The Palm Beach Story

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Preston Sturges
Starring:	Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea
Release date:	01 February, 2005
List price:	~~$12.99~~
Our price:	$10.09 that is 22% off!

The Palm Beach Story

Average rating: Stars

The Truth About People

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.

The Palm Beach Story - Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea

A Breezy, Witty Comedy

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.

Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea - The Palm Beach Story

The Palm Beach Story

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.