Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Bill Slocum F. Scott Fitzgerald told Ernest Hemingway "the rich are different from you and me." For Preston Sturges, "different" hardly covers it. In his "The Palm Beach Story," they are out of their minds.Rich people can't wait to give Geraldine Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) their money. Sure, she's beautiful, but she's also married to the possessive if indigent Tom (Joel McCrea). Deciding that he's better off without her as a "milestone" around his neck, and that she's certainly better off finding more crazy rich guys to give her dough, she leaves for a quickie divorce in Palm Beach, Florida, with Tom in hot pursuit.Perhaps Sturges' dizziest comedy, "Palm Beach Story" is a clever, grown- up entertainment, feet quite detached from the ground. Just imagine how the Paramount brass reacted after screening the first two-and-a-half minutes of this, a galloping credit sequence having nothing to do with the plot of the next 80 minutes. It's certainly amusing, but even knowing what Sturges was setting up here doesn't make me sure it was the right approach.Sturges is called the anti-Capra for the way he played with the Frank Capra formula where little people win against the mighty with equal parts pluck and sentimentality. If Capra was the enlightened communitarian, Sturges was the eccentric patrician, and "Palm Beach Story" his paean to capitalist endeavor at its warped and wackiest.The capitalists with whom the Jeffers come across are a cross-section of craziness that proves money talks loudest when it makes the least sense. There's the "Wienie King" (Robert Dudley) who gives Gerry $700 and a warning to lay off his product if she wants to live longer. There's the Ale And Quail Club, who gift her passage to Florida on their train and then scare her away by holding target practice in the club car. Finally, you have the Hackensackers, a brother and sister whose oil fortune has completely divorced them from any practical reality, and who settle upon the Jeffers as ideal companions for their cloud-cuckoo land.As John D. Hackensacker (Rudy Vallée) tells his sister (Mary Astor), "You know Maude, somebody meeting you for the first time, not knowing you were cracked, might get the wrong impression."Whimsy predominates over everything else in "The Palm Beach Story;" the one quality everyone possesses equally. "I like peace but I ain't morbid about it," is how a cop warns Tom to watch his step. Thanked for his "chivalry" by Gerry, a ticket attendant replies: "Anytime from 8 to 12."Watching all this zaniness is pretty charming, even if the story it decorates is somewhat undernourished. Neither Jeffers is that engaging as personalities go; hard enough as it is to believe, the richie-rich Hackensackers come off more vulnerable and worth your time, what with their personality quirks and their weird need for love.Sturges' taste for story detours is on full display here; the Ale And Quail Club taxes your patience with non-stop singing, barking, and shooting, not to mention all the Sturges stock players putting in their appearances. Sturges found William Demarest funny for some reason, giving him center stage in the movie's trailer. At least his part in the film isn't so much as that.But what a clever ending, all the more so for being so utterly random! There's a line of thinking that "The Palm Beach Story" is screwball comedy, but it's way beyond that to me. Sturges throws so many balls in the air there's a bit of wonder when he manages to catch a few.The object is entertainment, and it succeeds in that well enough. It also seems there's a lesson about capitalism tied up somewhere, that leaving people to make their own ways in life is the best course to take, no matter how mixed up they are. Does it work in life? No idea, but it certainly seems to here!

jakob13 A refurnished Preston Sturgis' 'Palm Beach Story' is out on DVD. An occasion to celebrate. This screwball comedy touches on a problem that affects young working families: how to make ends meet. The joke is given away at the beginning for the attentive eye. Of course this is Hollywood, so the the Jeffers (Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea) down on their luck live on Park Avenue. Colbert decides to leave McCrea whom she loves deeply, to find her way with her looks to bankroll his dreams but ... A fairy godfather 'the weenie king', played with a straight faced by the excellent Robert Y. Dudley steps in. Debts paid with Dudley's $700 (several thousands in today's dollars), McCrea takes it the wrong way. So Colbert takes off to find her fortune and new life. But the fairy godfather steps in again by paying McCrea's way to win back his bride. And so it goes: there's the hilarious Quail and Ale Club of raucous inebriated millions come to her rescue with gun shots, hounds and barber shop singing. And on the train she steps on Rudy Valle's 19-century style pince nez eyeglasses, and she steps into the world of super wealth. And so it goes. Valle is a charm and a great second banana. And then there's Mary Astor as his oft married sister who sets her eyes on Mcrea. But the bond of love cannot break Colbert from McCrea.And then the film's kicker comes in. But you've got to see this delicious comedy to find out the happy ending and everyone lives happily ever after!

Sarahbeth214 The opening credits were rather confusing, showing little bits of the story, like a lady tied up in a closet. The movie had some rather dramatic characters and also held a lot of qualities of a silent film, with the big over exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures. The music was also very similar to that of a silent film. The journey the lead woman goes on to help her poor husband is incredible. The train scene was definitely my favorite. The passion between the Gerry and her husband as they try to face getting a divorce and the money for her husbands airport project is nothing short of modern, with a few classic touches.

kenjha After his wife leaves him for an eccentric millionaire, an inventor pursues her to Palm Beach and laughs follow. This was Sturges's follow-up to "The Lady Eve" and "Sullivan's Travels" from the previous year. That's a hard act to follow for any director. Although this is generally enjoyable, it is not at the same level of brilliance as the preceding pair. There are funny bits but the comedy is not sustained. It gets off to a hilarious start but sort of runs out of steam. Scenes go on much too long after they have been mined for comic effect. Still, Sturges is always worth watching. McCrea, Colbert, Vallee, and Astor lead a capable cast.