Preston Sturges was a man of many talents, growing up in a wealthy family and serving with the US Signal Corps in WWI he then went on to invent a kiss proof lipstick amongst other things before turning to play writing for. Frustrated at the lack of overall control he moved to Hollywood and Paramount gave him the chance. What this wonderful boxed sets consists of are seven of those eight features he made during the war years for Paramount, only
‘The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek’ is missing.
Starting off in the same order that they were made, ‘The Great McGinty’ (1940) marked the debut for writer and director Preston Sturges. Asking Paramount to let him both write and direct he gets the first credit of this in the movies and an Oscar nomination as well. This is a tale of a bartender telling how he got there, his rise from the slums, through racketeering, and then becoming a pawn in crooked politics. In one moment of honesty, Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) falls foul of the crime bosses that put him where he is and leaves his life behind. This is a great movie that is remembered for being Sturges debut, but it is more than that, cracking acting turns from Akim Tamiroff (who would later play in most of Sturges movies is supporting roles) as the Mob Boss, and Muriel Angelelus plays it sweet as McGinty’s wife add to the drama of the movie, and it hints at the comic genius that would show in his later works.
The shortest movie in the box is also the cruellest of tales; ‘Christmas in July’ (1940) shows a happy but almost penniless couple Jimmy MacDonald (Dick Powell) and Betty Casey (Ellen Drew) falling foul from their work colleagues. A prank that they have won the prize for a caption competition is played upon them and believing this is to be the case they go out and spend, spend, spend. Not on really on themselves, as they treat their whole street to little luxuries with the promised cash. When word spreads that they are not the winners everything comes crashing back down to reality. This has wonderful moments of pies and flying fish and an ending to make you smile.
We have con artists on board in ‘The Lady Eve’ (1941) with a father, Colonel Harrington (Charles Coburn), and daughter, Jean (Barbara Stanwick), team working their way through the high seas and setting sights on golden boy Charles Pike (Henry Fonda), heir to an ale fortune. Plans never go straight as love gets in the way, but then can one love a con ? This is fun film full of sparkling wit and a nice pairing of the two mains makes it the perfect Sunday afternoon family flick.
The movie that I am least at ease with is ‘Sullivan’s Travels’ (1941), please note there is nothing wrong with this movie, but it lacks either the conviction of the drama or the wise cracking fun of his other movies. Movie director John Lloyd Sullivan (Joel McCrea) takes to the streets dressed as a bum to get material for his next movie. This may have started it all but I don’t get the fun at poking at the downtrodden just for a few laughs, this has been done many times, ‘Trading Places’ for example or ‘Down and Out in Beverly Hills’ , or was this meant to be a parody of ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and the likes ? In short I am not sure but this just feels a little too uneasy for me.
In ‘The Palm Beach Story' (1942) we have another madcap tale of love lost and found with Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) and Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea again) at each other’s throats to the point that Gerry wants to disappear to save Tom and get money for his project of a suspended Airport. Well forget the plot and smile and laugh with the outrageous script and the set piece on the train with the Ale and Quail Club is just bliss. Lots of eccentric characters and fantastic word play makes another gem from Master Sturges.
With 'Hail the Conquering Hero' , very much a companion piece to the missing movie in this set, ‘The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek’ ; Sturges delivers a fantastic satire on patriotism and hero worship. Woodrow Truesmith (Eddie bracken) is returning home from his time in the service after being discharged with having his asthma, only he does not want to disappoint the folks at home. A group of Marines persuades him to return in uniform and before you know it he is given a hero’s welcome, one lie leads to another and the helpless and hapless Truesmith does not want to hurt anyone especially his old man who served in WW1. This all gets too much and the truth must come out, in typical fashion for the war years this movie ends on a high note and has everyone’s spirits souring with it.
‘The Great Moment’ (1944) shows a more serious streak, this has a few touches of comedy, a little slapstick in the dentist’s chair but looks upon the introduction of ether to the medical profession in all seriousness. Although this is the youngest of the batch there are a few crackles and grainy touches to a few of the scenes, but not enough of to merit distraction. Seemingly the production company thought this was far too serious a movie and insisted that it be recut and it spent almost two years on the shelves, this is what brought down the happy friendship with Sturges and Paramount and was the final film in their run of eight together.
All of the movies featured have their cinema trailers and ‘Sullivan’s Travels’ has an entertaining audio commentary from the ex-Python, Mr. Terry Jones. Full of wit and absurdities, these Struges movies seem a little tame on the sex play side of things by today’s standards but they constantly got him into trouble with the censers at the time of their release, that aside, the fun has not dated one bit. You even get a great booklet with the set, giving snippets of info on all the mains of the movies, with a few nice pics. Enjoy !
'The Preston Sturges Collection' is available now via
AmazonUK , and as of yet there has been no US release date given.
You can read more about the DVD in our
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