Quintuplets, Vengeance, Stuttering, Black Shirts & Murder -- Catching Up With Some of the Films I've Seen Lately

I've recently enjoyed that most treasured of all interludes, time off. Absent travel, the two best ways to occupy such time is with family or films. I've been lucky enough to do both. Details of conversations with nephews, children or others are not likely to interest the general reader, so I'll report instead on some of the films I've seen of late.

Holy Multiple Births! or The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944). These past three years I've listed this film from Preston Sturges as one of my favorite Christmas movies. Indeed I watch it almost every December. While I'm beginning to re-think Miracle as a Holiday flick, I am hardening my position that it is joy to behold. The real miracle, of course, is that Sturges slipped this by the censors who, in days of yore, cared not for pregnancy, pre-marital sex or women going unpunished for naughty behavior. The prudes! This is not Andy Hardy's small town USA. For one thing some of the characters are, well, real characters. No better example than the father of the bride, Constable Kockenlocker (William Demarest). He's a kick, which is appropriate to say because he's constantly trying to kick one of his daughter's in the fanny and in turn landing on his own. The older daughter Trudy is the blinkered, dizzy but lovable blonde who gets, "in a family way" under circumstances that only Sturges could create. Diana Lynn is an underrated delight as the wise cracking and wise beyond her years 14 year-old kid sister. The hapless wonder in the story is the lovelorn Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken) who'll go to any lengths for his beloved Trudy. Bumbling, stumbling and fumbling all the way, Norval is just a sweetie pie that anyone would root for. Like the other half dozen or so classics Sturges made in a period of under ten years (with nary a thing before or after to boast of) Miracle is witty, silly, improbable and utterly delightful. So maybe while it's not a true Christmas film, it is a true wonder.

The Coen Brothers Go West or True Grit. I think it's safe to assert that, at least in this writer's humble opinion, the title of best working American director is a tie between Joel and Ethan Coen, who conveniently are brothers and work together. In recent years they've offered No Country for Old Men (2007), A Serious Man (2009) and now True Grit. Three films from radically different genres (and if you can figure out the genres of the former two, more power to ya). True Grit is a clearly a western. It's somewhat of a surprise that the Coens would make such a conventional film. It's no surprise that these fine craftsmen would do such a bang up job. This is not a re-make of the 1969 film of the same name which starred John Wayne. It is instead a more faithful telling of the novel of the same name penned by Charles Portis.  (As per custom, the Coens did their own adapting.) I'm not in a position to compare the two films as I never bothered with the first. Still, its impossible to imagine that John Wayne did more with the role of Rooster Cogburn than did Jeff Bridges. I've seen enough of Wayne to state with confidence that he couldn't have matched Bridges' spitting, muttering, cussing and quite obviously stinky interpretation of the lawman. Bridges was a positive wonder to watch. He was clearly having a rollicking good time in the role and inviting us to enjoy the journey with him. Meanwhile newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, a mere 13 years old during filming, is amazing as Mattie Ross. The phrase, she more than held her own, springs immediately to mind. Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper are also along for the ride and contribute mightily to it. But it is the Coens who should earn the most encomiums. They re-created the proverbial Old West as well if not better than has been done before. If ever a film felt like it existed in the time period and place it depicted, this one did.

How Stuttering Can Be a Royal Pain or The King's Speech. They might as well hand the Best Actor Academy Award to Colin Forth now and dispense with the nominations. I'm not suggesting that he should win or for that matter that he shouldn't, just that he will. He was considered an unofficial runner up to the aforementioned Mr. Bridges last year and he gives a wonderful performance in a prestige film this year. The King's Speech is a classy production all the way. Then again so are those Masterpiece Theater production that PBS shows on Sunday nights. This film had all the emotional heft of one of those stagey-looking productions. One of the problems being the focus on a man's (yes, I know, he was the bloody King of England) speech impediment. For crying out loud this King assumed the throne when his brother abdicated to marry an American divorcée. Then there was the little business of World War II breaking out during his reign. Both these events are treated as sidebars in the story of the stubborn prince-cum-king learning to appreciate and profit from his unconventional tutor (Geoffrey Rush). The King's Speech looked damn nice and flowed along quite well with Firth's performance a real highlight.  But I could have seen the same quality on PBS and saved the $10.

The Two Mrs. Mussolinis or Vincere (2009). Earlier this year this wonderful film from Italy snuck into a few theaters across America and then snuck right back out. Some of us were lucky enough to catch it. Happily it's now available on DVD and can be watched as part of Netflix's Instant program. Do yourself a favor and see it. It is the story of Ida Dasler who was almost certainly a mistress of Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini (before he assumed power) and claimed to be his first wife and mother to his son. Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Dasler gives one of those performances covering many years in the life of a historical figure that leaves one in awe (think Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose (2007)). She is lusty, tempestuous, beautiful and utterly mad. We in turn feel much of what she's going through. The first half of the film follows her with Mussolini as he rises from newspaper editor to Il Duce. It is rich, panoramic and blends historical footage with red hot sex and passions of all variety. Then as Mussolini must protect his legitimate relationship and secure his place in history, Ida is frozen of his life. As this is her story, we see no more of him (except in some more archival scenes) and the story slows considerably. It is now about a woman's hopeless efforts to claim the man she loves for her very own. Does she go mad or is this alleged insanity a means of "getting her out of the way?" In either case the focus has changed and some viewers have evidently felt cheated. But it is honest film making and still makes for compelling viewing. If Mezzogiorno isn't enough to hold your attention you weren't paying attention in the first place.

How to Murder Your Mistress or Match Point (2005). I've been on a Woody Allen kick for over a month that shows no signs of abating (can a kick abate?). This was my third viewing of Match Point and it is a classic example of a film that gets ever so much better with each viewing. The little details of "what happens" increasingly seem merely to serve the bigger questions the film asks and the manner in which the story is told. The idea of killing an inconvenient mistress was not new to Allen who'd explored it in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). However, Match Point does not presume to explore moral questions. We are simply watching a cold calculating young man, Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who's principally employed charm and grace to attain all of life's luxuries. If a murder is needed to protect all he's accumulated, so be it. He's results-oriented. Match Point is one of the many Allen films to ask serious questions about its characters and thus of its audience. It also ponders the imponderable role of luck in one's life, another occasional Allen theme. On the surface Match Point is a simple, elegant film about a man's rise and his use of the ultimate crime in the service of his success. But upon repeat viewings we see more subtlety in Chris and how he maneuvers. We also see, in sharper focus, the banality of his wife and her very well-to-do family and infuriating innocence and naiveté of his lover, (Scarlett Johansson). It's impossible to conceive a list of top ten Allen films which omits it.

