A Note on Sources

Only one of the six scripts in this volume has been previously published according to the screenwriter's specifications. The other five have been painstakingly reconstructed by comparing Robert Riskin's script drafts available from the Fay Wray collection in the Cinema-Television Library at the University of Southern California, the Frank Capra collection in the Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University, dialogue transcripts originally provided for censorship review as maintained by the New York State Archives, and all extant and obtainable theatrical and video versions of the films.

Riskin himself carefully reviewed and polished the script of It Happened One Night that was published in Twenty Best Film Plays (ed. John Gassner, Crown, 1943), and it can be observed, from reading that authorized version, that Riskin customarily made changes from the final draft of the script into what might be called the final shooting script. He tended to minimize camera instructions, clarify transitions, and include last-minute changes that arose on the set, while preserving favorite snippets of scenes later left on the cutting-room floor. Interestingly, Riskin divided the authorized version of the It Happened One Night script into "parts" or what might otherwise be termed "acts."

Riskin never had the same occasion or opportunity to publish the scripts of Platinum Blonde, American Madness, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon , or Meet John Doe , so we have tried to do our best, taking the example of It Happened One Night as a guide to his intentions.

Platinum Blonde and American Madness were both "reconstructed" from undated script drafts. It is apparent from these drafts that Riskin worked less and less in terms of camera movement and angles as his career progressed (obviously after having discussed many of the scenes with Frank Capra beforehand and trusting

him as director). As much as possible, we have retained the original language of these scripts—including camera movement, descriptions of characters and settings, blocking and atmospheric touches—without overly straying from the film as it exists today. At times we made a decision as Riskin might have, to keep pieces of scenes that fell, inadvertently or by necessity, by the wayside. Other times, for the sake of authenticity, we have preserved camera directions that Capra obviously overruled, if they do not conflict too greatly with the finished result.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Lost Horizon were both "reconstructed" from dated final drafts. The final draft of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is marked 10 December 1935, and Lost Horizon is dated 23 March 1936. Most of the emendations for these two scripts (many more in the case of Lost Horizon than Mr. Deeds ) came with respect to dialogue, but where the staging turned out to be somewhat different, again we made a decision whether it was a difference that made a difference—and whether to reflect these changes in the script. In some, mostly minor instances, going back to the example of It Happened One Night , we chose to stick with Riskin's original language even if what transpired in his script diverged slightly from the action or dialogue in the finished film.

Meet John Doe presented the trickiest problem. Two versions of this script have already been published since the film is in public domain. One, in Best American Screenplays (ed. Sam Thomas, Crown, 1986), which has a foreword by Frank Capra, is approximately identical to the final draft deposited among Riskin's and Capra's papers. In his book devoted to the script and analysis of Meet John Doe (Rutgers University Press, 1989), editor Charles Wolfe "reconstructs" the script otherwise—with more meticulous descriptions of the images and itemizing the shots with an attention to individual camera moves that would have made Riskin wince. Speaking of the final draft version, Wolfe wrote, "Students and scholars should keep in mind that it [the 1986 script version] is neither an accurate shooting script nor an accurate continuity script."

Despite its value as an educational resource, Wolfe's book stints on Riskin's contribution. (Capra's name is emblazoned on the cover; Riskin's is not mentioned.) Our version of Meet John Doe upholds as much of Riskin's language as possible while adhering to the dialogue transcript in order to accurately convey a final form that the screenwriter himself might have approved.

P.M.