The Palm Beach Story

It's all about the dialogue.  What is said, the rate at which it is said.  The machine gun rat-a-tat of wit, with nary a breath taken.  Distinguishing.  There are many screwball comedies from the 30s and 40s, but few are as memorable as writer/director Preston Sturges' 1942 utter classic THE PALM BEACH STORY. Geraldine (Claudette Colbert) and Tom (Joel McCrea) can't make the rent again. The latter is an architect trying to secure the funds to open an ambitious (for the time) airport, but for all of his acumen, the funds are not flowing. Never mind that Geraldine wears lavish gowns and the pair lives on Park Avenue; that's not important in this universe.  

Anyhow, Geraldine manages to get her hands on some cash, quite generously donated by an old coot known as The Wienie King.  Despite this, she decides that she and hubby would do better apart. Financially, at least. Geraldine hops a southbound train in the hopes of landing a rich fellow.  Tom is dejected, and in pursuit. The Wienie King re-appears and gives Tom the money to catch his bride when she arrives in Palm Beach, that sun drenched land of debutantes and endless soirees. Geraldine initially meets a gaggle of rich nincumpoops known as The Ale & Quail Club.  Then she meets a rather daffy aristocrat named John D. Hunsacker III (no points for guessing who he is modeled after). He falls for her immediately.

Even daffier is his sister, the Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor), who falls for Tom. There's also a guy running around named Toto who speaks in a language known only to himself. Just your typical slapstick calculus. Or not. Sturges was a master of not only deft comedic choreography, but also serpentine plots that are resolved in ingenious ways that may not be logical (particularly to a 21st century viewer), but are within reason in this universe I spoke of. The ability of Sturges, for example, to build three jokes off of one is pure genius. We saw it in SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS and THE LADY EVE, produced a year prior to THE PALM BEACH STORY. We did not see it in Peter Bogdanovich's multiple attempts to recapture this sort of whimsy in the 1970s and beyond (save the wonderful PAPER MOON). We also did not see it in George Clooney's ill-fated LEATHERHEADS, released earlier this year. 

Not easy, that comedy stuff. Check the opening credits of this one, with its double wedding montage. Or the A & Q Club's rifle orgy on the train. Wacky, that universe. It is a fun place to be, what with eccentric behavior at every turn, and that dialogue. It comes fast and furious. I was exhausted by the time we reached the amusing finale. When you get there, you may find yourself saying aloud, "twins"???. Don't sweat it. If you think the words are frivolous, there's no denying that the music is the work of a maestro.