Movies and Trains, As Natural as the Cream in Your Coffee

Trains and movies go together as naturally as jazz and saxophones. Directors are afforded a contained area which is at once limiting and liberating. Passageways are narrow and quarters confined and there's no terra firma. On the other hand there's movement, scenery, and challenges for the camera that can create memorable cinema. It's remarkable how many chase scenes successfully take place on trains, along with fist fights, love scenes and silly shenanigans.

Spacecraft, ships, aeroplanes and even submarines have provided moving set locations for films, but not with the degree either of frequency or success as have trains. Train travel was much more common in the United States up until the 1960's. Except for the Northeastern Seaboard, trains in the U.S. are infrequent, expensive and stop everywhere, making such travel tedious and impractical. It's a sad loss for Americans who as such strong individualists all want their own modes of transportation (i.e. cars) and can't abide their tax dollars subsiding a seemingly archaic mode of travel.

So aside from visiting or re-locating to Europe your best bet to enjoy riding the rails is to watch a movie.  There are literally oodles ("did he just write 'literally oodles'"?) of movies, most from the first half of the previous century, that feature lengthy or important scenes on choo choos. I can not even pretend that what I provide below is anything more than a sample. This list could easily be twice, three times, even four times longer. But I do think I've got a representative sample of excellent films where trains were integral to a good story.

The 39 Steps (1939) or Escape on a Train. Alfred Hitchcock frequently used trains and invariably to great effect. In The 39 Steps a man (Robert Donat) wrongly suspected of murder must elude the coppers while on board a moving a train. This first creates drama when a newspaper with his mug on it is purchased and then when the law gets wind he's on the train. A woman is of no help but a bridge is, in this delightful film full of derring do, dash and whimsy.

The Lady Vanishes (1938) or International Intrigue on a Train. Another Hitchcock film. This time there's a charming little old lady on a train and then there's not. Where'd she go and why does no one believe our heroine (Margaret Lockwood) who insists the woman was on board? It won't surprise you to know that there are the proverbial bad guys in this film, most of which is set on a train.  There's also eccentric English gents, romance, a handsome leading man (Michael Redgrave) and a shootout. Great fun in one one of Hitch's most under appreciated efforts.

The Train (1964) or World War II on a Train. In this film from director John Frankenheimer, trains co star with Burt Lancaster in a thriller about the French resistance trying to save rare works of arts from the clutches of the Nazis. The villains are trying to get the artwork out of Paris via -- take a guess ... who said train? Lancaster leaps about trestles, tracks and the trains themselves in his effort to thwart the bad guys. Action aplenty much of it on moving trains. Great stuff for WWII, train and film aficionados. (If you're all three you're in for a real treat.)

Twentieth Century (1934) or Theater on a Train. John Barrymore and Carole Lombard hamming it up and us viewers cracking up. This is great stuff. The film starts in a theater where Barrymore is an impresario and Lombard his discovery. But much of the action takes place aboard a train called the Twentieth Century, a few years later when Lombard is a big star and Barrymore's fortunes are on the wane. He's trying to woo her back with guile, a wing and prayer. Howard Hawks directed the twosome and let em have it. So you get two thespians feasting on the scenery, which remember, is a train.

Go West (1940) or The Marx Brothers on a Train. By rights this shouldn't be here as it's not a terribly good film, especially for the Marx Brothers. But it features one of the great trains scenes of all time. It is an elaborate chase sequence in which the train is veritably cannibalized to fuel itself. It is the embodiment of madcap antics and its on rails.

Shanghai Express (1932) or Scandal and Civil War on a Train. This folks is a great film and its long past high time it got its much due DVD release. Almost the whole shebang takes place aboard a train, namely the Shanghai Express. Marlene Dietrich stars as the notorious Shanghai Lil a well known, shall we say working woman, who's one of several intriguing passengers aboard the express. The journey will find itself right in the  middle of the Chinese Civil War. Joseph von Sternberg directed.

Wild Boys of the Road (1933) or The Depression on a Train. Riding the rails was a common form of transportation for the colorfully named hoboes of America's Great Depression. In this classic from William Wellman, it's teenagers searching for where the grass is greener. They hop a freight, meet compatriots and even get into a brawl with cops. Hoping a freight epitomized those desperate times when cars were abandoned and people searched the land for some sort of break. This movie captures that time as well as any other.

Palm Beach Story (1942) or The Ale and Quail Club on a Train. Folks, this is train abuse pure and simple. What the wealthy and intoxicated members of the hunting and imbibing club do to this train is a scandal. Their gunplay (harmless in intent) terrorizes a porter and provides unwanted air conditioning to a club car. Meanwhile they go on a hunt for a young lady they've taken under their wing, utilizing their beagles. That young lady (Claudette Colbert) not surprsingly hides from her besotted benefactors and in the process meets a very wealthy bachelor (Rudy Vallee). You get it, it's more madcap fare from director Preston Sturges and is howling good fun.

Schindler's List (1993) or The Holocaust on a Train. I enver said this was going to be all yucks and giggles. There is a tragic iconography in the trains pulling into Auschwitz with their doomed cargo. Stuff to haunt your dreams (its done mine) for its grim reality. Schindler's List evokes that horror and particularly the horribly crowded cattle cars.

Some Like it Hot (1959) or Men in Drag on a Train. What could be better than sharing intimate quarters on a train with Marylin Monroe? Not much although watching her cavort with Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis, with the latter two in drag, comes pretty close. This classic comedy's key middle third takes place aboard a Miami bound train. The three stars were never better.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) or Bandits on a Train. Behold the dedicated bank employee who stands steadfast aside his company's safe refusing to yield to the Hole in the Wall Gang. No, he'll not let them near the loot though they threaten to blow it and him to kingdom come. Our persistent thieves are led by Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford). Imagine their surprise when too much dynamite is used and money blows hither and yon. And imagine their shock when out of some of the trains cars come armed horseman. The law! The chase is on and birthed by a train.

Strangers on a Train (1951) or A Train With Strangers On It. There's actually not a lot of this film (another from Hitchcock) set aboard a train but what there is is crucial. Strangers opens with the chance meeting of two men who strike up what is to one of them a most interesting conversation (to the other it all seems rather macarbe and odd). Our oddball suggests that they each commit a murder on behalf of the other. Each will have an air tight alibi and thus neither will be suspected. The train and most espeically the tracks provide some key symbolism as well as a starting point.

Another Riku Writes Classic "12 Films for Your 12 Days of Christmas"

I offer another re-run post, this from one year ago today. (I'll be taking a closer look at a few of these films individually in the days to come.)

