This is a new series along the lines of the “Letters From My Library” articles that I’ve been writing sporadically over the last year or so. Instead of books “Short Ends” will explore the DVD’s that I’ve managed to accumulate, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
I’ve been a movie buff since I was a kid – I remember going over to my Grandparents house – they were the first in the family to have a color television – just to watch the old movies that Channel 22 would show on Saturdays. The movies were in black and white but the key thing about the set was that it was huge. It was one of those cabinet models that had like a 22” screen. Now a screen that size is basically a computer monitor – back then it was the nearest thing to a theater outside the actual thing. But I’d sit there with a ham and cheese sandwich and a glass of ginger ale and watch W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, “The Thin Man” series – whatever was on. I remember that was where I first saw “The Great McGinty”, Preston Sturges’ classic. After that I never grew tired of watching movies on a TV set. I know that seeing them in a theater is better, but I grew up a long way from movie theaters, in the middle of Blandford, Massachusetts - population of about 1,000 when I was a kid. You couldn’t walk to the local cinema there, and by the time you could drive anywhere there were other things on your mind when you had the car. I’d see plenty of films in theaters but never lost the taste for hanging out in a nice chair in front of the TV and watching a movie straight through.
As a result, and along with the fact that I’ve always been a collector, I like to keep copies of DVDs around, for just such an opportunity. With a little spare time on a rainy day I’ll pop something in the DVD player and watch one of my old favorites, something that I haven’t seen from a director or actor I like or just take a chance on something I’ve read about or am intrigued by. Comedies, drama, foreign, documentary, action – whatever happens to be the flavor of the moment can end up on the screen. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll end up with something that I really like – and it’ll be those pictures, or directors, or subjects – that I’ll be writing about here.
To start things off I’m going to focus on the aforementioned Preston Sturges – the screenwriter who managed to break through and have the studios allow him to direct – the guy who was the brains behind some of the most entertaining films you’d ever want to see, fitting in to (but also transcending) the “madcap” comedies of the 30’s and 40’s. Sturges blazed the trail for the Tarantinos, Coen Brothers and Woody Allens of the world – and he’s never totally received his due. This article is going to try to tell you why he should.
Even if Sturges had never made a movie he would have lived an interesting life. His mother was the best friend of Isadora Duncan and was present when the dancer was killed as her long, flowing silk scarf got wrapped around a drive shaft on the car she was being driven in, breaking her neck. Sturges’ mother, who to that point had been a bit of a globetrotter (a jet setter before jets) and had left her husband back in the States, never really recovered from the shock. The wealthy man she was married to, not Sturges’ father, nonetheless took a strong liking to his stepson and financed his education and start in life.
Sturges was a good writer who managed to make a killing on a play he wrote and brought to Broadway. With some money in his pocket he followed his muse to Hollywood where he excelled at turning out fast paced interesting scripts, sort of Aaron Sorkin-like dialogue driven stuff. His first cut at screenwriting remains one of the most extraordinary and influential first scripts ever written. The Power and the Glory is a story about the rise of a business mogul, played by Spencer Tracy. But this only scratches the surface of what made the writing so unique. Sturges actually told the entire story in out of sequence flashbacks, starting from the main character’s funeral. Using a series of vignettes to get at the essence of Tracy’s character’s being, oftentimes telling the tale from the point of view of different narrators, Sturges virtually invented a new way of relating a story on film. While the movie only did limited box office it bowled over critics and other screenwriters alike. Its style is often cited as one of the major influences on Citizen Kane, which was co-written by Herman Mankiewicz, a friend of Sturges.
On the strength of this and a series of strong follow up scripts Sturges was able to go to Paramount and cut a deal that other writers in Hollywood could never have pulled off. Sturges wrote a script that he knew was of the highest quality – no producer would be able to read it and not want to make the picture – one on which he could have made a small fortune by selling the rights. But he took a different route, instead of being paid for his screenplay he traded it for $10.00 and the opportunity to direct the picture himself. This was unprecedented for a mere writer in Hollywood. Writers were (and to a certain extent continue to be) the lowest rung on the Hollywood ladder. While this is by its very nature absurd it nonetheless represented the way the studio system worked – writers were legendarily described by Sam Goldwyn as “schmucks with a typewriter”. Writers didn’t get percentage deals, didn’t get control over their screenplay, didn’t get a studio expense account – didn’t get any of the perks associated with the movie business. (Typical joke – “Did you hear the one about the dumb starlet? – She tried to get ahead by sleeping with the screenwriter”.) They certainly never got to direct. Sturges broke that barrier down – which is the primary reason why the Woody Allen’s and Coen Brothers of the world should be grateful to him.
The movie Sturges got to write and direct was “The Great McGinty”. This story of how a down on his luck nobody turned into a huge political powerhouse (and what happened to him) is one of the great political films in movie history. The scene where McGinty manages to solicit a bribe without ever asking for money is a masterpiece (“See that picture I have of a ballgame there – how many people do you think were at that game?”). Sturges won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and, more importantly, his success made it possible for him to continue to write and direct a number of other films all while gaining increased independence from the studios.
