The Palm Beach Story
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Movie Reviews of The Palm Beach Story
Movie Review: The Palm Beach Story
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, this is a work of genius. Preston Sturges wrote and directed THE PALM BEACH STORY, one of the best screwball comedies ever, made (1942) when the they weren't making many madcap comedies anymore. At least not the type that appealed to adult sensibilities. Like most screwball comedies it's a story of two slightly mismatched lovers, here caught in the fourth year of their marriage. Joel McCrea plays Tom Jeffers, an inventor and builder who's having difficulties making a go of it. Claudette Colbert is his wife Geraldine, a beautiful woman who can't cook or sew and by now feels she's become a bit of a `milestone' to her husband. So it's off to Palm Beach, where she can obtain a divorce, marry a wealthy man and get the $90,000 her husband needs to build his skyline airport. You see, she still loves him, and he still loves her....
The raw materials of comedy are also those of melodrama and tragedy. A story of love imperiled by impending poverty can be taken down Heartbreak Road, but THE PALM BEACH STORY is filled with more delightful oddballs and surreal situations than any other movie I can think of, beginning with the Colbert character, who makes any number of odd decisions based on the `logic of the situation.' Problems begin when the `Wienie King' appears. He's a little old man in an oversized coat and hat who's a bit hard of hearing and a bit gruff of manner, wonderfully played by veteran character actor Robert Dudley. Generous of nature and a fount of common-sensical wisdom beneath his crust, the Wienie King's act of largesse early on in the film starts the jealously and resentment ball rolling. Like all the secondary characters in this one, though, he's more angel than devil, and his generosity will pay off in the end. And, again like most of the minor characters, he gets more laughs than Colbert or McCrea, who more - much more, in the case of McCrea - or less play it straight while the comedy froths about them. Dudley isn't the only funny character, either. There's the Ale and Quail Club members who adopt Colbert as a mascot for a spell, and Sig Arno as a strange foreigner, language spoken and country of origin unknown, who plays gigolo to Mary Astor's Princess Centimillia. Astor's man-hungry princess is the sister of John D. Hackensacker III, son of the son of an oil baron and played to comic perfection by Rudy Vallee. It's in this fizzy sea of absurd to surreal characters that THE PALM BEACH STORY tells its tale of love triumphant.
What can you say about a comedy that still makes you laugh even though you've watched it a zillion times? Colbert is beautiful, McCrea is rock steady, and Vallee is a comic revelation. This one still breezes by every time I watch it. The highest recommendation for what's, in my opinion, one of the best comedies ever made. The print's in okay condition and the dvd offers no extras.
Movie Review: Palm Beach never looked so good
Summary: 5 Stars
Preston Sturges' 1942 comedy gem "The Palm Beach Story" posits that people are so unused to good fortune that when it's dropped right into their laps, they have no idea what to do with it. And those people include the movie's audience.
The movie begins with a whirlwind exposition sequence which explains absolutely nothing. It's Sturges' nose-thumbing at movies which have nothing *but* exposition. He seems to be saying, "Must we explain everything from the get-go? Have some patience on this trip, and I'll get you there."
Soon enough, we meet Tom (Joel McCrea), a frustrated construction designer, and Jerry (Claudette Colbert), his equally frustrated wife. They live in a posh apartment but are constantly dodging bill collectors, until Jerry's chance run-in with a meat mogul known as "The Weenie King." (You think that's flouting the censors? Wait until you see Sturges's "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" [1944].) When the Weenie King hears of Jerry's financial plight, he gives her a wad of money just because she's so darned cute. (Once you see Claudette Colbert, this will seem a bit more plausible.)
Far from feeling relieved, Tom is displeased that Jerry solved their financial woes with only a little flirting. Jerry counters that everything in life is "about sex" (Note to censors: Flout-flout), and eventually she leaves Tom and sets out on her own, solely to prove that she can get whatever she needs in life just by being a woman.
It's never shown whether Jerry proves this to herself or not. But along the way, she meets some memorable characters: the Ale and Quail Club (headed by Sturges veteran William Demarest); a millionairess (delightful Mary Astor) and her foreign-speaking boyfriend; and a soft-spoken yachtsman (Rudy Vallee), who falls for Jerry even after she accidentally breaks all of his pairs of glasses. All of these people love to talk, and Sturges obliges them with enough epigrams for a New Year's bash.
