The miracle of Morgan's creek 1944 - One of the best comedies of all time

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IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: Preston Sturges
Main Cast: Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, William Demarest, Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff

"In 1944, with the restrictive Hays Code very much in effect, the mere fact that Preston Sturges was allowed to make The Miracle of Morgan's Creek was remarkable in itself. After all, a comedy about a girl who gets drunk at a party with a bunch of soldiers and wakes up the next morning hung over and pregnant, with no memory of who the guilty party might be (except that his name sounded like 'Ratzywatzy'), hardly conformed to Hollywood's ideal of womanly virtue. But while the film's audacious content was out of the ordinary in its day, its lasting importance comes from the fact that it's a very, very funny movie. Sturges' superb ear for dialogue is in evidence throughout, as is his knack for bringing out the best in his cast: Betty Hutton gives the best and funniest performance of her career, while Eddie Bracken's work is rivaled only by his turn in Sturges' other 1944 masterpiece, Hail the Conquering Hero. If the premise seemed daring, Sturges gleefully heaped absurdity after absurdity upon it, to the point where even Norval and Trudy are barely able to keep track of their own hare-brained scheme to retain Trudy's good name (as well as that of Mr. Ratzywatzy, wherever he is). While the movie can be accused of playing Trudy's unwed pregnancy for laughs, she certainly seems painfully aware of the gravity of her situation, no matter how funny the circumstances it puts her through. And the scene between Trudy and Norval shortly after she's given birth is sweet and unexpectedly moving, as, after a genial assault on propriety, we're reminded in all sincerity of the simple power of love between two people. In Sturges' best movies, people do ridiculous things but somehow land on their feet; his characters rarely fell farther, or landed with more unexpected aplomb, than in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek." - www.allmovie.com

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The Palm Beach story 1942 - A delirious screwball romance

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IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: Preston Sturges
Main Cast: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee

"The Palm Beach Story is yet another satirical gem from director Preston Sturges, who gives the story a cynical edge sharper than in other screwball comedies. In 1942, even as the Great Depression was giving way to the war-time economy of World War II, poking fun at the idle rich continued to be a popular comic motif. The film's title is less meaningful to current audiences than it was to moviegoers of the 1940s, when train travel was the most frequent way that people got between cities, and the wealthy of the eastern seaboard rode trains each winter to the warm shores of Palm Beach, Florida. The performances in The Palm Beach Story are uniformly strong, with such non-comic actors as Joel McCrea and Mary Astor showing the diversity of their talents. Claudette Colbert gives one of the best performances of her career, though it is often overshadowed by her work in It Happened One Night." - www.allmovie.com

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The lady Eve 1941 - An outstanding romantic comedy showing Sturges' perfection

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IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: Preston Sturges
Main Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette,William Demarest

Preston Sturges wrote and directed this classic romantic comedy starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, who are involved in a scintillating battle of the sexes, as Sturges points up the terrors of sexual passion and the unattainability of the romantic ideal. The Lady Eve is among the funniest films of the World War II era, and one of the few comedies whose humor has survived both cultural changes and shifting audience demographics. Directed by Preston Sturges with his usual efficiency, the battle-of-the-sexes story allows star performers Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck to shine, though supporting performer William Demarest often steals the show. As was common in the censorship-laden war era, Sturges resorted to several clever sexual symbols. Fonda's character is an expert on snakes, and there is a funny moment when the audience catches the phallically suggestive book title, Are Snakes Necessary?. The dialogue is consistently bright and peppy. - www.allmovie.com

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Sullivan's travels 1941 - One of the finest movies about movies ever made

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IMDB rating: 8,2

Director: Preston Sturges
Main Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake

