#albert hackett

[gregorygalloway]

The Diary of Anne Frank premiered on Broadway on 5 October 1955.

Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett adapted Frank's 1947 The Diary of A Young Girl for the stage and 17-year-old Susan Strasberg was cast as Anne. The play ran on Broadway for 717 performances before traveling around the US (with Millie Perkins replacing Strasberg).

Nominated for 5 Tony Awards (including Best Actress), it received the Tony for Best Play and Goodrich and Hackett received the Pulitzer Prize.

[90smovies]

[harrypotterhousequotes]

SLYTHERIN:

"NICK CHARLES: Who was that? NORA CHARLES: Oh, you wouldn't know them, darling. They're respectable."

--Albert Hackett + Frances Goodrich (After the Thin Man)

[featurespast]

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) (colorized version)

[filmstruck]

They Wrote Together: The Greatest Writing Teams Ever by Greg Ferrera

I’ll be honest, I have no idea how a writing team even works. I’ve tried it a couple of times. One time, I did the story and the other writer handled the dialogue. It didn’t work out. He quibbled too much about the story, I quibbled too much about the dialogue. Another time, two of us tried doing it all together and it just ended up muddled. It gives one a real appreciation for writers who can work together and produce gold. Right now on Filmstruck, the great writing team of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett is being celebrated, and rightly so, with a host of THIN MAN movies, several of which they wrote. And if you’re going to write about writing teams that worked, Goodrich and Hackett, the married writing couple to end all writing couples, is a good place to start. I think it’s safe to say they’re to best writing team ever. Prove it, you say? Okay, maybe you’ll recognize some of these titles:

NAUGHTY MARIETTA (’35), THE THIN MAN (’34), AFTER THE THIN MAN (’36), ANOTHER THIN MAN (’39), IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (’46), EASTER PARADE (’48), IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME (’49), FATHER OF THE BRIDE (’50), FATHER’S LITTLE DIVIDEND (1951), SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (’54)… okay, I’m exhausted.

But seriously, that’s the kind of writing resume that comes along once in a lifetime and even then, it’s almost hard to believe. On top of that they were successful playwrights who wrote THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK for Broadway and adapted their own play for the silver screen. Seriously, there is no better writing team out there.

But, hey, a great writing team doesn’t have to have dozens of titles. Sometimes, once is enough. Take Orson Welles and Herman Mankiewicz… and John Houseman… and Joseph Cotten. That’s right, all of them worked on the script for CITIZEN KANE (’41). Mankiewicz wrote the main body of work under the guidance of Houseman, who made revisions as they went. That was sent to Welles, who further revised and added at which point Cotten himself got in on the action and wrote a lot of his own character’s dialogue. Welles and Mankiewicz got the Oscar for it but there should have been a couple of more names on award.

Or how about Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond? They started out with the classic SOME IT LIKE HOT (’59) and went straight to THE APARTMENT (’60), one of the most extraordinary one-two punches in movie history. After that they retired. Nope, just kidding! They did ONE, TWO, THREE (’63), KISS ME, STUPID (’64), THE FORTUNE COOKIE (’66) and even produced a late era mystery/noir, the underrated and underseen FEDORA (’79). If any team in movie history could give Hackett and Goodrich a run for their money, this would be the one.

And there are so many more! Here are just a few favorites of mine, with their most famous work.

Ruth Rose and James Creelman, KING KONG (’33).

Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, ADAM’S RIB (’49)

Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (’74)

Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, ANNIE HALL (’77)

Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, ELECTION (’99)

And last but certainly not least, perhaps the greatest one-off collaboration in the history of the movies, CASABLANCA (’42). Julius Epstein and his twin brother Philip collaborated on several screenplays together, including THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. (’41) and MRS. SKEFFINGTON (’44), but it was in 1942 that they would collaborate with screenwriter Howard Koch and playwrights Murray Burnett and Joan Alison to create the movie classic from Burnett and Alison’s play EVERYBODY COMES TO RICK’S. Despite all of the great writing teams listed here, for my money, none of them can outdo this single, masterful work. It is, to my mind, the best screenplay ever written.

So go to Filmstruck and start watching all of the great movies by all of the great writing teams. Start with Goodrich and Hackett and you won’t be disappointed.

[theoscarsproject]

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). Harrowing story of a young Jewish girl who, with her family and their friends, is forced into hiding in an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

This is a genuinely moving adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary, beautifully shot and tenderly told. You get such a heartwrenching sense of claustrophobia and fear throughout the film, but also of the wonder and innocence of Anne, who tries her best to make her days and her family’s days worthwhile. It’s lovely, and it’s tragic. 8/10.

[themonologuearchive]

Act 02, Scene 04 - 01 - Anne

From: The Diary of Anne Frank, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett

Genre: Drama

Topic: Sky, beauty, nature

Character: Female, teenager

Look, Peter, the sky. What a lovely day. Aren’t the clouds beautiful? You know what I do when it seems I can’t stand being cooped up for one more minute? I think myself out. I think of myself on a walk in the park where I used to go with Pim. Where the daffodils and the crocus and the violets grow down the slopes. You know the most wonderful thing about thinking yourself out? You can have it any way you like. You can have roses and violets and chrysanthemums all blooming at the same time… It’s funny… I used to take it all for granted… and now I’ve gone crazy about everything to do with nature. Haven’t you?

[loveless422]

Frances Goodrich (pictured) and Albert Hackett were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing (Adaptation) for The Thin Man (1934).