Working for Paramount in the 1940s playwright and scriptwriter Preston Sturges directed a succession of exceptional comedies of which the "Palm Beach Story" is perhaps the finest. Pym's account recreates the subtlety and a dazzling energy of this near perfect film. In the BFI FILM CLASSICS series.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
John Pym is the editor of the annual Time Out Film Guide and was associate editor of Sight and Sound from 1980 to 1990.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: The Palm Beach Story (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)
The 1942 Palm Beach Story is one of the wittiest movies Hollywood ever produced. It's also one of my favorites. John Pym, in this beautifully illustrated little book, touches on many of the film's most intriguing elements--the wacky, episodic plot, the rapid fire dialogue, the late Depression era fixation on millionaires, and the erotic charge that jumps between Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea. He also gives us a few details of director Preston Sturges's life that put some of the scenes and attitudes in a fresh perspective. One of his original contributions is relating elements of the the movie to the outbreak of WWII. What he skips, for the most part, is the actors. With his focus on Sturges, who also wrote the script, Pym appears to undervalue the contributions of the actors whose presence on screen makes Sturges's words sparkle. Throughout the book he writes mostly in terms of the script and the characters when discussing a scene, while in my mind I see and hear Rudy Vallee, Claudette Colbert, and the rest. Overall, however, this book is a valuable companion to the film. The British Film Institute would do themselves and us a favor by combining five or six related "classics" titles into volumes of reasonable price.
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Inside This Book
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In August 1914 the French Army advanced towards the heart of Germany and the Germans wheeled through Belgium confident that Paris would soon be theirs; meanwhile, in faraway California, the Keystone Film Company released a fusillade of five new Chaplin shorts, including The Property Man, one of the earliest movies (if no the earliest movie) Chaplin directed himself. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
rich millionaires, private carriage Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Wienie King, The Palm Beach Story, Claudette Colbert, New York, Preston Sturges, Solomon Sturges, First Member, Park Avenue, Penn Station, Donald Spoto, Maison Desti, Mary Desti, First World War, Florida Special, The Lady Eve, The Players, United States, Isadora Duncan, Jack Norton, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee, Second World War, Sig Arno, Tom Jeffers, William Demarest New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In August 1914 the French Army advanced towards the heart of Germany and the Germans wheeled through Belgium confident that Paris would soon be theirs; meanwhile, in faraway California, the Keystone Film Company released a fusillade of five new Chaplin shorts, including The Property Man, one of the earliest movies (if no the earliest movie) Chaplin directed himself. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
rich millionaires, private carriage Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Wienie King, The Palm Beach Story, Claudette Colbert, New York, Preston Sturges, Solomon Sturges, First Member, Park Avenue, Penn Station, Donald Spoto, Maison Desti, Mary Desti, First World War, Florida Special, The Lady Eve, The Players, United States, Isadora Duncan, Jack Norton, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee, Second World War, Sig Arno, Tom Jeffers, William Demarest New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 17
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11
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- The Lady Eve by Preston Sturges on page 14, page 15, and page 17
- The Great McGinty by Preston Sturges on page 14, and page 17
- Hail the Conquering Hero by Preston Sturges on page 14, and page 16
- The Ghost and Mrs Muir (BFI Film Classics) by Frieda Grafe in Back Matter
- Left Behind: Marion's Story by Bonnie King on page 21
See all 17 books this book cites
- L'Année dernière à Marienbad (Last Year in Marienbad) [BFI Film Classics] by Jean-Louis Leutrat in Back Matter
- The Night of the Hunter (BFI Film Classics) by Simon Callow in Back Matter
- The Magnificent Ambersons (BFI Film Classics) by V.F. Perkins in Back Matter
- Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff) (BFI Film Classics) by Dudley Andrew in Back Matter
- Bonnie and Clyde (BFI Film Classics) by Lester D. Friedman in Back Matter
See all 11 books citing this book
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