"The most ambitious of Preston Sturges' string of 1940s classics, Sullivan's Travels is a brilliant mixture of genres, combining giddy comedy with often brutal realism, made all the more powerful by the contrast. The first part of the film, which details the botched attempts of idealistic film director John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) to leave Hollywood, smoothly blends outrageous slapstick with Sturges' customary satirical dialogue, and includes classic exchanges between Sullivan and his Hollywood producers (Robert Warwick and Porter Hall) and his hilariously droll and opinionated butler (Robert Greig). The tone of the movie changes considerably with three bravura sequences. The first, a graceful, wordless section in which Sullivan and his nameless companion (Veronica Lake, showing a nice flair for comedy) spend a night among the homeless, proves that, although Sturges is noted mainly for his writing, he was also a sensitive and talented director. The second, a violent chain-gang episode almost shocking in its stark realism, and the third, a short musical passage set in a rural church, hammer home the movie's apparent moral: that, as Sullivan puts it, 'there's a lot to be said for making people laugh'. Sturges may seem to be ridiculing a cinema of ideas, but his final joke is that Sullivan's Travels supports a different argument: that comedy and serious drama can co-exist quite happily after all." - www.allmovie.com

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The power and the glory 1933 - A precursor to Citizen Kane and a wonderful performance by Spencer Tracy

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IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: William K. Howard
Main Cast: Spencer Tracy, Colleen Moore, Ralph Morgan, Helen Vinson

"Frequently cited as the precursor to Citizen Kane, Power and the Glory is the first major Hollywood film to extensively utilize narrated flashbacks to tell its story. Though the 'narrative' technique used to relate the plotline of Power and the Glory is interesting, though the film itself is a bit too cut-and-dried (suicide seems to be a logical solution rather than a last desperate move) and far too short (76 minutes) to do justice to its central character.
Long considered one of the great lost classics of Hollywood's Golden Age, The Power And The Glory has recently resurfaced, marking a coup for lovers of cinema history, and the film itself still proves to be a landmark. First of all, it is the first screenplay produced by the great writer (and future director) Preston Sturges, modeled on the family of his then-wife. Sturges has crafted a powerful drama about the life of the wealthy in America. Second, it is a remarkable foreshadowing of Citizen Kane, itself still eight years in the future. The film tells the tale of a man's life after his death, portraying his rise from a humble railworker to a railroad magnate and how he deals with those around him during his ascent. This element is also very prevalent, indeed it's the centerpiece, of Kane. Third, this is the film that put Spencer Tracy on the map of Hollywood stardom, propelling him to the legendary status that he enjoys even to this day. He plays the character of Tom Garner with utter believability, including the character's faults. This is unusual, particularly for 1933, and the credit for that can fall to Sturges. Colleen Moore plays Sally Garner and the only word to describe her performance, without danger of overstatement, is magnificent. She gives Tracy a sure-handed run for his money. The film also features Ralph Morgan, better known for his portrayal of villains in B-movies, who here produces another excellent role for his large canon." - www.allmovie.com

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Fast and loose 1930 - Funny early comedy presenting Miriam Hopkins' film debut

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020873/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
IMDB rating: 6,8

Director: Fred C. Newmeyer
Main Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard, Frank Morgan, Charles Starrett, Ilka Chase

"This - the second cinematic version of The Best People, a play by Avery Hopwood and David Gray that was first staged in 1924 and filmed in 1925 - is a period piece that glides over the best efforts of time, its serio-comic point of view intact, a smartly paced affair presenting a strong opportunity for role development beneath its frothy Roaring Twenties backdrop.
Paramount casts new contractee Miriam Hopkins for her film debut as wealthy Marian Lenox, along with Charles Starrett as her chauffeur and beau, Carole Lombard, Frank Morgan and whimsical Ilka Chase, all in top form, whilst Preston Sturges reconditions an already witty storyline. The setting is Long Island, where the Lenox clan resides, and where agitation reigns due to prospects of the family's adult son and daughter marrying below their station (to a chauffeur and a chorus girl), culminating with the entire family unintentionally meeting at a roadhouse speakeasy, whereupon a police raid adds to the growing embarrassment and consternation for two generations of Lenox family members.
The film is smartly directed, and acted with verve by all cast members, Hopkins a lively delight and reliable Morgan as solid as ever, although it is Broadway standout Chase who steals acting honors with her uninhibited performance, each benefiting from the pungent dialogue of Sturges that maintains an airy tone for a sophisticated romp, this version topping its silent screen predecessor in all elements except for Warner Baxter's memorable playing of the prideful and lovelorn chauffeur."

