David Fincher's love letter to the golden age of Hollywood, Mank, debuts on Netflix Friday, December 4, 2020. The black-and-white period piece is named after Herman J. Mankiewicz, one of the most prolific screenwriters in the history of Hollywood who won an Oscar for penning arguably the greatest movie ever made, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane.
Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman plays Mankiewicz in the film, which focuses on the tenuous relationship between the writer and Welles while making Citizen Kane. But with 95 writing credits to his name, that's not the only film Mank worked on. These are some of his absolute best.
The Pride Of St. Louis (1952)
The final theatrical feature Mank wrote was the baseball biopic The Pride of St. Louis, a de facto decade-long sequel to his acclaimed 1942 film Pride of the Yankees. Although Mank penned the script, Guy Trosper earned an Oscar Nod for Best Motion Picture Story.
The film tracks the career of big-league pitcher Jerome "Dizzy" Dean (Dan Daily) as he climbs the ranks of the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals teams during the ever-changing MLB landscape of the '30s and '40s.
Man Of The World (1931)
One of the movies Mank is most-known for is Man of the World, which features a story he conceived and a screenplay he wrote without the help of a collaborator. The romantic drama follows a young American woman who falls for a dashing conman in Paris.
When Mary Kendall (Carol Lombard) visits Paris with her uncle and unloved fiancé, she's suddenly wooed by the sophisticated novelist Michael Trevor (William Powell). When Michael shows interest in Mary, she fails to realize it's part of his conniving blackmail scheme to swindle money out of her and her family.
Christmas Holiday (1944)
Adapted by Mank from the W. Somerset Maugham novel, Robert Siodmak's Christmas Holiday is a convention-defying film noir set in New Orleans around the yuletide season.
Stuck in the Big Easy for Christmas due to bad weather, heartbroken Lieutenant Charles Mason meets a ravishing woman named Jackie Lamont (Deanna Durbin). Following a church gathering, Jackie reveals her true identity as Abigail Martin, a recent runaway who abandoned her lowlife husband Robert (Gene Kelly), a man accused of murder. The more time Charles spends with Abigail, the less he can trust her.
It's A Wonderful World (1939)
Although he went uncredited at the time, Mank helped his longtime playwright pal Ben Hecht adapt his own stage play It's a Wonderful World to the big screen. While it features a similar title and several actors who appear in It's a Wonderful Life, the two films are not related.
James Stewart and Claudette Colbert star in the mysterious screwball comedy in which a wealthy business magnate is accused of murder. Stewart plays the magnate's personal detective, who becomes implicated in a series of crimes as the two men flee the police. When the businessman is sentenced for murder, Stewart's character plots to help his boss escape.
San Francisco (1936)
Nominated for five Oscars including one win for Best Sound, the star-studded musical rom-com San Francisco is a movie Mank went uncredited for writing at the time. However, story-conceiver Robert Hopkins still earned an Oscar nod.
San Francisco stars Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy as dueling successful businessmen vying for the affections of an enchanting songstress (Jeanette MacDonald) in 1906. The two men sink to desperate and devious lows to win the woman of their dreams while appearing innocent in the process.
The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
Adapted by Mank and DeWitt Bodeen from the Arthur Wing Pinero stageplay, The Enchanted Cottage arguably inspired the Farrelly Brothers' film, Shallow Hal. The film traces the unlikely romance between two unattractive loners who begin to see each other's inner beauty.
Oliver is a facially-scarred war vet hiding his sullied visage from his family. When he returns to the cottage where his honeymoon was set to take place, Oliver meets the unattractive maid, Laura. Through the majesty of the enchanted cottage, the couple's platonic marriage blooms into true love when they begin to appear beautiful to one another and no one else.
Dinner At Eight (1933)
George Cukor's classic 1933 dramedy Dinner At Eight easily ranks among Mank's top five screenplays of all time. The film was so iconic that it was remade for television in 1989.
The comedy of manners follows married couple Millicent and Oliver Jordan (Billie Burke and Lionel Barrymore), two affluent socialites stressing over their upcoming lavish dinner party. As the two of them bicker over plans going awry, a series of dinner guests begin to unveil their own uncouth truths. Mank co-wrote the script with two-time Oscar-winning female scribe Frances Marion.
The Pride Of The Yankees (1942)
Mank earned the second Oscar nomination of his decorated career for the screenplay for The Pride of the Yankees, the highly praised biopic of legendary New York baseball player Lou Gehrig. With 11 total Oscar nods, the film won for Best Film Editing.
Directed by Sam Wood, the film tells the unlikely story of the durable New York Yankee who played in over 2,000 consecutive games in his career before being stricken with ALS and passing away at the age of 37. The disease has since been named after Gehrig due to how rare the condition was at the time and for him being the highest-profile carrier of the disease.
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
Although he did not receive credit at the time, Mank contributed to the screenplay for perhaps the most famous movie ever made, The Wizard of Oz. Adapted from the L. Frank Baum novel, Mank was one of over a dozen uncredited script doctors for the film.
In the throes of a vivid nightmare, Dorothy finds herself and her dog Toto whisked to a colorfully magic land after a tornado sweeps her farmhouse away from Kansas. As she sets out to find the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy makes invaluable bonds with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion on a journey of self-discovery.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Hailed by man as the greatest film ever made, Citizen Kane remains the crown jewel of Herman J. Mankiewicz's writing career. In addition to the films lasting power, Mank won the only award honored by the Academy for his screenplay.
Loosely based on the life of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, the film charts the epic rise and fall of Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), a man who has everything in life except the innocence of his childhood. The landmark film has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, a 100/100 Metascore, and is currently ranked #97 on IMDB's Top 250.