I'd also like to draw your attention to a few other Yule related flicks to help get you into the spirit of the season. They are: Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), Elf (2003), Holiday Affair (1949), A Christmas Story (1983) and The Bishop's Wife (1947). I have also posted a classic Christmas cartoon featuring Pluto for your viewing enjoyment.

Now without further ado, my original post: "12 Films for Your 12 Days of Christmas."

Tis' the season for Holiday themed films. Here are twelve of my favorites. You'll note that some are not strictly speaking Christmas movies. Indeed the most revered of all, It's A Wonderful Life, begins and ends on Christmas but most of it takes place at other times of the year. That's consistent with many of the movies on my list, if they aren't plain and simple Christmas movies they at least end during the holiday. That's one reason I don't include the delightful Bachelor Mother (1939) starring Ginger Rogers. It begins in the Christmas season but the rest of the movie is after the holiday. It thus doesn't have the holiday feel to it. So although in point of fact there's not a lot of Christmas in The Man Who Came to Dinner, for example, it's a season staple and makes my list as it ends on December 25. Enough preamble, here are movies to make your holiday all the brighter.

It's A Wonderful Life (1946) An obvious choice. I never tire of great films and this is one of the best of all time, Christmas related or otherwise. Jimmy Stewart is at his best as we all know but so is Donna Reed, Thomas Mitchell, Lionel Barrymore and the rest of director Frank Capra's great cast. This is a movie that has stayed with me all my life as a reminder to be forever thankful of what I do have and not to under estimate the role each of us plays in one another's lives. Some people think its sappy and sentimental. Yeah, well its well done sap and sentiment.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945) You're not going to get any more Christmasy than this classic. My fave, Barbara Stanwyck, stars as a magazine writer who's boss, an avuncular Sydney Greenstreet, has her host a war hero in the kind of rustic traditional Xmas she extols in her columns. Problem is that Stanwyck's character is a big faker and has to go through all manner of shenanigans to pull the wool over everyone's eyes including the heroic sailor, the handsome and humble Dennis Morgan. You'll not find a warmer, fuzzier, cozier Christmas film. It's funny too.

Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) One of the great film's from Preston Sturges' brief but spectacular run of classics. It's another film that begins and ends at Christmas. The usual Sturges' troupe is on hand led by William Demarest as Constable Kockenlocker (great name). Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken co-star. It's a typically frenetic and witty Sturges comedy. Slipping this one by the censors was the true miracle of Morgan's Creek.

The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) I've never seen anyone else in the role so I'm really not qualified to say but I can't imagine anyone better suited than Monty Wooley to play Sheridan Whiteside. What ego, what pomposity, what fun. Whiteside is of course the world famous columnist of print and radio whose fall down wet steps make him the unwelcome house guest in a small town home. Along for the fun are Bette Davis as his erstwhile assistant, the delicious Ann Sheridan and Jimmy Durante essentially playing themselves.

The Shop Around the Corner (1940) Very little of the holiday season is present in this Ernst Lubitsch classic, but it ends on Christmas Eve. The director's famous "touch" is evident in this story of two store clerks who anonymously fall in love as pen pals. Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan star but Frank Morgan as the store owner is a scene stealer. It's one of the better done love stories of all time.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Stay the hell away from the newer and far inferior version. This original stars Edmund Gwen as Santa Claus. Is he really Saint Nicholas? So it would seem. He'll at least have you believing he's the best cinematic Santa of all time.

Home Alone (1990) The mark of a really good comedy is that it remains funny with each viewing. This is the best of the many films writer, director, producer John Hughes cranked out in the 80's and 90's. Obviously star Macaulay Caulkin had a lot to do with the film's surprising success. He plays an eight year old left behind when the family jets off to France for Christmas (hey, that's what we're about to do!). Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, as the two burgulars he terrorizes, help with the mirth-making. There's also a touching element to the story. Not to be forgotten is John Candy's cameo -- polka, polka, polka!

Home Alone 2 (1992) A sequel that's almost as good as the original! Another holiday miracle. Caulkin, his family and Pesci and Stern are back but this time the setting is New York and the cameo is provided by our old friend Bracken. The laughs continue and so too does the holiday message.

The Santa Clause (1994) By all means pass on all the dreadful sequels to this Tim Allen vehicle. Ahh but the original is a delight with an interesting take on the whole Santa, elves and reindeer business. I haven't seen Allen in much I've liked but he comes through here in the story of an ordinary bloke who falls into the role of being the real Saint Nick. Some people think he's loony but he's got a surprise for them.

Scrooge (1951) For my money (albeit there's not a lot of it) Alastair Sim is the best Ebeneezer Scrooge in film history. Its not surprising then that this is the best cinematic version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It is very dark when it needs to be and brightens up nicely when its supposed to. Along with It's A Wonderful Life, this is the ultimate secular holiday story, with its story of redemption and hope.

A Christmas Carol (1984) This was actually a made for TV movie but I don't see why that should exclude it. George C. Scott is Scrooge and though no Sim he's damn good. While the previously mentioned film makes a strong case for a black and white telling of the story, this film makes a compelling argument for a color version. This is a wonderful film directed by Clive Donner.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Something for the kiddies that Mom and Dad can enjoy. The Muppet's appeal to all ages, of course, and so does Michael Caine as Scrooge. From what I remember of the Muppet films from when my children were wee ones this is the best of the lot. It's a musical with tunes that will dance in your head along with visions of sugar plums.

Also for your consideration are these shorter Christmas tales: A Charlie Brown Christmas (never ever gets old and its got a great message); How the Grinch Stole Christmas (not the poxy film version, you've got to have Karloff!); Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (a staple of my childhood); the many Simpson's Christmas episodes available on DVD, the Twilight Zone's Night of the Meek (stars Art Carney); and the brand new A Colbert Christmas The Greatest Gift of All! (irreverent holiday fun).

Movies Yesterday and Today: The Good, The Bad The Racist

One of the principle reasons I cannot, like some of my film blogging brethren, limit myself to seeing movies from Hollywood's Golden Age, is that I like to allow my imagination to spend time with people of color who are afforded equal citizenship.

My 200 favorite all time English language films boasts more movies from the 1930's and 1940's than any other decades. Not even close, actually. But I do tire of seeing African Americans only being allowed to play porters, maids and buffoons and never being granted a lead role. Similarly Asians, Hispanics and to a certain extent even Jews were given very short shrift in films of yore. Openly gay characters did not exist at all, though it's hinted that some men are "sissies" and thus subjects of derision if not contempt. So here was the great deficit of films in the first half of the 20th century: it was a white man's world.

