Once Again Love Among
The Smart Set- Preston Sturgis’ “The Palm Beach Story” (1942)-A Film Review
DVD Review
By Sam Lowell, retired
film critic
The Palm Beach Story,
starring (double) Joel McCrea, (double) Claudette Colbert, (single) Rudy
Vallee, (single) Mary Astor, written and directed by screwball comedy legend
Preston Sturgis, 1942
Recently the newly
installed administrator, the “boss” in common lingo from time immemorial among
us slaves, Greg Green, who has deposed my old friend Allan Jackson with what
proved to be my decisive vote of no confidence since I felt he was spinning his
wheels in some 1960s nostalgia trip which he couldn’t abandon decided as a
“democratic” gesture to get his hands dirty writing a film review something
that he had never done despite having been what he called the moderator, again
“boss” over at the on-line American Film
Gazette website. Sandy Salmon my successor here (and also old friend and
colleague from our own Gazette days)
assigned him the old black and white classic Oscar-nominated The Libeled Lady with an all-star and
bankable cast. Apparently in his youth unlike this writer Greg did not spent
minute one while in high school or college watching retrospectives from the
halcyon days of the black and white film noir days or the screwball comedy of
the 1930s and 1940s. He gave the thing a big pan which is neither here nor
there and his prerogative. What irked me no little was that he disparaged his
grandparents who during their struggle to keep their heads above water
appreciated such films. Even if they concerned the Mayfair swells a term he
freely admitted he had never of before he talked to me about his feelings after
viewing the film.
Well I have news for
Greg I am on the trail of another tale from deep among the Mayfair swells when
they head to their winter watering holes to escape the hellish Northern winters
none other than legendary screwball comic master Preston Strugis’ The Palm Beach Story. On this one though
you have to follow the bouncing ball since Mr. Sturgis is up to his “old now
you see it now you don’t” best practice.
For openers we see
regular middle class striving Tom, played by durable Joel McCrea a Sturgis
favorite and Gerry, played by resilient Claudette Colbert ready to tie the
knot, get married and they do. Problem though is they are struggling like crazy
to even keep their heads above water in the tough racket architecture design
world that is Tom’s chosen profession. Gerry comes up with the bright idea that
they should divorce so she can find some rich moneybags looking for an eligible
divorcee on the rebound. And she does bagging this oil king played by crooner
Rudy Vallee who takes her to his digs in Palm Beach then as now the resort of
the very rich no plebeians need apply. (If you don’t believe me read the late
Hunter Thompson’s Rolling Stone article on the Pulitzer divorce of the 1980s when
the Mayfair swells bared their fangs). Its turns out that the oil king money
bags has a promiscuous and flighty sister who at some point in her meanderings
grabbed a prince and hence is a princess, played by cagey Mary Astor last seen
in this space riding the ride, riding down to the big step off after Sam Spade
throws her over to save his own worthless skin when a certain golden egg black bird
turned out to be a fake.
While all this is going
on Tom, you remember Tom, is lonely for his Gerry and flies down to Palm Beach
to find out what is what. What is what turns out to be that old moneybags wants
to marry Gerry and this looney sister princess has eyes just then for Tom. The
conundrum seems like a dead-end for all parties but that is when you have to do
double time with that bouncing ball. Let’s put it this way moneybags and the
princess both get married. You have to go back to the beginning of the movie to
figure out why all of this is not just a huge case of bigamies of which only
lawyers would benefit. I am sure the “boss” would put his thumb down on this
one too. What the heck did he do in his young man-hood on those what the hell
do to vagrant Saturday afternoons.
