Though the German Expressionist touches look dated today (including a camera that tends to see everything at a fun-house slant), the witty Graham Greene screenplay is acted to the hilt by Orson Welles (in one of his very best screen performances), Trevor Howard, Alida Valli and Wilfred Hyde-White.
The sexual sophistication of the witty Bond screenplays was a huge advance from the stilted smirkiness of the Doris Day era.
Jarrold depended most heavily on the script, calling it "a rich, witty and clever screenplay from someone who obviously knew his subject very well.
The film's witty and literate screenplay, also by Richard LaGravenese (of course adapted from Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's novel) elevates the proceedings with a genuinely authentic conversational flair.
Mr. Vidal's screenplay is witty, literate and deadly, which is no surprise.
Yates produced and directed Breaking Away from a witty and observant, Oscar-winning screenplay by Steve Tesich.
Colin Higgins's screenplay is not witty or rambunctious or mysterious, nor does it have the courage to parody a disaster film like "Airport 1975," an idea that seems to pass through its mind from time to time, though it's never acted upon.
The screenplay isn't especially witty or sophisticated, either.
In Mr. Robb's new book one chapter is written like a screenplay, while another employs witty question-and-answer sections that function like lemon juice squeezed over a platter of oysters.
It was, however, as a screenwriter, usually of adaptations of plays or novels, that Stewart achieved his most enduring success; his screenplays were notable for witty dialogue and for their fidelity to the original work.
