Preston Sturges Collection [DVD]

Box set collection of six classic off-beat comedies by Preston Sturges, a director who is widely thought to have been one of 1940s Hollywood's most talented filmmakers. In 'Sullivan's Travels' (1941), filmmaker John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is looking to make a serious social statement in his next film, and decides to take to the streets disguised as a tramp. Following his return to the studios he plans to hand out thousands of dollars to the needy, But Sullivan becomes a victim of crime when a tramp steals his clothes and his identity. With the world believing that the great filmmaker is dead, following a car accident involving the tramp, Sullivan has to prove who he really is. 'The Lady Eve' (1941) is a romantic comedy starring Henry Fonda as Charles Pike, the heir to the Pike Ale empire. Following a year spent looking for rare snakes, Charles is heading for New York aboard the S.S. Southern Queen. But with everyone on board the ship aware of his inheritance, he is hounded by a group of single women looking for a suitable, eligible bachelor. Also after his inheritance are Colonel Harry Harrington (Charles Coburn) and his partner, a pair of conmen and card sharks with a secret weapon - the Colonel's daughter, Jean. In 'Hail the Conquering Hero' (1944), patriot Woodrow Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) joins up to fight in the war, only to be discharged within days because of his chronic asthma. Encouraged by a group of marines who sympathise with his problem, Truesmith decides to lie about his service record and returns to his home town as a war hero. With only his ex-girlfriend unimpressed, Truesmith finds himself being championed as a future mayor after receiving a hero's welcome. In 'The Great McGinty' (1940), Brian Donlevy stars as Dan McGinty, a down-and-out who is hired by some unscrupulous mobsters to become a 'hired voter', casting ballots under assumed names. Teaming up with The Boss (Akim Tamiroff), the two men become political partners, but when McGinty begins to reform, they find themselves on the run to a seedy bar in South America. 'Christmas in July' (1940) follows the fortunes of a lowly office clerk (Dick Powell) who enters endless competitions in the hope that he can win enough money to marry his sweetheart. When his colleagues trick him by faking a $25,000 cheque as his prize for the Maxwell House Coffee Slogan competition, he ends up buying his family presents before realising that the money never existed. Finally, in 'The Palm Beach Story' (1942), Joel McCrea plays a distracted inventor who needs the money to help finance his new creations. When his wife (Claudette Colbert) decides that the best way to help him is to get divorced and marry a millionaire, the mismatched couple find themselves getting swept up in the deranged lifestyles of the idle rich.