Preston Sturges Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Reading about movies, you hear stories of some films shot in five days and other films shot over three years. Some of the poverty-row directors and B-movie makers cranked out as many movies as they could during a calendar year, while filmmakers like Charlie Chaplin and Stanley Kubrick waited years between projects (making each release a new "event"). Most filmmakers, I think, given the chance would probably release one film per year, keeping their toes in without burning out. But sometimes, whether it's a trick of the calendar, or some peculiar rhythms of timing, some of the greatest directors manage to release two films per year. And even less often, both of these films turn out great. The following is my not-exactly-extensive, but enthusiastic celebration of the one-two punch or the director's double-whammy.

1. Jacques Tourneur: I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man (1943)
The world has frankly been a better place to live since Warner Home Video released the five-disc, nine-film DVD "Val Lewton Horror Collection" box set in 2005. I have often promised myself that, if ever en route to a desert island, it would be the first thing I'd grab (provided that said island came with its own entertainment system). Four directors worked on those nine great horror films (counting poor Gunther von Fritsch, a footnote in film history for being too slow, getting fired from The Curse of the Cat People, and thus launching Robert Wise's career). But Jacques Tourneur -- son of silent era filmmaker Maurice Tourneur -- is undoubtedly the most talented of the group. He started the cycle with the extraordinary Cat People in 1942, and followed it with this one-two punch in April and May of the following year. Sure, they're cheap, quickly-made B-movies, but few films have ever been made -- in any genre, for any price -- with so much textured atmosphere and such a resounding sense of dreamy dread.

The movie Be Kind Rewind is being released on DVD today. Even if you didn't see the movie, you probably remember the delightful trailer, in which Jack Black and Mos Def shoot their own low-budget, low-everything versions of blockbusters like Ghostbusters and Driving Miss Daisy. In addition, another movie about the joy of making movies is still playing in some theaters -- Son of Rambow, where two boys are inspired to shoot their own version of Rambo complete with flying dogs, nursing-home residents bribed as actors, and a fabulous French exchange student.

I can think of dozens of enjoyable movies about moviemaking (and a few clunkers, but we'll ignore them for today). But I decided to focus on seven of the most characteristic films. I didn't include films about screenwriters, because I think those would be fun to list another time, or films about moviegoing like Cinema Paradiso. Instead, I focused on the inspired and sometimes crazed filmmakers. Afterwards, you can tell me which of your favorites I left off the list.

As Leatherheads arrives in theaters, you're going to be hearing the phrase "screwball comedy" a lot, either in the barrage of pre-opening publicity or in review after review. "Screwball comedy" implies a certain snap and rotation -- a velocity to the gags and a vector to the plot -- but the people who made Leatherheads don't quite have the strength of arm or skew of angle to make Leatherheads truly screwball; it kind of fizzles out on the way to the plate. And that's not to say Leatherheads is charmless or unenjoyable or ill-made; it just isn't quite as good as the pedigrees and passions of the people involved would have you think it will (or, frankly, should) be.

When shivering to the sounds of Iron Maiden, one never dreamed that some day Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer would one day be swanking it with the stars at the Cannes Film Festival. The BBC announced Dickinson's coup, noting that he's flying to Cannes himself (he's a pilot) as well as playing on an American tour this year. Dickinson co-wrote the upcoming film Chemical Madness with director Julian Doyle, who directed the Maiden's 1988 video "Can I Play With Madness?" Principal photography wrapped in September 2007.

It's all not to be confused with Dickinson's 1998 album The Chemical Wedding which concerns such arcana as alchemy, Rosicrucian thought and William Blake's prophecies. Monstersagogo.com has the poster with a scary flaming pentagram on it, as well as a link to a Reuters interview that I couldn't open. We do know that Simon Callow -- a first-rate actor and author of an authoratative study on Orson Welles -- is going to be playing the reincarnation of Aleister Crowley (seen above in a pointy hat), the world's most intimidating asthmatic bisexual. Crowley has always put the scare into British populace in general and British musicians in particular. Jimmy Page, for one, took pride in owning Bolskine House, the address of the Beast.

And now for a classic movie tie-in: "The most evil man who ever lived" was personally known to Preston Sturges, whose mother was temporarily a disciple. Crowley referred to Sturges "the brat" in the book The Great Beast. In his autobiography Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges, the great comedy film director returned the insult, commented that Crowley's modified mohawk haircut was "nauseating," his fingers were fat, and he had the habit of cutting himself rather like a depressed female high school student. But Sturges didn't underestimate Crowley. "Reading about some of his subsequent exploits," Sturges concluded, "I realize my mother and I were lucky to escape with our lives. If I had been a little older, he might not have escaped with his."

I am one of the world's worst gift wrappers. People look at the presents I give them, and ask if I let my niece or nephew wrap the gift for me. I admit I can't be bothered to spend a lot of time getting the ribbons to curl just so, and to make sure that the wrapping paper fits the present size before I start cutting it out. Over the years, I've learned to rely a lot on gift bags, which are reusable (good for the environment) and look very smart with some tissue paper and perhaps a little raffia used to attach the gift tag. The gift bags were also good for quick last-minute wrapping during the years when I used to take the plane to my parents' house for the holidays, because wrapped gifts aren't allowed on flights.