And for those who think Sturges couldn't direct as well as he wrote, I recommend the scene where a tipsy Tom and Jerry discuss their impending divorce. The scene begins with Tom trying to unzip the back of Jerry's dress for her, and it ends as one of the swooniest love scenes it has ever been my pleasure to witness.
And just when you think the movie has run out of steam, Sturges pulls a happy ending out of his hat that has you laughing through the closing credits. Smart and smarter--now, *there's* a trend Hollywood should have pursued.
Movie Review: A Breezy, Witty Comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
A great cast and some snappy dialogue make this nutty comedy about a woman who wants to divorce her husband in order to finance him by marrying a wealthy man, is everything this genre of comedy can be. Preston Sturges wrote and directed this little gem with fast pacing, and lots of little character parts to back up his stars, that help the keep the humor going throughout the film. The generous but deaf Wenie King (Robert Dudley), Sig Arno as Toto, and Arthur Hoyt as the Pullman conductor are among those that make this film take flight.
Claudette Colbert sparkles, and looks heavenly in an assortment of lavish gowns, and Joel McCrea plays her handsome but penniless husband, an inventor whose ideas have never paid off. Enter myopic millionaire John D. Hackensacker III, played with marvelous ease by Rudy Vallee, who goes on a shopping spree when he meets Claudette that includes a very large diamond ring. To complicate matters, Rudy has a sophisticated and lustful sister (Mary Astor in a terrific performance), who sets her heart on Joel, because she has been led to believe he is Claudette's brother.
Victor Young wrote the music, and Rudy Vallee, the legendary "Megaphone Crooner" of the 1930s, sings "Goodnight Sweetheart." Always unpredictable, "Palm Beach Story" is a silly, wacky farce that is written with intelligence, making it a smart and sassy comedy, with never a dull moment between chuckles. Total running time is 88 minutes.
Movie Review: The Truth About People
Summary: 5 Stars
So, I'm trying to watch all of Rosenbaum's 1.000 essential films, at a rate of one per day (too much!). So, being in Israel in such dramatic times (my girlfriend is going to leave me) I started from the comedies, the ones I know will be great and will warm my heart. And "The Palm Beach Story" is brilliant, of course. How many times do you though about the rampant materialism that pervades relationships in North America? How many times did you see that subject treated in cinema or television? Not many, because love and dating is one of the great myths of the "American Dream", that maintains people subjugated and content. Not anymore, and we have Sturges to thank for that. His characters are so honest, so open and direct about why we do the thinks we do that listening to them is like watching yourself at the mirror without self-justifications. So men want women to be servile and women want men to be providers. At least some of them. In fact enough of them to make the others seem like a rarity. The lunacy moments of the film are expertly crafted and the supposedly controversial end is nothing but natural to this kind of social satire (with the exception of Joe Dante's "The Second Civil War", of course). The magical solution to an irresoluble problem is the way to say that there's really no solution; that the problem is really a grave one, and that must be treated, discussed and barred.Movie Review: "WHAT'S KNITTIN' , KITTENS?"
Summary: 5 Stars
Very funny farce written and directed by Preston Sturges. Jerry (Claudette Colbert) runs away from engineer husband Tom (Joel McCrea) after feeling she's in the way of his success and tired of being poor. The Wienie King (don't ask) gives her $700. She spends it and flees to Palm Beach for a divorce with no money and no clothes. On the train, after the Ale & Quail Club pay her fare (don't ask), she is hounded by the rowdy (and I mean ROWDY) bunch until the conductor is forced to abandon the car! Then she steps on and meets "Snoodles" Hackensacker (Rudy Valee) a stiff as starch but charming multimillionaire who buys her clothes and lets her stay at his Palm Beach mansion with his husband hunting sister (Mary Astor) and her "guest" a bizarre French (?) kook who's always falling down. Then Tom shows up (after also meeting the Wienie King) and then everything gets even crazier. Alternately funny, romantic, sexy (oh yes) and surreal, this overlooked gem is packed with rapid fire dialogue, double entendres and just plain lunacy. "Palm Beach Story" must have been very adult for the time (1942) because it still tickles in the right places. Colbert's costumes are stunning and she is delightful as Jerry. The DVD print is very good. Enjoy. And try to figure out the opening title sequences....