Film: The Palm Beach Story

Director: Preston Sturges
Genre: Comedy
Source: USA (1942)
Rating: Unrated (Probably PG)
Location/Format: TCM
Grade: A-

A good screwball comedy has the ability to go to absurd places while still getting most of the laughs from snappy dialogue and good chemistry. The Palm Beach Story is a good screwball comedy. Director Preston Sturges starts the film with what feels like a recap of a whole different  madcap adventure (in fact, we had to pause and make sure we weren't watching a sequel without knowing it) in a series of shots that are only sort of explained at the film's end. But hey, realism isn't exactly the film's major focus, so why not give that wacky little inclusion a pass.

Claudette Colbert shines as Gerry, the wife of a struggling inventor named Tom, who decides that given their money troubles, her good looks, and her husband's aspirations, the best thing for both of them (despite still being in love) will be for the pair to divorce so that she can remarry a rich man who will invest in Tom's inventions. She heads to Palm Beach to get that divorce, and Tom follows along to stop her. Along the way she uses her charm to make her way onto a train, a boat, and the heart of rich J.D. Hackensacker (and if that sounds a lot like Rockefeller, it's supposed to).

The film really did have a lot of laughs, and I found myself particularly entertained by Toto, the foreign hanger-on of Hackensacker's sister, Princess Centimillia, played with unstoppable pleasure by Mary Astor. Her annoyance with him, and his desperation to be included, were surprisingly entertaining, as were Colbert's various shenanigans, like her run-in with the drunken Ale and Quail club.

The climax and resolution here are pretty silly, but I get the feeling Sturges isn't concerned with the destination, but more with the journey, and frankly the journey is a lot of fun. Definitely a film I'm glad we DVRed.