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http://www.ulozto.net/xKYCCBB/fast-and-loose-1930-avi

If I were king 1938 - The mesmerizing screen team of Colman & Rathbone

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030265/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,4

Director: Frank Lloyd
Main Cast: Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Frances Dee, Ellen Drew, Henry Wilcoxon

"If I Were King is a delightful costume adventure tale set in 14th century France, during the reign of Louis XI, and inspired by the legend of the rebel poet François Villon, whose exploits were filmed earlier as The Beloved Rogue (1927) with John Barrymore, and later transformed into the musical The Vagabond King on Broadway and onscreen.
A rousing, thoroughly enjoyable adventure film, If I Were King plays fast and loose with historical fact and truth, but it's so entertaining that few people are likely to care. The basic premise - that Louis XI would appoint a rag-tag poet as king for a week - is pure fiction, but it's the kind of high concept that, when it works, pays off with big dividend, and it certainly works here. Credit for this must be spread around, starting with Preston Sturges and Brandon Fleming's delightful, quick-witted screenplay. Sparkling dialogue flows like French champagne, especially when Ronald Colman and Basil Rathbone have the chance to tear up the screen together, and the script contains plenty of action and drama, as well as ample opportunity for opulence. Director Frank Lloyd takes shrewd advantage of all these elements, never letting the opulence outweigh dramatic necessity, and balancing the humor with moments of genuine emotion. The cast is also first-rate, with top honors going to Colman and Rathbone. Colman is the anchor that holds the film together, and he delivers a captivating, immensely appealing performance that is invaluable. Yet Rathbone, almost unrecognizable beneath a heavy makeup job, still manages to upstage the star, creating one of the most delightfully evil villains the screen has ever known. King is a marvelous film, swashbuckling adventure at its best." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/if-i-were-king-v96239/

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(avi, 980 MB):

http://u7231061.letitbit.net/download/34598911/17763.15d3e1840948f6be01c923f1e108/If_I_Were_King.1938_filmadventure.org.avi.html

Easy living 1937 - A mixture of two artistic manifestations: the director's and the screenwriter's

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028816/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Mitchell Leisen
Main Cast: Edward Arnold, Jean Arthur, Ray Milland

"Adapted by Preston Sturges from a play by Vera Caspary, Easy Living's mix of slapstick humor, topical 'in' jokes ('Wallace Whistling' being a great roman-a-clef for gossip columnist Walter Winchell), social realism, and social satire, make it one of the most potent viewing experiences that one can find among 1930s comedies. Elements of its story recall works such as Mark Twain's story The Million Pound Note, as well as early '30s topical comedies such as Zoltan Korda's Cash, while other aspects call to mind such future Sturges works as Christmas in July, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, and Hail the Conquering Hero. The plot and the pacing of most of the movie will leave even modern viewers breathless with laughter. The picture's frantic, screwball trajectory and velocity are compromised ever so slightly by just a couple of slow points. Director Mitchell Leisen occasionally lets the action drag in ways that Sturges, once he started directing his own scripts, never would have permitted. Sturges would have treated his script's obligatory romance between the hero and heroine with enough breezy humor to let it flow freely from one section of the satirical body of the work into another. Leisen, by contrast, has it played straight and sincere, with all of the attendant seriousness of purpose entailed therein.
Although not quite in a league with My Man Godfrey, It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby, or His Girl Friday, Easy Living is close enough to merit audiences as big as theirs, and also close enough to Sturges' own movies in content, if not approach, to demand attention from his fans as well. And certainly no movie ever portrayed the interaction of the different classes of New York City during the Great Depression in a zanier fashion." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/easy-living-v90257/

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