In a sentenceClaudette Colbert has to share a romantic comedy with Mary Astor, which hardly seems fair
Geraldine ‘Gerry’ Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) and Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea) are the central characters in this 1942 romantic comedy written and directed by Preston Sturges. The cast around them includes John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee), The Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor) and Toto (Sig Arno). William Demarest and Jack Norton play members of the Ale and Quail Club; Robert Warwick appears as Mr. Hinch, with Torben Meyer as Dr. Kluck. The film runs for 88 minutes.
Preston Sturges makes an unruly, quick-witted romantic comedy, with Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee threatening to take it over. The farce sometimes feels overworked, but the performances make its complications worth following.
Preston Sturges’s The Palm Beach Story is a funny, quick-witted romantic comedy, warmly recommended with a warning about its appetite for complications. Sturges writes as well as directs, and occasionally seems too pleased with a comic idea to stop adding to it. The pleasure is in the actors, who make demanding dialogue sound like something they have just thought of. There is enough confidence in the playing to carry us through the moments when the farce begins to feel like hard work.
Claudette Colbert plays Geraldine ‘Gerry’ Jeffers with a composure that is useful in a film so fond of commotion. Her delivery gives the quick exchanges room to breathe, and she does not press every line for a laugh. Joel McCrea, as Tom Jeffers, supplies a steadier presence, though his part gives us less to enjoy. Together they keep the romantic comedy recognisable while Sturges tests how much eccentricity he can fit around them.
Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee are the stronger comic attractions. As The Princess Centimillia, Astor makes a character who might have been exhausting enjoyable through the assurance of her delivery. Vallee’s John D. Hackensacker III is drier, and the restraint is especially welcome in such busy company. We could happily spend longer with either of them, which is also a small reservation about the balance of the film: its supporting players can make the leads seem a little too sensible.
The train sequence is the clearest example of Sturges letting a comic situation get out of hand on purpose. We laughed at how long he sustains the disorder, then began to feel the effort of keeping it going. That slight overextension is the film’s recurring weakness: a complication can acquire another complication after the first has already done its job. Stuart Gilmore’s editing preserves the speed, although briskness cannot make every elaboration necessary. Still, there is pleasure in a comedy prepared to be this peculiar.
Victor Milner’s cinematography keeps our attention on the performers, giving their reactions enough weight amid the talk. Victor Young’s music is less memorable than the dialogue, but its lightness suits a comedy that would suffer from too much romantic encouragement. Irene Lentz’s costume design is another pleasure worth noticing when the exchanges briefly release our attention. None of these contributions distracts from the actors, which seems a sensible order of priorities. The cast supply enough activity without needing every other department to compete.
By screwball-comedy standards, this is notably willing to risk becoming tiresome for the sake of another laugh. It usually gets away with it, and at 88 minutes it earns the time it asks for, even if a few passages could be less insistent. The writing requires attention, but the performances make that attention pleasurable rather than dutiful. Choose it when there are two of you awake enough to catch the lines.
Most critics respond warmly to The Palm Beach Story, with praise clustering around Sturges’s brisk dialogue, comic storytelling and the performances. The reviews repeatedly single out the speed and wit of the writing, alongside set pieces that give the farce scope to grow increasingly eccentric. The Guardian particularly enjoys the train sequence, while Empire highlights Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee as performers who nearly steal the film from its nominal stars.
The differences are chiefly matters of enthusiasm rather than fundamental disagreement: five reviews are positive, one is mixed and none is negative. The Guardian finds some elements dated, and Collider considers it a delight without placing it among Sturges’s strongest work. Slant Magazine’s more qualified response needs context: it praises the comic storytelling, while its explicit complaint concerns sparse disc supplements rather than a failing in the film itself.
Parkinson finds the film consistently hilarious and praises its screwball blend of satire and farce. He singles out Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee, whose performances nearly steal the film from its nominal stars.
Read the full review →Bradshaw finds the film a delightful, brisk comedy, though occasionally dated and eccentric. He singles out the bizarre, uproarious train scene and Sturges's snappy dialogue for praise.
Read the full review →The review is broadly positive about Preston Sturges’s comedy. It singles out the comic performances and brisk wit as strengths.
Read the full review →The available description presents Sturges’s comedy as witty and densely constructed. It singles out the writing’s quick pace and wit, though the full review is unavailable.
Read the full review →Christley praises Sturges’s comic storytelling while finding the Blu-ray’s supplements too sparse. The presentation’s stellar picture and vibrant sound are singled out for praise.
Read the full review →The critic finds the film a delight, though not among Sturges’s very best. He praises its dizzy set pieces and the playful way its beginning and ending toy with screwball-comedy conventions.
Read the full review →
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