In social situations women could attain equal status (particularly in the pre code era) but politically and economically they were in the back of the bus. Truth be told women enjoyed better treatment in film than they did in the "real world." And there's the rub. It was not that the film industry that was keeping women, people of color and gays in secondary roles, no they were merely reflecting society. Of course one can counter the argument and say that films were perforce colluding in repression. Films continued perpetuating the negative, hurtful stereotypes of the Jim Crow Era and it can be argued, re-enforced them. Those images, as seen in the video montage from Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2000) (above) are powerful reminders of the role film played in oppression.

It gets complicated.

I've had students say of a film from the 1930's that it was "racist" due to the manner in which it depicted a Black character. Far worse, many adults say and believe the same thing. However when Preston Sturges cast a bug eyed, stammering, African-American cook it was not because the great writer/director was a bigot. (Was it?) This was merely a cinematic convention of the time (So?). In fact Sturges was lauded by the NAACP for his depiction of a black church in Sullivan's Travels (1941). We like to label, classify and file away. One false step by a politician, entertainer or co worker and they're out. Makes life easy. Easy and limiting.

Part of the problem is that we cannot apply standards of today to movies of yesterday. Ultimately they just ARE. We need be sensitive to and aware of how various peoples are represented in films of the past but to then condemn them is pointless. We can, with a great degree of accuracy look back at southern politicians of the time who opposed federal lynching laws and label them racist. Far more important we can examine whether odious creatures like Fox TV's Glenn Beck is racist. In dealing with the past making judgments is a false dichotomy and a fool's errand. Meanwhile understanding how the past influenced today is one of the most important exercises we can engage in. We can trace societal norms and attitudes of yesteryear to twits of today like Beck.

The past is what it is. Films from bygone days needs to be looked at, examined, interpreted and understood. Calling them names is just plain silly. I read a lot about Nazi Germany and have to restrain myself from getting angry at those beasts. Better to reserve one's anger for the dangers of today and better still to channel that anger into productive ways to counter those threats.

One night not long ago, as a diversion from our cares, my wife and I were enjoying one of those silly Mickey Rooney Judy Garland "hey-let's-put-on-show" films. It was all pleasant puffery until the two stars began applying black face for a big minstrel number. We could have stopped the film right there and shook our fists at the screen screaming epithets, but being veterans of such moments we soldiered on. Instead, for the next few minutes we realized that we weren't enjoying a musical but getting a history lesson. That's what those moments do. You heave a sigh and remember for a bit the way our society used to be and are thankful for recent advances. (I've often fantasized about traveling back in time to visit the 1930's. But live there? In an openly racist society where gays were locked deeply into closets? No thanks.)

Of course films prior to about 1967 also suffered from rigid censorship via the enforcement of the production code. There is a glimpse at what might have been for Hollywood had the code been done away with, or continued to be ignored, in the many great films of the pre code era, which ended in 1934. (See this previous post for a guide to pre code films. And this post for part 2.) The stories and characters were far more realistic. People enjoyed sex, even before marriage and even (gasp!) if they were women. A film like Baby Face (1933) would be shocking even today. Other films shone a bright light on society like Heroes for Sale (1934). Then the forces of "decency" (i.e. repression) came along and Bathsheba was replaced by Pollyanna. That great films continued to be made seems a miracle.

I used to think that a person could be shot and killed without any blood or visible mark (my vivid young imagination presumed that the bullet would send some sort of sonic boom into the body thus killing the victim). Then I saw Bonnie & Clyde (1967). Violence can be overdone and lord know it has. But it was drastically underdone for the first 60 or so years of movie history. Sex, nudity and profanity can all also be overdone (though I'd be willing to sit through a movie that tried to overdo female nudity) but they were absent from film for too long. James Cagney managed to portray some pretty despicable gangsters in The Public Enemy (1931) and White Heat (1949) to name but two films without so much as saying, "damn." But it's hard to imagine Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990) saying "what the heck is so funny about me" with the same impact as when he said f*ck.

Also limiting was that crime could never pay in films. So you always, always knew the bad guys weren't going to get away with it and it was just a matter of how their grand schemes would be foiled. This might have been morally satisfying but artistically it was pretty darn limiting.

I've seemingly made a case for how and why films are today are better than their forerunners from 70 years ago. But as I said at the beginning more of my favorites are from 30's and 40's. How is that possible? To fully answer that question would require an entire post, however here's the short answer: Characters and story were emphasized over special effects. Also, to a certain extent the limits placed on films back then forced writers and directors to tell a fuller story. Today sex, profanity and bathroom humor often interrupt good story telling, they become a kind of short hand. Modern movies sometimes use their freedoms to shock and titillate, again in lieu of telling the story.

Past or present films? Happily none of us have to choose. Thanks to Turner Classic Movies, DVDs and revival houses and film archives we may enjoy the best of both worlds. There is over 90 years of cinema to watch. Bon appetit.

Of a Wienie King, the Ale & Quail Club and Airports Suspended Over Cities

Last night I needed an antidote to having watched a long movie that took itself way too seriously. Yes, what I needed was a short movie with no pretensions other than to make people laugh. Nothing can fill such a prescription any better than Preston Sturges' Palm Beach Story (1942).

While the dull over wrought film of earlier in the day insisted that life is fleeting and desperate, Palm Beach Story says that life is wild and wonderful and you'd better fasten your safety belts, or not.

There is much to be said for films that starts with the basic premise that stretching a story just beyond credulity can illuminate life's absurdities while entertaining audiences. There is as much to be learned about the human condition from good comedy as from serious scholars. For one thing, the latter can be such awful bores and good comedy keeps us wide awake.

I've written a lot about Sturges, whose directorial career was brief but brilliant. He had an uncanny ability, like the Marx Brothers, of being at once zany and intelligent. His humor appeals to all ages and types. Come to think of it, present day director and producer, Judd Apatow can be likened to Sturges. They get both the high brow and low brow laughs and have surprising and satisfying substance to their stories. Sturges slyly comments on hero worship and bravery in Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) and on politics and corruption (I know, same diff) in The Great McGinty (1940). While his topics aren't so broad in other films, he manages wry observations on life and love, as with these gems from Palm Beach Story: "Don't you know that the greatest men in the world have told lies and let things be misunderstood if it was useful to them? Didn't you ever hear of a campaign promise?" and "You have no idea what a long-legged woman can do without doing anything."

Palm Beach Story also features a man falling down the stairs and accidentally exposing his bum to an elevator full of people. The Ale & Quail Club is just plain silly but Sturges lets off the gas just before it gets to ridiculous. It's what the great ones can do: push boundaries without crashing through them into the tediously silly.

