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The Palm Beach Story [DVD] [1942]
 
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The Palm Beach Story [DVD] [1942]

DVD ~ Joel McCrea
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
RRP: £9.99
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Frequently Bought Together

The Palm Beach Story [DVD] [1942] + Sullivan's Travels [DVD] [1941] + The Lady Eve [DVD] [1941]
Total RRP: £29.97
Price For All Three: £14.64

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Palm Beach Story [DVD] [1942]
79% buy the item featured on this page:
The Palm Beach Story [DVD] [1942] 4.0 out of 5 stars (1)
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Product details

  • Actors: Joel McCrea, Claudette Colbert, Mary Astor
  • Directors: Preston Sturges
  • Format: Black & White, PAL
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: U
  • Studio: Universal Pictures UK
  • DVD Release Date: 5 May 2008
  • Run Time: 84 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • ASIN: B0016586X6
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 21,649 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

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


Synopsis

In The Palm Beach Story, directed by Preston Sturges, Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) dumps her husband because he has no money, then goes searching for a rich bachelor.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Bonkers but brilliant, 31 Mar 2009
By C. L. Foster - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The Palm Beach Story is often forgotten when reviewers wax lyrical about Preston Sturges, the writer and driector of this superb film. It may not have the more serious point of Sullivan's Travels, Sturges' most famous film, but I actually prefer the more farcical Palm Beach Story.

The plot is of Geraldine (Claudette Colbert), who tired of the shame of debt, leaves her inventor husband Tom (Joel McCrea), when a rich old man gives her money. She heads off to Palm Beach (courtesy of the drunken Ale and Quail hunting club's private train carriage) to obtain a divorce, encountering on the way an extraordinarily wealthy heir, John D. Hackensacker III, who falls immediately in love with her. Tom, then, follows Geraldine to Palm Beach to win her back.

The plot becomes a bit complicated as all farces do, but Sturges has written a witty script full of absurdity, sarcasm, quotable lines and a very very funny array of supporting characters. The cast consists of great comic actors, such as Mary Astor and William Demarest, who bring Sturges script alive. There may be no deeper layer to this film, but it is tremendously good fun and always has me hooting with laughter.
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