That independence was put to good use as Sturges built up a coterie of stock actors who would appear in his films time after time. These included people like William DeMarest (who I would first come to know as the cantankerous Uncle Charlie number 2 on My Three Sons), Robert Greig and Joel McRae. These were strong character actors who got to know their director and thus got in tune to deliver ever more solid repertory performances with each go round. This resulted in a string of films that were immensely influential, way ahead of their time in theme, structure and dialogue and incredibly entertaining. They are still eminently watchable and, in addition to McGinty, I have the following Sturges films in my collection, all of which I would recommend:
Hail the Conquering Hero – A would be Marine finds out that he is being shipped home due to a medical condition. Convinced he is a failure he is adopted by a troop of sympathetic fellow Marines who determine that he will be treated as a hero when he gets home – and create a back story to make that happen. Hilarity ensues as the reluctant hero deals with the consequences of fame.
The Lady Eve: Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda star in another madcap comedy about a grifter (Stanwyck) and a featherbrained millionaire (Fonda) who court each other on the high seas and rural Connecticut. Considered one of the “500 Must See Movies” by Empire magazine The Lady Eve is probably one of the two or three best examples of the “screwball” comedy genre, and may really be the best of all of them.
Sullivan’s Travels: Many consider this Sturges’ best film – a tale about a film director (the “Sullivan” of the title, played by Joel McRae) who feels making lowbrow comedies is beneath him – and yearns to make films about the true downtrodden masses of American life. When it is pointed out to him that he hasn’t got the slightest idea of what life in the underbelly was like he hits the road with ten cents in his pocket (and less sense in his head). There he meets various misadventures – as well as Veronica Lake. For those of you who don’t know who Veronica Lake is it’s hard to explain how good she looked on film. When the creators of L.A. Confidential wanted to make Kim Basinger a doppelganger of the sexiest film star there was – they made her look like Veronica Lake. When the creators of Who Framed Roger Rabbit wanted Jessica Rabbit to look like the sexiest cartoon ever drawn – they drew her like Veronica Lake. This is Veronica Lake:
She is why God created movie stars.
Any hoo – Sullivan eventually ends up in jail on a road gang. There he finds life’s true underbelly – and realizes a truth that brings him full circle. By the way – the name of the film that Sullivan longs to make about the downtrodden everyman? - it’s “Oh Brother Where Art Thou”. It seems like the Coen brothers do appreciate their cinematic forebears.
Christmas in July – Imagine Mad Men as a screwball comedy.
The Palm Beach Story: How the hell do I describe the plot of The Palm Beach Story? It’s like trying to summarize A Midsummer Night’s Dream, All’s Well That Ends Well or Much Ado About Nothing – suffice to say that Sturges, like Shakespeare, manages to weave a story around a set of circumstances that pushes the limits of believability, but in a good way. Sometimes convoluted storylines kill the story – but when crafted correctly the complexity can actually add to the enjoyment – and it does here. Claudette Colbert and (again) Joel McRae star, along with Rudy Vallee.
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek: In a moment of patriotic fervor Betty Hutton’s character (named, unforgettably, Trudy Kokenlocker) marries a serviceman due to ship overseas the next day - and proceeds to celebrate at full throttle (as you will). When she wakes in the morning she can’t quite remember her new husband’s name – but he has left her a little present, not to be opened for nine months. The local 4-F boy, who has loved Trudy for years is willing to step up to the plate – but – well, that would be too easy. Instead the convoluted plot tormented the censors with the themes it addressed and called upon some old friends to resolve itself. Sturges may have worried the studios a bit too much with this one as they came to fear what he might do with his vaunted independence.
The Great Moment: And here we come to a Sturges mis-step. The Great Moment is a biopic about the inventor of anethesia, and Sturges intended it to be a serious commentary on how the benefits of science conflict with the system of patents that can tie remedies up in the hands of profit seekers. Talk about ahead of its time – this pre-dates one of the most contentious of our current medical debates. But Sturges left Paramount before the film’s release – and the studio gained control of the movie after he left. When they sent it out for pre-screening some of the comments alarmed the studio hacks – who decided to re-cut a pointed medical social commentary film into, get this, what they thought would end up looking like a typical Preston Sturges screwball comedy. Where Sturges wanted the audience to sympathize with the agony of pre-anesthetic surgery - where patients had to be physically restrained because of the incredible pain involved – Paramount went for laughs. Sturges begged them not to do it - but that’s how the film went out – and forever tarnished Sturges' legacy. There is now a director’s cut that sets the record straight, but at the time all anyone knew was that Sturges had directed a bomb – and, unfairly, it became harder for him to exercise control over his own films. His career faltered.
In the end Sturges didn’t enjoy the type of run where he made whatever films he liked for decades to come. That just doesn’t happen – not every ending is happy. Sturges was reined in by the studios, fell to drinking too heavily, made a couple of unsuccessful films – and died at the Algonquin Hotel in 1959. He’s remembered by true movie fans for the ground he broke, for the paths he blazed and, above all, for the amazing series of films he managed to turn out in the 30’s and 40’s – all of which I’d recommend you see if the opportunity arises. I’d also recommend the book Madcap – The Life of Preston Sturges by Donald Spoto which does a good job of placing Sturges in the context of the times he managed to be so relentlessly ahead of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umMknapIzu4