Let's not forget that no such comedy can succeed without skilled performers. Sturges scored big time in the casting department. In Palm Beach Story he had Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert in the lead. You can do just as good but no better. Co starring were Mary Astor (I cannot imagine living so long as to tire of seeing or hearing her) and of all people Rudy Vallee (though you might swear its a young George Will). But with Sturges you also get his usual stock company. Any group that includes William Demarest, Jimmy Conlin, Franklin Pangborn and Al Bridge is plenty okay by me.

(An aside: The cast also includes "Snowflake" in the role of the "Colored Bartender." IMDb has cleaned this up listing Snowflake's real name and calling him George, Club Car Bartender. This raises the issue of whether it is more important to avoid offending people or to be historically accurate. This is one of a growing number of topics I'll promise to address some time in the future.)

McCrea is a an inventor married to Colbert. He has devised a plan by which an airport can be suspended over a city (works for me). All he needs is an investor. Colbert is tired of struggling to make ends meet. They are rescued from their latest gem by The Wienie King. A little old man who's made his fortune in the sausage business. He takes a liking to Colbert and hands her a wad of bills.

The real antics begin when Colbert flees by train from New York to Palm Beach, without a dime to her name. She's taken in by the Ale & Quail club, a group of filthy rich drunken hunters. On the train she meets a zillionaire played by Vallee who falls for her. It gets even nuttier from there. How it all works out at the end is farcical and fun and linked to the opening scene, all of which is open to interpretation and well, you'll just have to see it.

Movies like this are just what the doctor ordered when you've got an occurrence of the miseries or have spent too much time contemplating the universe or, as in my case, have just endured a self important modern film that drags on. But ya know what, Palm Beach Story is good anytime. Don't take my word for it, ask any member of the Ale & Quail Club.

Is 1939 Overrated or are 1940 and 1941 Underrated?

This month Turner Classic Movies (aka the world's greatest TV station -- ever) is celebrating the 70th anniversary of 1939.TCM is calling it's tribute: 1939 Hollywood's Greatest Year and showing 39 films from that year. Fair enough. There were many a good film released that year (check out TCM for examples) including some of my favorites. But in my estimation the two years following were equally good, if not better. And I have some pretty strong arguments, as you'll see below.

There are probably more good films in '39 than any other year. But in terms of great and near great the two subsequent years are every bit as good. What follows is the 15 best films from those years, it's my bold contention that they match up quite favorably with any top 15 from '39.

From 1940:

Foreign Correspondent. Speaking of underrated. This is Alfred Hitchcock's most underrated film. (Poster above.) On the eve of war in Europe, Joel McCrea is a reporter sent abroad to get the scoop. He finds love and adventure and gets the story.

His Girl Friday. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in a screwball comedy with deeper truths to tell. As I said in a recent post that you're more than welcome to read.

The Philadelphia Story. George Cukor directed Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart star in the story of a society wedding that doesn't go as planned. Like I need to tell you anything about this movie. Sheesh.

The Letter. Goodness is Bette Davis amazing in this film, though actually goodness had nothing to do with her character. See my post from last Fall, if you'd like.

The Grapes of Wrath. John Ford directed this adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel. Henry Fonda starred in the story of Depression Era farmers dispossessed by the Dust Bowl who head for California only to face new heartache and anger. I rattled on about this fine film last Spring.

The Shop Around the Corner. Ernest Lubitch directed, Jimmy Stewart, Maureen Sullavan and Frank Morgan star. If you've ever wondered what the Lubitcsh touch is watch this film. Great Christmas season viewing.

Brother Orchid. Edward G. Robinson plays a gangster for the umpteenth time but this time he's hiding out in a monastery. So what's it going it, the monastic life or the rackets? Worth watching to find out.

The Great Dictator. Charlie Chaplin's satire of Hitler and Mussolini is a subtle as a sledge hammer and just as effective.

Rebecca. Joan Fontaine couldn't be lovelier. Judith Anderson couldn't be creepier. Laurence Olivier couldn't be better. Hitchcock directed. See my post from a few months ago for more.

City for Conquest. Jimmy Cagney reluctantly becomes a prize fighter to support his brother's ambitions of being a concert pianist and composer. Ann Sheridan is his girlfriend and I wish she were mine.

Gaslight. The original version of the story of a man who tries to convince his wife she's loony. I prefer this one. Thorold Dickinson directed Anton Walbrrok and Diana Wynyard and no you shouldn't feel bad about not having heard of any of them.

My Favorite Wife. Cary Grant has two wives. He'd thought the original was long dead. Imagine the newlywed's embarrassment when she shows up! It's between Irene Dunne, the loving mother of their two children and Gail Patrick the stereotypical nasty step mom. Guess who prevails?

The Great McGinty. Preston Sturges started his brief run of brilliant films with this story of corrupt politics. Brian Donleavy is the title character. The usual cast of Sturges characters are around to provide laughs.

The Mortal Storm. Here was a film to stir audiences up for a little Nazi hating. Stewart and and Morgan are together again but this is no comedy. See my post from last Fall.

The Westerner. A William Wyler Western. Wow! Walter Brennan is the onery but love struck Judge Roy Bean and Gary Cooper is Cole Harden, the one man who can match wits and gun play with the Judge.

From 1941:

Sullivan's Travels. I just raved about this Preston Sturges masterpiece the other day. Check it out.

The Maltese Falcon. Bogie is unforgettable as Sam Spade. The rest of the cast ain't half bad either. Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and let's not forget Elisha Cook. John Huston's directorial debut.

Meet John Doe. One of director Frank Capra's best. Stanwyck is the reporter, Gary Cooper is the hobo. Edward Arnold is the bad guy. Walter Brennan is the sidekick. Great film.

Citizen Kane. You may have heard of it. Young wunderkind Orson Welles produced this opus and ticked off William Randolf Heart and company something awful. A film so good that it lives up to its hype.

The Lady Eve. Another 1941 classic from Preston Sturges. How many other directors have had two great films within 12 months? Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck star and the latter put the exy in sexy.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith. An Alfred Hitchcock screwball comedy. His one and only and he was a most emphatic one- for-one in this category. Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard are the stars.

The Sea Wolf. Why the hell is this film not available on DVD? Someone get on that, pronto. Edward G. Robinson is superb as a sadistic sea captain. Michael Curtiz directed, Ida Lupino and John Garfield co star. It's not on TCM's schedule for the next couple of months, so now I'm getting mad.

