inventive this reversal is: Chicolini and Pinky want to get inside the house --> both DO get inside the house --> then both end up outside.

In a longer shot, Chicolini pulls away and presses the buzzer on the door.

We now see a hedge in the foreground; Chicolini and Pinky hide behind it as the butler comes out of the front door and looks from side to side. Pinky dives for the front door, followed by Chicolini, goes in and slams the door in Chicolini's face while the butler looks behind the hedge. Chicolini hides behind the hedge again as the butler goes back to the door, finds it shut and goes off to the left.

Cut to show Chicolini as he goes up to the door, rings the bell and hides behind the hedge again. Pinky comes out and looks over the hedge, whistling. Chicolini dives for the door behind him and slams the door in his face. Pinky presses the bell and hides.

We see Pinky hiding behind the hedge as Chicolini comes out again and looks over it. The butler reappears in the background, goes in and shuts the door in the faces of Pinky and Chicolini.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  I glad that I finally realize that I'm not just the joke-joke-joke kind of writer that parodies require to keep from collapsing.

Duck Soup (1933)
by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby

*There is no official script available.  This one that was publish is likely the best approximation, and was cobbled together from dialogue continuity pages and shot-by-shot viewings of the film.