"The Palm Beach Story" (1942)

Yes, I'm on Preston Sturges kick...

The opening credit sequence alone should be studied to show how you can illustrate intrigue, with laughs and without a single stitch of dialogue. I’m actually surprised that the opening isn’t talked about as much as the long “Touch Of Evil” shot. It’s amazing, and must watch when you get to the end of the movie again. Unreal that this was innovative then, and hasn’t (but should’ve been ripped-off) technique that would work now.

A ridiculous romp through an insane concept which ends as quickly and as funny as it began. It will have you completely say to yourself “….the fuuuuuuck?” Because if anything ever fell from the sky and solved all their problems, this was it.

Most likely this would never fly today. Unless it was a sitcom. The lines come fast and hard and you really have to pay attention to the nuances of the performances to fully love what the movie is. Logically, it’s just unbelievable. But who cares, I love the silliness.

The story is of a marriage that has shat the bed. After five years Tom (Joel McCrea) & Geraldine (Claudette Colbert) or Gerry as she’s referred to have finally reached rock bottom. As a struggling architectural designer, they’re flat broke, until one fateful day an old deaf gentlemen gives Gerry the idea that being in poverty sucks. She bluntly tells Tom she’s done with him and wants to move on to make the best of both their situations. Gerry desperately runs from Tom, as he’s in chase of her..all the way down to Palm Beach. She runs into rich men left, right and center, but stumbles on a pipsqueak milquetoast weirdo named J.D. Hackensacker III nicknamed Snoodles, played by Rudy Vallee who is the richest of them all. He is smitten with Gerry and is determined to make her his wife. Well…his version of determined anyway. Tom discovers where she is and shows up only to be announced to Tom as her brother (instead of husband). Get it yet? Okay, so now posing as her brother, they have weird incest jokes (for our benefit anyway). And boy…they are racy. Snoodles has a sister named Princess Centimillia. Seriously. She is oversexed, with a cup poureth over with men. Having been married 6 times prior. She intends to make Tom, whom she believes is the sister of Gerry, her next conquest. She’s played by Mary Astor in, what I consider a supporting actress level performance. She’s fun, lively and who wouldn’t want to marry her? Well, common sense be damned. She is the elixir to Snoodles’s joyless uptight demeanor.

The laughs aren’t guffaw laughs. They are smart witty remarks. Intelligent in the characters they instantly create. As a shorter film, this movie is buoyant, as with the rest of director Preston Sturges flicks.

This is a fun breezy film. I equate it to listening to a Michael MacDonald song. You may be poor as dirt, but listening to his tunes makes you feel rich and carefree. I consider this the same feeling.