• The Palm Beach Story

4/5/21 (Mon)

A 1942 comedy by Preston Sturges. Tom and Gerry (!) are in financial trouble, and the latter comes to see herself as a burden. To her husband’s dismay, she wants to get a divorce and find a wealthy husband to finance Tom’s nutty airport scheme. Tom is not about to let his wife sell herself and does his best to stop her. Using her abundant feminine charms, she secures money from a hard-of-hearing man wandering through her apartment (it’s complicated) that allows her to pay off their debts. She then runs off, wangling her way onto a boat full of wealthy backwoods hunters and ultimately winning the affections of one of the world’s richest men. Tom catches up with her only to find himself being wooed by the rich man’s sister. All works out well, of course, though the ending is a bit of a cheat.

The film has a surreal silent opening sequence of freeze frames showing events five years earlier, when Tom and Gerry each appear to be racing to make it to their wedding ceremony on time while at the same time leaving virtual copies of themselves behind (tied up in a closet in Gerry’s case). That bizarre montage only makes sense in the final seconds of the film.

Claudette Colbert is fantastic as always with her utterly effortless charm. I can see how these guys fall all over themselves for her. The movie basically belongs to her. Joel McCrea is harmless but a drip, not very charismatic, while Mary Astor was a ball of energy as the rich man’s fast-talking sister. Rudy Vallee was fine if unexciting as the rich Hackensacker.

The film seemed overly desperate for laughs in some cases, especially the dumb boat sequence with the group of drunks shooting guns and running around with hunting dogs. The portrayal of blacks won’t be to modern tastes (they’re billed in the credits as the “colored porter” and “colored bartender”, even though the film has only one porter and one bartender). The ease with which the hard-of-hearing Wienie King forks over money was also hard to swallow, though humorously done by Robert Dudley.

What saves the film, along with Colbert’s winning performance, is the dialogue. Defending her use of sex appeal to get money: “Oh, but of course [sex had to do with it], darling. I don’t think he would have given it to me if I had hair like Excelsior and little short legs like an alligator.” The difference between an adventurer and adventuress: “An adventuress never goes on anything under three hundred feet with a crew of eighty.” Gerry’s farewell note: “Darling, Just because you got me soused last night doesn’t alter the logic of the situation. Good bye, Good luck. I love you. Gerry”. To Hackensacker as he waxes on about women who can cook: “Were you going to buy me some breakfast, or would you like me to bake you something right here at the table?” Hackensacker on the tribulations of yachting: “There are a lot of inconveniences to yachting that most people don’t know anything about…Give me the peaceful train.” And retreating from a threat to beat up Gerry’s abusive husband: “That’s one of the tragedies of this life, that the men who are most in need of a beating up are always enormous.” Hackensacker’s sister, to Gerry: “We can look for new husbands together. I’m thinking of an American at the moment. It seemed more patriotic.” Referring to her numerous divorces: “Nothing is permanent in this world except Roosevelt, dear” (that line probably worked better in 1942). To her current marital target: “You will care for me, though. I grow on people – like moss.” The frustrated Tom to Gerry, when she promises to help him after she marries the rich man: “It’s a funny thing to hear your wife say.” When Gerry ultimately gives in to Tom’s amorous advances, abandoning her rich target: “I hope you realize this is costing us millions.”

As with most screwball comedies, the film turns to unnatural plot developments and characters for a laugh. But Colbert and the witty dialogue lift it above the average fare. A fun romp.