A big reason why my gift wrapping isn't fabulous, however, is that I don't pay much attention. I'm very fond of putting on a movie in the background while I'm wrapping presents. The idea is that the movie should be something I've seen before, so I am not tempted to put down the scissors and ribbons and watch closely. It's also nice to watch a movie with a holiday theme, to get me in the right spirit for all that gift wrapping.

Therefore, I've put together a list of seven movies that are my favorites for background watching while wrapping presents during the holiday season. Many of them are on TV during the holiday season, so if you're stuck in the back bedroom of someone else's house on Christmas Eve, frantically wrapping before anyone comes in to see what you're giving them, you might be able to find one of these movies on cable (Turner Classic Movies especially).

Good news, just in time for writer-director Preston Sturges' birthday: Universal is releasing a boxed DVD set of seven Sturges movies on Nov. 21. Some of the films are being released on DVD for the first time in this country, such as Christmas in July and The Great McGinty. Other movies, such as The Lady Eve and Sullivan's Travels, have been available only as pricey Criterion DVDs. The only problem is that the movies aren't being released individually, so if you already own The Palm Beach Story on DVD (like I do) and you want to see the newly released movies, you're forced to double-dip and buy the whole boxed set. Bleah.

The above photo is from the opening credits of The Palm Beach Story, which is probably my favorite Sturges film. So many romantic comedies of the Thirties ended with a wedding, but this movie begins with one, and then the ominous sentence: "And they lived happily ever after ... or did they?" Several years after the screwball wedding in the opening credits, Tom (Joel McCrea) and Gerry (Claudette Colbert) are having money and other problems, and Gerry decides to run away to Palm Beach for a divorce. The film is full of bizarre characters like The Weinie King, the Ale and Quail Club, and the oft-married Princess Centamillia (Mary Astor). And Toto, too! The film is also full of one-liners, from Gerry's "You have no idea what a long-legged woman can do without doing anything at all" to Princess Centamillia's "You will care for me, though. I grow on people. Like moss." And let's not forget "Nothing is permanent in this world ... except Roosevelt." The final shot is a classic spoof on the traditional romantic comedy -- I wish I could include it here, but I'd ruin a very funny movie.

Today is Henry Fonda's birthday -- it's been 101 years since he was born, although he died in 1982. It's the perfect excuse for me to post a wonderful photo from one of my favorite movies: The Lady Eve. The 1941 comedy was written and directed by Preston Sturges and is an absolutely delightful romp, one of the last great Thirties-style comedies. An amazingly young Fonda plays a beer-brewing magnate's heir who isn't interested in beer or in any of the lovely ladies trying to ensnare him into marriage -- he is obsessed by his study of snakes. However, before he is even aware of it, the slipperiest female around manages to hook him. That would naturally be Barbara Stanwyck, playing the cynical daughter of a master con artist. And that's only the beginning of the odd and hilarious plot. The dialogue is priceless -- I love the line is "I need him like the axe needs the turkey," and I get a kick out of Stanwyck's character's attempts to act British. The cast includes some of my favorite Thirties character actors, including Eric Blore, Charles Coburn, and Eugene Pallette.

Criterion has released a very nice DVD of The Lady Eve, and if you're looking for a slightly askew comedy, this would be an excellent rental choice. If nothing else, you can marvel at how Fonda looks almost babyish in appearance, especially compared to his later roles in Mister Roberts, 12 Angry Men, and On Golden Pond. I found the above image on The Palace, a site devoted to classic Hollywood films that includes a number of other lovely stills from Thirties and Forties comedies.

Let me begin by extending a warm thanks to the folks at Reel Life Video in Brooklyn, New York. Were it not for them, you would be reading a review of a current DVD release--maybe Resident Evil: Apocalypse, or perhaps the Final Destination Scared 2 Death Pack. Really, it could have been anything from the new release wall, but blind luck and a surly hipster video clerk conspired instead to deliver Preston Sturges's Unfaithfully Yours to my door, labeled both "Drama" and "New" and therefore able to pass undetected into my home by way of my well-intentioned (but not very film-knowledgeable) partner. The mix-up is to be expected – this particular film, plucked from the Sturges archives and revamped by the Criterion Collection in 2005, is as unplaceable as it is brilliant. It doesn't fit easily into any particular niche, and resists, as Sturges himself did, being labeled and shelved by folks who don't know nil from nought.

A fifty-eight year old film that confuses video clerks today surely flummoxed audiences then. Now more properly dubbed a "pitch-black comedy," Unfaithfully Yours announced itself to the world as "six kinds of picture in one!" and the trailer, a bonus feature on the Criterion Collection disc (and what should be a stock feature on any DVD of any film), zips from one clip to the next, rubbernecking the viewer with rapid fire promises of "Great music! Sheer terror! Hilarious comedy! Tense drama! Sparkling dialogue and high temperature romance!" I personally envisioned six frazzled 20th Century Fox studio executives, wagging their cigars at each other, spitting invectives and cursing Sturges's name. "Comedy!" one cried, "Murder!" cried another, "Screw it! Do 'em all!" cried the last.