Oscar bait success of summer blockbusters like "Jaws" and "Star Wars" (both of which had also been nominated for Best Picture), independent filmmakers refined Carr's methods of exploiting the Oscars. Merchant Ivory, who produced lavish costume dramas, often based on novels by Henry James or E. M. Forster, began to time their releases to align with the awards season. Their 1985 adaptation of Forster's "A Room with a View" won three of the eight Oscars it was nominated for. By 1991 the modern film-release calendar, in which studios released the movies they had the highest Oscar hopes for in autumn and December,
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (play) film version of "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney" was released in 1929, and starred Norma Shearer and Basil Rathbone. It was nominated for an Oscar in 1930 for "Best Writing, Achievement" for Hanns Kräly. "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney", released in 1937, was the second film adaptation. It starred Joan Crawford, William Powell, Robert Montgomery, Benita Hume and Frank Morgan. The final American film version of the Lonsdale play starred Greer Garson and was titled "The Law and the Lady" (1951). A German film version was "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney" (1961) with Lilli Palmer. The Last of Mrs. Cheyney