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“Women Talking”? More like women (are) winning. Sarah Polley took home the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar on Sunday, making her one of the category’s few female winners and giving the category back-to-back female champs for the first time.

With Polley’s victory, Best Adapted Screenplay has now gone to women nine times — and twice to the same person, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who triumphed for 1986’s “A Room with a View” and 1992’s “Howards End.” Polley joins Jhabvala as one of four women who’ve won as solo writers. The others are Emma Thompson (1995’s “Sense and Sensibility”) and last year’s winner, Sian Heder (“Coda”).

The category’s other female winners prevailed as part of writing teams. Sarah Y. Mason was the first woman to win adapted screenplay for co-writing 1933’s “Little Women” with her husband Victor Heerman. Claudine West shared her award for 1942’s “Mrs. Miniver” with George Froeschel,...

It’s been a rocky road for “Women Talking,” having underperformed or been overlooked completely at various precursors, but it managed to earn two Oscar nominations: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sarah Polley. The latter category has long been predicted to be the one that the drama could win and it is currently out in front with 16/5 odds. If Polley does pull through, she’ll join a short list of not just female winners in the category but an even shorter list of female writers who’ve won individually.

As is the case with most non-gendered categories, female champs are rather infrequent in Best Adapted Screenplay. In the 94-year history of the Oscars, the award has gone to women just eight times — and twice to the same person, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who prevailed for 1986’s “A Room with a View” and 1992’s “Howards End.” Jhabvala is one of...

Sian Heder‘s Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar win for “Coda” earlier this year marked the first time in 17 years that the award went to woman. But we may not have to wait that long for the next one. Sarah Polley currently leads the Best Adapted Screenplay odds for her adaptation of Miriam Toews‘ 2018 novel “Women Talking.” If she prevails, it’ll be the ninth time a woman has won and the first time the category has seen back-to-back female winners.

Even though the first woman to win adapted screenplay was Sarah Y. Mason for co-writing 1933’s “Little Women” with her husband Victor Heerman, it will not shock you to learn that, like most non-gendered categories, female winners are few and far in between here. There have been just eight instances total, with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala accounting for two of them. Jhabvala is also one of three women who’ve won as individuals,...

Last year, Emerald Fennell won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for “Promising Young Woman,” becoming the first female champ in either writing category in 13 years. And an even longer drought has three chances to end this year.

For the first time, Best Adapted Screenplay features three individual female nominees representing three different films (read: no writing teams): Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog,” Maggie Gyllenhaal for “The Lost Daughter” and Sian Heder for “Coda.” They are up against Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe for “Drive My Car,” and Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth for “Dune.” If Campion, Gyllenhaal or Heder prevails, they’d be the category’s first female winner since Diana Ossana, co-writer of 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain” with Larry McMurtry, and the first solo female winner since Emma Thompson, who won for 1995’s “Sense and Sensibility.”

As is the case with nearly all non-gendered categories at the Oscars,...

The fight for women to be recognized for their directorial achievements stretches back for decades, but, too often, the screenwriters aren’t given that same spotlight. However, this year presents a unique situation where female filmmakers have also penned the top awards contenders for adapted screenplay. These leading contenders include Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Lost Daughter”), Rebecca Hall (“Passing”) and Siân Heder (“Coda”).

If three of the writer-directors are nominated for best adapted screenplay, it’ll be the most female-written films recognized since 1991, which included “Europa Europa” (Agnieszka Holland), “Fried Green Tomatoes” (Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski) and “The Prince of Tides”. If all four manage to receive noms, it would be the most in Academy history, as well as the most that have been directed by women.

Three of the women were recognized by the USC Scripter Awards, whose previous nominees have a solid translation to Academy attention.

It’s pretty scary to think that as late as 1940 both Washington and the American public were sharply divided over Nazi Germany. Poland had been overrun and France was about to fall, but MGM waited until June of that year to release this softened adaptation of a novel written as a warning to the world in 1937. Handsomely produced with MGM’s high-gloss production values, it’s remembered as a valiant and courageous anti-Nazi film. Its all-star cast reunited the potent romantic team of James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan for sentimental fireworks.

The Mortal Storm

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1940 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 100 min. / Street Date November 3, 2020 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, Robert Stack, Bonita Granville, Irene Rich, William T. Orr, Maria Ouspenskaya, Gene Reynolds, Russell Hicks, Esther Dale, Dan Dailey, Ward Bond, Rudolph Anders, Brad Dexter.

Cinematography: William H. Daniels

Film Editor:...

With the losses Sunday night for Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”) and Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1917”) in Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay, respectively, the 2010s now carries a dubious badge in Oscar history: It’s the first decade since the 1960s without a female writing winner.

Gerwig fell to Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”), while Wilson-Cairns and co-writer Sam Mendes were bested by “Parasite’s” Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won — two historic victories in their own right, as Waititi is the first indigenous writer to win, and Bong and Han are the first Asian writing champs.

The last woman to win in either category, solo or as a co-writer, was Diablo Cody 12 years ago for 2007’s “Juno” in original. The adapted category has a longer drought at 14 years, with Diana Ossana, who co-wrote “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) with Larry McMurtry, being the most recent. Since Cody’s victory, 12 women have received bids in original,...

Of the 13 people nominated for the Best Adapted and Original Screenplay Oscars this year, only two are women — one in each category: Greta Gerwig, who adapted “Little Women,” and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who co-wrote “1917” with Sam Mendes. And if either Gerwig or Wilson-Cairns wins, it’d end a 12-year long drought for female champs in the writing categories.

The last woman to nab a writing Oscar, solo or as part of a team, was Diablo Cody in original for “Juno” (2007). In adapted, the dry spell is even longer at 14 years, with Diana Ossana being the most recent, having won for her “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) script with Larry McMurty. Since Cody’s golden night, 12 women have received bids in the original category, including Wilson-Cairns and Gerwig two years ago for “Lady Bird” (2017), while 14 women have been shortlisted since Ossana’s triumph, including Gerwig this year.

As with most non-gendered Oscar categories, there...

This article marks Part 5 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories, including the following four films that scored a quartet of trophies among the top races.

At the 12th Academy Awards ceremony, this was no stopping Victor Fleming’s blockbuster epic “Gone with the Wind” (1939). With a total of 13 nominations, the most of any film that year, it was the overwhelming favorite for Oscar glory and indeed, on the big night, the picture took home eight prizes, including Best Picture. Fleming, in his lone career Oscar bid, prevailed in Best Director,...