Product Details

• Actors: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee, Sig Arno
• Directors: Preston Sturges
• Writers: Preston Sturges, Ernst Laemmle
• Producers: Buddy G. DeSylva, Paul Jones
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300185206
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #253,149 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Among the earliest writers to set his sights on the director's chair, Preston Sturges brought a frank, unsentimental view of the war between the sexes to his mid-'40s features that exemplify his style, as demonstrated in this prescient 1942 gem. Architect Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea) and his wife, Gerry (Claudette Colbert), further refine the archetypal Sturges couple--the male embodying strength, idealism, and a certain naivete, the female ultimately stronger, smarter, and (as revealed early on in an astonishing speech by Colbert) clearer-eyed and more pragmatic about the subtext of sex. This giddy shaggy-dog story follows the couple's split, and Gerry's subsequent flight to Palm Beach. This head-snapping frolic is paced by double-entendres and lampooning looks at the very rich, with standout performances by the predatory Princess Centimillia (the delicious Mary Astor), who's more than ready to comfort Tom, and the wealthy, dim-witted John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee, staking out a new career, post-crooner, as comic foil), Gerry's new suitor. Even the predictable reunion of the star-crossed lovers is achieved with an antic surrealism. Sturges's strength in building strong character ensembles is matched by his affection for coupling screwball dialogue with physical slapstick, seldom to better effect than in the drunken target practice of the Ale and Quail Club, who make Colbert's train ride to Florida a different kind of shoot-'em-up. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Palm Beach Story, July 24, 2005

By 

Steven Hellerstedt "SH" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Palm Beach Story (DVD)

Okay, this is a work of genius. Preston Sturges wrote and directed THE PALM BEACH STORY, one of the best screwball comedies ever, made (1942) when the they weren't making many madcap comedies anymore. At least not the type that appealed to adult sensibilities. Like most screwball comedies it's a story of two slightly mismatched lovers, here caught in the fourth year of their marriage. Joel McCrea plays Tom Jeffers, an inventor and builder who's having difficulties making a go of it. Claudette Colbert is his wife Geraldine, a beautiful woman who can't cook or sew and by now feels she's become a bit of a `milestone' to her husband. So it's off to Palm Beach, where she can obtain a divorce, marry a wealthy man and get the $90,000 her husband needs to build his skyline airport. You see, she still loves him, and he still loves her....

The raw materials of comedy are also those of melodrama and tragedy. A story of love imperiled by impending poverty can be taken down Heartbreak Road, but THE PALM BEACH STORY is filled with more delightful oddballs and surreal situations than any other movie I can think of, beginning with the Colbert character, who makes any number of odd decisions based on the `logic of the situation.' Problems begin when the `Wienie King' appears. He's a little old man in an oversized coat and hat who's a bit hard of hearing and a bit gruff of manner, wonderfully played by veteran character actor Robert Dudley. Generous of nature and a fount of common-sensical wisdom beneath his crust, the Wienie King's act of largesse early on in the film starts the jealously and resentment ball rolling. Like all the secondary characters in this one, though, he's more angel than devil, and his generosity will pay off in the end. And, again like most of the minor characters, he gets more laughs than Colbert or McCrea, who more - much more, in the case of McCrea - or less play it straight while the comedy froths about them. Dudley isn't the only funny character, either. There's the Ale and Quail Club members who adopt Colbert as a mascot for a spell, and Sig Arno as a strange foreigner, language spoken and country of origin unknown, who plays gigolo to Mary Astor's Princess Centimillia. Astor's man-hungry princess is the sister of John D. Hackensacker III, son of the son of an oil baron and played to comic perfection by Rudy Vallee. It's in this fizzy sea of absurd to surreal characters that THE PALM BEACH STORY tells its tale of love triumphant.

What can you say about a comedy that still makes you laugh even though you've watched it a zillion times? Colbert is beautiful, McCrea is rock steady, and Vallee is a comic revelation. This one still breezes by every time I watch it. The highest recommendation for what's, in my opinion, one of the best comedies ever made. The print's in okay condition and the dvd offers no extras.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spring for This One!, April 25, 2005

By 

Randy Buck (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Palm Beach Story (DVD)

Ignore the carping here from other reviewers about DVD quality (just fine, if short on extras) or the merits of the film -- how ridiculous, when PALM BEACH STORY is one of the funniest, most adult comedies from Hollywood's Golden Age! Colbert has never been more charmingly pragmatic, and the underrated Joel McCrea simmers and stews with virile magnetism and ace comic timing. Throw in stellar supporting turns from Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee (whose rendition of "Goodnight, Sweetheart" sparks the film's finale), the usual Sturges suspects wrecking a train as the hilarious Ale and Quail Club, and the unforgettable Wienie King, my nominee for most endearing supporting performance in any classic movie, and this DVD is a real bargain. If you know the film, you'll be happy with this transfer. If not, sit back and relax -- visiting Paramount's blissfully loony Manhattan and Palm Beach, you're in the hands of masters.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Sturges's greatest comedies, December 17, 2001

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Palm Beach Story [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is an absolutely stunning comedy, with one comic shock and delight after another, and hilarious performances by a bevy of some of the best character actors in the history of Hollywood.

Highpoints include a trip on the railroad with the Ale and Quail Club; an introduction to The Weenie King, on of the funniest characters I know of in any film; Rudy Valee's unexpectedly delightful portrayal of a Rockefeller-like multi-millionaire; Mary Astor's excellent performance as Rudy Valee's sister; and a gentleman of unspecified ethnic origin known simply as "Toto."

The opening credits of the movie are among the most fascinating of the thirties or forties. While the credits are running, we see onscreen an entire prequel somehow involving two sets of identical twins (one set played by Joel McCrea and the other by Claudette Colbert).

Preston Sturges is not the best director the United States has ever produced, but he unquestionably enjoyed the finest five year period of any director we have ever seen. From 1940 until 1945, Preston Sturges enjoyed a run of amazingly crafted comedy masterpieces that by themselves place him on any list of the essential directors. In the late 1930s, Sturges built a name for himself by penning a number of first rate comedy scripts, including the classic EASY LIVING as well as REMEMBER THE NIGHT. Paramount gave him a shot at directing, and he responded with films like THE GREAT McGINTY, CHRISTMAS IN JULY, the great THE LADY EVE, SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS, THE PALM BEACH STORY, THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK, and HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO. But then, suddenly and without warning, his genius deserted him.

But this is one of the best of his best. Just sit back, get yourself pleasant to drink, and have a good time.