RISKIN, Robert.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Filmscript marked "First Draft" and here titled Opera Hat. Directed by Frank Capra, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, starred Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. This top copy of the first draft is significantly longer than the script as filmed. The front wrapper includes the name "Cohn". This is presumably Harry Cohn's copy, one of the founders of Columbia Pictures.Nominated for five Academy Awards in 1937, including one for Riskin for Best Original Story, the film won one Award for Capra as Best Director. The film is based on a short story by Clarence Budington Kelland, first published in 1935. Riskin completed this, the first draft, on 23 August 1935. The final draft is dated 10 December 1935. The first draft comprises 239 pages of text, and 595 shots. The final draft shows some significant revision and comprises 200 pages of text, and 439 shots.Robert Riskin's collaboration with Capra was one of the most successful partnerships in 1930s Hollywood: "Riskin wrote most of Capra's best films and established what Capra like to chant endlessly about as 'Capra-corn'" (Henstell)."Riskin is a superlative dialogue writer. He writes scenes beautifully, and he has a great ear for what people should say and do under certain circumstances. The way we worked with Bob Riskin was that in most cases - not all of them, but the majority of cases - I would lay out the scenes, and he would write the scenes in dialogue form, and he was absolutely superb in dialogue" (Capra, p.50).A scrip

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