Truly Dreadful Film

Simply Perfect

Must See Movie...

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Interesting that a couple of reviewers for the film on IMDb call this picture 'one of Sturges's best' and 'Sturges at his worst'. I guess that goes to the old saying that it takes all kinds. From the outset I had a pretty good idea that this was intended to be a screwball comedy, and the story did have it's share of quirky, fast paced dialog, but for me there was an element missing to get it over the top as a credible story. What I really couldn't understand was why Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Cobert) thought the answer to all her marital problems was to run away and get a divorce, and then behave in ways that resulted in insuring the marriage.I'll say this though - for 1942, seven hundred dollars sure went a long way. The Weiner King's generous hand out to Jerry managed to cover all the back rent, dinner, a theater show, supper, the butcher, grocer and drugstore, a trip to the hairdresser and still managed fourteen dollars left over for husband Tom (Joel McCrea) to have fun with. There were good old days and then there were good old days, but man, I sure would love to stretch a buck that far.One redeeming note to the story, I thought Hackensacker (Rudy Vallee) was a stand up guy at the finale when he got jilted by Gerry and still decided to offer the loan to Tom for the airport project. Goes to show that business doesn't have to mix with pleasure for a businessman to recognize a profitable deal. But that triple wedding!?!? What were the odds?

A refurnished Preston Sturgis' 'Palm Beach Story' is out on DVD. An occasion to celebrate. This screwball comedy touches on a problem that affects young working families: how to make ends meet. The joke is given away at the beginning for the attentive eye. Of course this is Hollywood, so the the Jeffers (Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea) down on their luck live on Park Avenue. Colbert decides to leave McCrea whom she loves deeply, to find her way with her looks to bankroll his dreams but ... A fairy godfather 'the weenie king', played with a straight faced by the excellent Robert Y. Dudley steps in. Debts paid with Dudley's $700 (several thousands in today's dollars), McCrea takes it the wrong way. So Colbert takes off to find her fortune and new life. But the fairy godfather steps in again by paying McCrea's way to win back his bride. And so it goes: there's the hilarious Quail and Ale Club of raucous inebriated millions come to her rescue with gun shots, hounds and barber shop singing. And on the train she steps on Rudy Valle's 19-century style pince nez eyeglasses, and she steps into the world of super wealth. And so it goes. Valle is a charm and a great second banana. And then there's Mary Astor as his oft married sister who sets her eyes on Mcrea. But the bond of love cannot break Colbert from McCrea.And then the film's kicker comes in. But you've got to see this delicious comedy to find out the happy ending and everyone lives happily ever after!

for the right mixture of humor and romance. for gags. for the performance of Mary Astor. a film about women and men's relationship who explores in wise manner the nuances of it. and the result is more than good or seductive. it is lovely, charming, convincing, brilliant. not a great movie but useful slice for understand the art of a director and the cinema 's wave from a period. because it is smart work and careful exploration of the habits, ideas and manner to accept the life. because it has salt and pepper and a lot of other spices for impose a sort of game who, only at first sigh, could be a comedy or version of long war between sexes. a film who reminds more than presents. great job. seductive performances. and a role who gives to Claudette Colbert the chance to be more than the nice pretty girl.

Preston Sturges was a unique figure in Hollywood history, a writer- director of witty, cleverly plotted comedies that combined wacky fun with occasional sharp satiric potshots at social institutions and human foibles. If Hollywood had a Moliere, Sturges was that.My personal favorite of his movies is the romantic screwball comedy The Palm Beach Story (1941), featuring Claudette Colbert as a woman who loves her husband too much to see him fail, and so decides to divorce him and marry a rich man to support him! It's great silly fun, insanely contrived but irresistible for all that, with winning performances by Colbert and the other leads, especially Rudy Vallee as the improbably nice rich guy whose path Colbert crosses.