Ball of Fire. Stanwyck is sexy again this time in a comedy from Howard Hawks. Cary Cooper is her co star. For more see this post from last Summer. And say, any year that's got three great Stanwyck films is all right by me.

The Devil and Daniel Webster. I can't say enough good stuff about this film, although I tried recently and you might want to read that post.

Here Comes Mr. Jordan. The original of the Heaven Can Wait stories stars Robert Montgomery as a boxer who shuffled off this mortal coil before his time. Heaven's mistake so they give him another chance, this time in the body of a millionaire who's just been offed by the missus. Much under appreciated film.

High Sierra. Bogie is bad man Roy Earle who hooks up with Ida Lupino and Joan Leslie before shooting it out with the cops from the side of a mountain. Raoul Walsh directed.

Love Crazy. You can't go wrong with Myrna Loy and William Powell and this wacky comedy proves it. Powell has to pretend he's off his rocker to keep Loy. Trust me, it's a gas.

Sergeant York. Another Hawks film with Cooper in the lead, this time its the true story of World War I hero, Alvin York. Strong supporting cast featuring Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie and the ubiquitous Ward Bond.

The Devil and Miss Jones. Sam Wood directed this delightful story of a Scrooge like business tycoon (Charles Coburn) who goes undercover to find union agitators at one of his department stores. Instead he becomes one of the gang which includes Jean Arthur and Robert Cummings and Spring Byington (who Coburn ends up being daffy for). Love and laughs triumph.

The Big Store. For a Marx Brothers film this is pretty lame but compared to most comedies its top drawer. Another film set in a department store but this time anarchy is the order of the day (so to speak).

Ladies and gentleman, I rest my case.

What Film is Even Better than Ants in Your Plants of 1939 and Hey Hey in the Hayloft?

Answer: Sullivan's Travels (1941).

But I immediately introduce a new question: Why is the main character, a film director, named John L. Sullivan? Oh sure it's explicitly John Lloyd Sullivan but it can't be coincidence that the writer director of the film, Preston Sturges, gave him the same name as a heavyweight boxing legend.

No way.

Get back to me on that one.

And say, I've got another question for you. How come they don't write dialogue as good as this these days?

Sullivan: This picture is an ANSWER to Communists. It shows we're awake and not dunking our heads in the sand like a bunch of ostriches. I want this picture to be a commentary on modern conditions, stark realism, the problems that confront the average man.
Lebrand: But with a little sex.
Sullivan: A little, but I don't want to stress it. I want this picture to be a document. I want to hold a mirror up to life. I want this to be a picture of dignity - a true canvas of the suffering of humanity.
Lebrand: But with a little sex.
Sullivan: With a little sex in it.
Hadrian: How about a nice musical?
Sullivan: How can you talk about musicals at a time like this? With the world committing suicide, with corpses piling up in the street, with grim death gargling at you from every corner, with people slaughtered like sheep!
Hadrian: Maybe they'd like to forget that.
Sullivan: Then why do they hold this one over for a fifth week at the Music Hall? For the ushers?
Hadrian: It died in Pittsburgh.
Lebrand: Like a dog.
Sullivan: What do they know in Pittsburgh?
Lebrand: They know what they like.

That's pretty good stuff, no? If you're anything like me (God forbid) you answered with an emphatic, yesiree. It comes at the beginning of the film when Sullivan is pitching his latest film idea to studio bigwigs.

It's interesting the way Joel McCrea plays Sullivan. There is such earnestness, such naivete and such noble aspirations. Here's a director making pictures like "So Long Sarong", a man of 31 born with a silver spoon in his mouth, or at least a nice clean spoon. Look, it was clean enough that he could go to boarding school and one of them fancy eastern colleges. Point is, he was a whiz bang director but with a conscience from here to the Poconos. It's not that he couldn't live with taking a postage stamp from the office, no his conscience is about the whole friggin' world. There's war in Europe, poverty and despair everywhere. Given that, how the deuce can he make light comedies and musicals? No, not our Sully, he's got to expose what ails us. He wants to hold a mirror up to society.

Not only does this not sit well with studio execs, but even his butler pooh poohs the notion that what the world needs now is take a good hard look at itself through film.

Butler: The poor know all about poverty and only the morbid rich would find the topic glamorous.
Sullivan: But I'm doing it for the poor. Don't you understand?
Butler: I doubt if they would appreciate it, sir. They rather resent the invasion of their privacy...I believe quite properly, sir. Also, such excursions can be extremely dangerous, sir...You see, sir, rich people and theorists, who are usually rich people, think of poverty in the negative, as the lack of riches, as disease might be called the lack of health, but it isn't, sir. Poverty is not the lack of anything, but a positive plague, virulent in itself, contagious as cholera, with Filth, Criminality, Vice and Despair as only a few of its symptoms. It is to be stayed away from, even for purposes of study. It is to be shunned.
Sullivan: Well, you seem to have made quite a study of it.
Butler: Quite unwillingly, sir. Will that be all, sir?

But Sullivan, convinced that he must experience poverty to truly tell its story, decides to go out into the world as a hobo, torn clothing, bindle and all. He does take a dime, I mean there are limits.

Now we get the "sex" in the form of Veronica Lake. She plays an aspiring actress who has given up aspiring and is heading home. She meets John L. and they fall for each other and into his pool, don't you know.

So yes there are laughs aplenty but also right smack dab in the middle of this romp, a long stark and wordless look at life among the dispossessed, of which there was still quite a bit in the U.S. in 1941 (and not incidentally the extremely poor are making a comeback in this day and age often through no fault of their own). That stark look is not an insignificant interlude.

The course of true love does not always run smooth and neither does the course of trying to find out what life in the raw is really like. Sullivan's last grand gesture costs him a trip to a chain gang. I have to ask: don't you just hate it when that happens? I thought so. But there he finds that what those on the lowest rung want is to forget, to laugh like they've never laughed before. In this case it comes via Pluto and Mickey Mouse. Says Sullivan, "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan."

There are great truths in this film. It's the best of Sturges' films which is going some considering he also wrote and directed The Lady Eve (1941) and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) just to name two others. You want I should go on? But I already did and this sentence is linked to that post of last summer wherein I did, go on that is.

We like McCrea's studied indifference to the external in his pursuit of the internal. Don't say anything to him, he needs to experience. We like Veronica inasmuch as that Lake looks so inviting -- care for a dip? We like the Sturges acting troupe with reliable chaps like Porter Hall, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Jimmy Conlin and well, you get the idea. We also like that he augments this group with Eric Blore and Robert Grieg as his valet and butler, respectively and yes they were typecast in those sorts of roles but so what, they were good, weren't they?

