1942 Directed by Preston Sturges
A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry (Geraldine), decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire, J. D. Hackensacker III.
Claudette Colbert Joel McCrea Mary Astor Rudy Vallee Sig Arno Robert Warwick Arthur Stuart Hull Torben Meyer Jimmy Conlin Victor Potel William Demarest Jack Norton Robert Greig Roscoe Ates Dewey Robinson Chester Conklin Sheldon Jett Robert Dudley Franklin Pangborn Arthur Hoyt Al Bridge Fred 'Snowflake' Toones Charles R. Moore Frank Moran Harry Rosenthal Esther Howard Frank Faylen J. Farrell MacDonald Edward McNamara Show All…
Florida-Express, Mulher de Verdade, Hullujen paratiisi, Un marido rico, Dårarnas paradis, Palm Beach Story - Atemlos nach Florida
Holy SHIT the last minute of this movie is so audacious it made me cackle. I love love love it. All the scenes with the rich guys on the train are incredible. Nobody does goofy rich older men like Preston Sturges. There’s such an energy to his movies that I wish someone besides the Coens was interested in reviving. Mary Astor is having so much fun here, she just leaps off the screen!! Justice for Toto!!
“The Palm Beach Story’s” last 45 seconds contain either the most astoundingly stupid or stupidly astounding plot twist in all cinema.
Truly, this is an ending that would make M. Night Shyamalan clutch his pearls and gasp.
But before those 45 seconds... director Preston Sturges’ film is a tightly plotted screwball gem. In fact — the cohesion of the picture up until its finale is key in stoking the general shock of the last minute. Sturges’ celluloid world is silly, but not without logic.
Sturges made his most famous films in the midst of the Great Depression. They often parodied the divide between the haves and have nots. The running theme being; even in hard times, there’s always money. You…
If there’s one takeaway from the Preston Sturges binge I had today, it is my love for classic screwball comedies. The Palm Beach Story isn’t as thematically resonating as Sullivan’s Travels nor has it the staying power of entertainment that The Lady Eve has but it is definitely worth the watch. Claudette Colbert is stunning and delivers in every shot, and Joel McCrea is suitable in the role of grumpy, ex-husband but the highlight of the film for me was The Weenie King. All in all, the Palm Beach Story is not the funniest screwball, nor is it Sturges’ best, but I thoroughly enjoyed the watch. The ending is probably one of my favorite things about the film, and where…
not to get so thirsty on main but...that scene where joel mccrea unzips claudette colbert’s dress and kisses her back????? !!!!!! i am malfunctioning!!!!! why was that man in all of the hottest scenes of 1930s/40s cinema???? what the fuck!!!!
"Chivalry's not only dead it's decomposed."
Tom (Joel McCrea) and Gerry (Claudette Colbert) Jeffers are a married couple having trouble making ends meet. Gerry hatches a scheme to get them out of their problems. She'll go to Palm Beach, get a divorce and marry wealthy bachelor John D. Hackensacker III to get the money to fund building the airport Tom has plans for. Things go well until Tom follows her and attracts the romantic interest of John's sister Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor). Shenanigans ensue as Tom begrudgingly poses as Gerry's brother and the two juggle lies to try and land their big payday.
Preston Sturges delivers here. We get wacky scenarios like Gerry travelling with a train car full of…
82/100
A.V. Club review. McCrea's Tom is a bit too staid and noble to make this one of Sturges' very best, but the relentless and frank emphasis on monetary matters is genuinely bracing. A movie that could only have been made immediately following a Depression.
"So this fellow gave you the look?"
"At his age, it was more of a blink..."
"Seven hundred dollars! And sex didn't even enter into it, I suppose?"
"Sex always has something to do with it, dear."
What a treat to experience one of my favorite screwball comedies at the Film Forum - the same theater where I first saw it as a youngster - during their two-week Preston Sturges retrospective! As wonderful as it is that this and other Sturges-directed/written classics are currently available on Criterion Channel, there's nothing like sitting with an audience to be most thoroughly thrilled by Claudette Colbert's absolute flawlessness (whether in oversized pajamas or a gorgeous designer gown) all over again.
It was a…
I felt somewhat blindsided by the ending to this one, and I have to admit, I felt so cheated, I looked up a synopsis of the film to see if I had missed anything. Of course, I did. I rewatched the intro, and suddenly, all of the vaguely silly shenanigans going on in the montage clicked in a pleasing way. I won't spell out the details, but if you haven't seen this one, do pay close attention.
Over all, this was a truly bizarre film in a lot of ways. The Hays Code surely had a lot to say about this one--they even say the word "sex" in it at one point--and I have to wonder how they got away…
Sex always has something to do with it, dear. From the time you’re about so big, and wondering why your girlfriends’ fathers are getting so arch all of a sudden.
Having not seen this in literally decades, I was delighted to discover that, once we got rid of that godforsaken gun club and their whole 'aren't drunk, destructive rich white men the cutest?' storyline, I still dug it. Specifically, I love the female characters, and the audacious dialogue with which they're provided by director Preston Sturges' sparkling screenplay.
I love the way Tom (Joel McCrea) totally dismisses everything Gerry (Claudette Colbert) says about her experiences as a woman, and how Sturges then proceeds to patiently and indisputably prove that every…
Part screwball comedy, part romance, and a tiny slice of farce thrown into the mix, Preston Sturges's The Palm Beach Story is one of his most acclaimed films, and for damn good reason as it's a pure delight through and through with one of Claudette Colbert's most nimble performances at its heart. It's easy to slight Sturgess with the way this so avidly moves through its brisk 88 minutes, but it's nearly perfect as every zinger, every line delivery, every gag, every scene builds so wonderfully upon each other as we head towards that astounding final moment. Yet, it's the opening scene that holds the key to the whole film, and once I realized this, I had to go back…
One of the great endings of cinema based on the (rounding up) zero percent of cinema I’ve seen. Like shooting the audience with a Chekhov’s gun that you just had in your pocket the whole time. Sure it drags a little but what are you gonna do about it? You’re dead. Shot in the head like a horse with a broken leg. Goodbye horses...
