|
About a year ago I got into Preston Sturges almost by accident. The old lady of the house at the film rental place I use recommended him for comedy, and I got the Miracle at Morgan's Creek. Then I saw the Lady Eve and Palm Beach Story. Night before last it was the one, Sullivan's Travels, mentioned by a number of reviewers as the source of the title for the new Coen brothers movie. The riotous seqence of the out of control bus chasing the director was worth the rental fee. Some of the one liners were priceless, and then there was Veronica Lake playing a hoboe. It doesn't get any better, but it sadly reminds you of how bad the screenwriting today really is in comparison. The story is that a successful director wants to rough it so as to produce a good socially conscious film about the depression, etc., and really gets more reality than he bargained for, like membership on a chain gang. Once there, he learns that it is humor that is the greatedst salve to the downtrodden, not the marxist cant he earlier espoused.
|