We also like the messages. Sure we get it. Everyone, perhaps especially the down and out, really really need all the chuckles and guffaws they can get. Hell, we all do. Savvy. But we further note that Sturges is poking a wee bit of fun at Hollywood, or hadn't you noticed? He's also shining a pretty bright light on the sorrowful conditions that beset those aforementioned tramps and hobos (today they are less colorfully known as homeless). In saying we all need to laugh he can get pretty serious.

Gracious. How can you not love a movie that has the main character confess to murdering himself to get out of jail? How, sir or madam, can you not love a movie that references "Hey Hey in the Hayloft" and "Ants in Their Plants of 1939?" And oh I almost forgot, the movie he was gonna make, "O Brother Where Art Thou" is based on the novel by Sinclair Beckstein.

Prutty cool.

Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here!

What was Director/Writer Preston Sturges trying to say with his 1944 film, Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)?

Was he commenting on the vagaries of hero worship?

Was he good naturedly poking fun at democracy?

Was he raising a toast to the Marines Corps?

Was he satirizing small town America?

Was he looking at honesty and when it is and isn't the best policy?

Or was he just making a funny film?

Probably all of the above and much more. It's the more I'd like to go on a brief digression about.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) never wanted anything more out of life than to be a marine, as his father and grandfather before him. To be a marine was not just to serve one's country but to be a part of something. Perhaps the ultimate state of being one of the guys.

Humans, and particularly men, are pack animals. Most of us like to belong to a group, or for that matter, several groups. Athletic teams, criminal gangs, Boy Scout troops, unions, choirs, churches, the possibilities are endless. Through groups we find identity, solidarity and security. Pretty basic human needs is all.

The Marines in war time provide the ultimate group setting. In addition to the tradition, the uniforms the clearly defined roles, one's life literally depends on adherence to the group structure. The challenge is not just about winning or losing, but about staying alive. (Throughout history countries have been able to amass huge volunteer armies because of the allure of the group setting and the glamorization of being part of a fighting force.) For a man like Woodrow, who has grown up worshiping at the altar of the marines, being in the corps is not just intoxicating, but something coursing through his veins.

But after one month in corps, Woodrow gets the heave ho because of hay fever. And while a world war is raging.

It's no wonder that when the movie begins we see him at the end of a bar brooding into his beer.

I hope you know the story of the film. That Woodrow meets, in that very bar, a group of marines, one of whom served with his dad and saw him fall in battle -- on the very day Woodrow was born no less. He buys the boys a few rounds and before you know it they cook up a scheme to escort him to his hometown as a marine and a decorated one at that.

If Woodrow were a lesser man he'd have gone along with the plan from the get go and proudly participated in the hoopla that greeted him at the train station and continued for the next two days. It's an early clue into Woodrow's character that he fights tooth and nail all the way down the line, not wanting any part of ill gotten glory. But the Marines -- semper fidelis -- want him to get all that isn't coming to him for the sake of that most American of institutions, Mom.

Why the next thing you know some of the town's elders have Woodrow running for mayor. This later occasions one of the film's great lines: "Politics is a very peculiar thing, Woodrow. If they want you, they want you. They don't need reasons anymore... they find their own reasons. It's just like when a girl wants a man."

Woodrow ultimately finds happiness and is embraced by his town. But surely he must be torn. On the one hand he has won over his marine benefactors who grow to admire his courage and integrity. But he must watch them leave. He's a hero in town, all right, but he's in the town to stay and they're off to faraway battlefields. They've a job to do. Together.

Hail the Conquering Hero came at the end of Sturges' brief but extraordinary run of seven films in four years, six of which were classics. (See my post on Sturges from last Summer for more.) As a director he made few films before or after, and even less of any consequence. This film is worth mentioning in the same breath as other Sturges classics like Sullivan's Travels (1941) and The Lady Eve (1941).

Bracken, who also appeared for Sturges in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) is perfect for Woodrow. He doesn't look the part of a hero (he shouldn't) but plays it (he should). Ella Raines who had a brief and otherwise undistinguished career, is able enough as Woodrow's on again off again fiance. The instantly forgettable Bill Edwards was made for the role of Forrest, the hunky romantic rival who's got the personality of wet cardboard. (It's really an under appreciated movie staple that continues onto this day. The poor sap who vies with the film's protagonist for "the girl". Ralph Bellamy elevated the role to an art form.)

What really makes Hail shine is Sturges' stock company of actors. Bill Demarest was never better than he was in this film as Sergeant Julius Hepplefinger. And this is also as good a performance as you'll ever see from Franklin Pangborn whose character is listed simply as, Committee Chairman. Demarest is all fast talking, conniving bluster while Pangborn takes care of the fluster. Watch the poor man try to coordinate the hero's reception and later his political rallies. It's watching a fuss budget try to coordinate a riot.

Demarest and Pangborn even share some screen time and its hilarious. Demarest is relating made up stories from the war to an audience with Pangborn sitting beside him going through all manner of rapt facial gymnastics.

Hail the Conquering Hero is one of those rare films that work on so many levels and is funny at each. Every time I watch it I find something else. Folks, that's the sign of a good film.

12 Movies From the Last Depression to Help You Through the Next Depression

Is another Great Depression just around the corner? Or is prosperity? Who cares? If the bottom totally falls out of the U.S. economy maybe will see some of the same kind of great cinema that both mirrored and helped America through the last such crisis.

As the Depression took a toll on the US through much of the 1930's Hollywood was Johnny-on-the-spot with a passel of films reflecting the crisis. These same movies often eased the cares of struggling Americans. Here's a sampling of that wonderful fare.

