The Palm Beach Story (1942)

Great Film overall

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

From director Preston Sturges (The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels), I found this film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was well rated by critics, the title didn't suggest anything particular to me, but I was hoping I would agree with the positive opinions. Basically in New York, Gerry (Claudette Colbert) and Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea) have been married for five years, but with a lack of money coming in they are due to be evicted from their apartment, Tom is an architect and inventor near bankruptcy and unable to find an investor for his latest idea. As time has gone by Gerry finds herself unable to cope and realises that their marriage has been over for some time, so she leaves him and is heading to Palm Beach for a quick divorce and marry a millionaire to help Tom's project, but Tom is determined to do whatever he can to stop her. It is boarding a train when Gerry meets one of the richest men in the world, eccentric billionaire bachelor J.D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee), and travelling on the yacht to Palm Beach she also meets his sister, Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor), eventually Tom catches up to his wife, but introduces himself to them as her brother. The situation becomes more complicated with Hackensecker falling in love with Gerry, and the Princess falling in love with Tom, after some embarrassing and near ridiculous situations, the truth is eventually revealed that Tom is actually Gerry's husband, but the other siblings come into it, in the end Hackensecker marries Gerry's twin sister and the Princess marries Tom's twin brother. The cast all do their parts well, Colbert being the wife who thinks the husband would be better without her, and McCrea as the husband trying to better himself and reignite her feelings, I did laugh at the moments with the mildly deaf man mistaking what is being said, and the mixed relationships and absurdities are funny, I admit it might not be something I would want to see again, but it is a likable enough screwball comedy. Good!

Writer-director Preston Sturges' "The Palm Beach Story" (1942) 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 sequence of exposition (set to a cockeyed version of "The William Tell Overture") which seems to explain 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 Gerry (Claudette Colbert), his equally frustrated wife. They live in a posh apartment but are constantly dodging bill collectors, until Gerry'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' The Miracle of Morgan's Creek [1944].) Gerry tells The Weenie King of her financial plight, and he gives her a wad of money to help her, just because she's so darned cute. (Once you see Claudette Colbert, this will seem a little more plausible.) Far from feeling relieved, Tom is displeased that Gerry can solve their financial woes with only a little flirting. Gerry counters that everything in life is "about sex" (Note to censors: Flout-flout),and eventually she leaves Tom to set out on her own, solely to prove that she can get whatever she needs whatever she needs in life just by being a woman.It's never shown whether Gerry proves this to herself or not. But along the way, she meets some memorable characters: the members of The Ale and Quail Club (headed by Sturges veteran William Demarest); an oft-married millionairess (delightful Mary Astor) and her foreign-speaking boyfriend of the moment; and a soft-spoken yachtsman (Rudy Vallee), who patiently endures Gerry's systematic breaking of his every pair of pince-nez's. All of these people love to talk, and Sturges obliges them with enough epigrams for a swank 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 Gerry discuss their impending divorce. The scene begins with Tom trying to unzip the back of Gerry'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.

Shortly after the US entered the second world war this dynamite 86 minute black and white screwball was pure nonsense entertainment. Comic geniuses Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea are often edited in curvy poses while musical star Rudee Vallee and first time brilliant nutcase comic Mary Astor shine in stiff posture poses, one edited shot with Colbert and MacCrea curved at the edges of the frame with Vallee and Astor straight as rods in the center of the frame as good as it gets in movie making. The characters are all nut cases who believe they are behaving responsibly yet are utter dopes likely to do the unexpected and glory in it. The story rolls along with enough physical comedy, certainly the ale and quail club, to keep the laughs flowing while the illogical storyboard makes no sense and the happy ending comes out of nowhere.

The opening credits were rather confusing, showing little bits of the story, like a lady tied up in a closet. The movie had some rather dramatic characters and also held a lot of qualities of a silent film, with the big over exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures. The music was also very similar to that of a silent film. The journey the lead woman goes on to help her poor husband is incredible. The train scene was definitely my favorite. The passion between the Gerry and her husband as they try to face getting a divorce and the money for her husbands airport project is nothing short of modern, with a few classic touches.