Nothing will ease the remorse of summer’s end better than a vintage screwball comedy and The Palm Beach Story is one of the best.
Written and directed by the master, Preston Sturges, it moves faster than a rollercoaster and it will leave you just as breathless. All four of the leads—Joel McRae, Claudette Colbert, Rudy Valee, and Mary Astor—banter with lightning speed while dressed to the nines. Stocked with delicious cameos, set in divine locations, it’s an exhilarating romp of escalating absurdity and hilarious situations. To top it off, the happy/unhappy couple at the center of it all are named Tom and Gerry, and the film is jammed with almost cartoonish slapstick on top of all the verbal pyrotechnics. Of course, Preston Sturges appreciated Tom and Jerry. It’s one of the things that make Sturges so unique, low and high comedy seamlessly interwoven.
Written and directed by the master, Preston Sturges, it moves faster than a rollercoaster and it will leave you just as breathless. All four of the leads—Joel McRae, Claudette Colbert, Rudy Valee, and Mary Astor—banter with lightning speed while dressed to the nines. Stocked with delicious cameos, set in divine locations, it’s an exhilarating romp of escalating absurdity and hilarious situations. To top it off, the happy/unhappy couple at the center of it all are named Tom and Gerry, and the film is jammed with almost cartoonish slapstick on top of all the verbal pyrotechnics. Of course, Preston Sturges appreciated Tom and Jerry. It’s one of the things that make Sturges so unique, low and high comedy seamlessly interwoven.
If you already know this movie, you may be surprised that we bookended this Three Reasons with the Wienie King. He is not only a hilarious bit of geriatric bossy benevolence, but he's also the motor that sets the whole mad Rube Goldberg plot in motion.
And if you never knew why America loved Rudy Valee, this film will make you swoon over him too.
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