1. My Man Godfrey (1936). The ultimate Great Depression screwball comedy stars William Powell and Carole Lombard. Powell is Godfrey "rescued" from a hobo village to serve as butler in Lombard's wealthy but wacky family. A bit of social commentary gets mixed in with the laughs.
2. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). The ultimate Great Depression musical. This Busby Berkeley choreographed film play up the forgotten man theme adding great songs and comedy in the bargain. A stellar cast is led by Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell. Thrill to the strains of Ginger Rogers singing "We're in the Money" in pig latin.
3. Grapes of Wrath (1940). No laughs or songs here. This John Ford classic is a superb film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about Okies escaping the Dust Bowl for what they hope will be a new and improved life in California. Henry Fonda is Tom Joad. His closing speech is one of cinema's great moments.
4. Sullivan's Travels (1941). Preston Stuges wrote and directed this hilarious spoof of Hollywood. It also takes a look at the depression. Joel McCrea stars as a famous film director who wants to see how the other half lives. He befriends the lovely Veronica Lake. The two take to the rails where lessons are learned and laughs abound.
5. I Am A Fugitive Form A Chain Gang (1932). Mervin LeRoy directed this scathing look at a Southern state's prison system. Paul Muni is the escapee. While the film focuses on a morally corrupt criminal justice system it is also a powerful look at the depression. As effective today as it was upon its release. Based on a true story.
6. Wild Boys of the Road (1933). One of the classic pre code message films. Here the focus is on the how the depression ripped families asunder. Youngsters leave home to be less a burden on the family and perhaps help support them. William Wellman did was masterful directing a cast of relative unknowns. Why don't they make more movies like this today?
7. Stella Dallas (1937). The quintessential tear jerker stars Barbara Stanwyck as the title character. Stella is a single mom who sacrifices everything for her daughter in already tough times.
8. Rafter Romance (1933). Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster play roommates -- but its not how you think. They share a bed but not at the same time. One works a night shift the other the day. The story is predictable but fun.
9. Modern Times (1936). What's a little economic down turn without The Little Tramp? The inimitable Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed and starred opposite Paulette Goddard in his last silent feature (there's sound but no yakking). The two find love amid poverty, homelessness, prison, and tedious jobs. Their dreams, love and pluck see them through.
10. Easy Living (1937). Preston Stuges wrote, Mithcell Leisen directed, Jean Arthur, Ray Milland and Edward Arnold star. Joblessness, high finance and sudden wealth are all explored. Laughs are provided and romance wins out. Not only a diverting little comedy but some keen commentary as well.
11. Possessed (1931). It stars Joan Crawford and Clark Gable early in their careers when they were particularly attractive Crawford is from the proverbial wrong side of the tracks and is determined to join Gable on the other side. She quickly manages that feat but complications ensue.
12. Heroes For Sale (1933). Another powerful Wellman film. Heroes looks at the effects of the Depression on one man in particular and thousands in general. One of the most underrated films of all time.

The Brief But Brilliant Run of Preston Sturges

It was an amazing run. Between 1940 and 1944 Preston Struges wrote and directed seven films, six of which went on to become classics:

• The Great McGinty (1940)
• Christmas in July (1940)
• Lady Eve (1941)
• Sullivan's Travels (1941)
• Palm Beach Story (1942)
• Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
• Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)

These were his first directorial efforts and none of the six (that's right– just six) films that followed would compare.

By all accounts, Sturges was somewhat of an eccentric which isn't all together surprising given his bohemian upbringing; aberrant behavior is not unusual in the artistically gifted. Sturges was, by turns, a perfectionist who insisted upon total control of his projects and a risk taker. The risks could range from extra marital affairs to opening a restaurant to starting a production company with Howard Hughes. One constant in his life was writing. He was among the first successful screenwriters in Hollywood to transition to directing. Among his writing credits are two great comedies: Twentieth Century (1934) and Easy Living (1937). Sturges also did a lot of uncredited work as a script doctor both before and after his directing career.

Sturges' films of the early 1940's are among the best comedies of all time. They're settings range across the country (notably, several are placed in what one could call Anytown U.S.A.). Given Sturges' cosmopolitan background, his ability to capture small town American in such films as Morgan's Creek is remarkable.

He explored the home front during World War II in Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero. He lampooned Hollywood in Sullivan's Travels. Took a look at the wealthy and at grifters in The Lady Eve. Tackled political corruption in The Great McGinty. And with Palm Beach Story, Sturges told a very funny, and very unconventional, love story.

Sturges didn't just play for laughs. Sullivan's Travels is a very funny movie that spoofs the movie business. This bit of dialogue early in the movie sets the tone.

John L. Sullivan: I want this picture to be a commentary on modern conditions. Stark realism. The problems that confront the average man!
LeBrand: But with a little sex in it.
John L. Sullivan: A little, but I don't want to stress it. I want this picture to be a document. I want to hold a mirror up to life. I want this to be a picture of dignity! A true canvas of the suffering of humanity!
LeBrand: But with a little sex in it.
John L. Sullivan: [reluctantly] With a little sex in it.
Hadrian: How 'bout a nice musical?

Hail the Conquering Hero was a bold movie to make during the war. Though patriotic in tone, it also was a wry look at hero worship. McGinity, of course, was a hilarious but nonetheless powerful statement about the vagaries of a democracy in which anyone can rise to the top.

All his films had a bit of romance. There was an odd marriage between Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea in Palm Beach Story in which each got entangled with another in the persons of Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee. Identical twins were involved. Confusing? Yes. Funny? Absolutely.

The romance between McCrea and Veronica Lake is an easy one to root for in Sullivans Travels. And the love between Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton in Morgan's is touching. But the best of the Sturges' romances was far and way that between Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in the Lady Eve. Stanwyck's seduction of Fonda early in the film is one of the most sexiest in film history. All done fully clothed with no overt sexuality.

Surges could do that sort of thing. He nimbly danced around the censors in all his films. It's still hard to fathom how he got away with Morgan's Creek and its unorthodox pregnancy in the bad old days of the production code. Thank God he did.

Perhaps most of all, Sturges the director benefited greatly from Sturges the writer. He had great stories with smart, interesting and hilarious dialogue to work with. Mixed in was just the right amount of physical comedy. Sturges never went over board with the slapstick, a trap many comedies have fallen into throughout film history.

Some of the best performers of the time were in his films. In addition to the aforementioned Fonda, Stanwyck, Colbert, McCrea, Hutton, Bracken and Astor, he put together as his regulars one of the greatest assemblages of character actors that Hollywood has ever seen. William Demarest is most recognizable and perhaps most important but Porter Hall, Franklin Pangborn, Jimmy Corwin, Robert Warwick, Jimmy Conlin, Torin Meyer and Victor Potel are among others of note. Their regular appearances is part of what gave a Sturges film its distinct look.

My goodness, all those great names and I didn't even mention Brian Donleavy who starred in McGinty and did a cameo in Morgan's Creek.

One can ponder what ifs about Sturges' career and lament his all too short run of brilliance. But I prefer to sit back and enjoy those great films he did make. They have a style all their own. They're highlighted by fast-paced laughs with romances that never fall into schmaltz. The acting is just fine, of course, but these are films most memorable for great scripts and a unique directing style. This was comedy that never appealed to the lowest common denominator. Yet it wasn't dry high brow stuff that actually isn't funny at all. It was biting satire. Which I suppose is the best kind.

By the way, right up there with Some Like it Hot's (1958) "well, nobody's perfect" for great comedy closing lines is The Lady Eve's, "positively the same dame."

Classic. Just like Sturges.