Sadly Over-hyped

Nice effects though.

Fantastic!

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This movie has madness and a few zany scenes. But I think the accolades of many for Preston Sturges having a great comedy here are overblown. "The Palm Beach Story" is funny, but only in parts. And, some of those are strained. The goings-on of the Ale and Quail Club soon wear out. And Claudette Colbert's hiding from the gang on the train isn't worth any howls. The premise for the story is OK, and far out. Unfortunately, Colbert's Gerry Jeffers is too "logical" and explanatory with hubby Tom, played by Joel McCrea. And, McCrea is just too dour for most of the comedy. That always serious, almost stern look of his was OK for Westerns, but it wasn't great for most of his comedy efforts. The one exception being, "Adventure in Manhattan" of 1936. Colbert and McCrea don't have much chemistry in this film. Someone like Fred MacMurray would be able to play the straight face, serious look for real comedic effect.I think the best comedy of this film comes from Rudy Vallee as J.D. Hackensacker III, and from Mary Astor as his sister, Princess Centimillia. Vallee's character is funny in himself – fast-talking and always writing costs of items in his little black book. And Astor's princess has some of the funniest lines in the movie.The movie is okay and enjoyable. But it's not full of laughable scenes and lines. It's not up there with the best comedies of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Here are a couple examples of the witty dialog.J.D., "Chivalry is not only dead, it's decomposed."Gerry, "No, I don't want to listen to anything that begins with 'Look, darling,' so that you can get off another noble saying."J.D., "That's one of the tragedies of this life – that the men who are most in need of a beating are always enormous."

Preston Sturges was a unique figure in Hollywood history, a writer- director of witty, cleverly plotted comedies that combined wacky fun with occasional sharp satiric potshots at social institutions and human foibles. If Hollywood had a Moliere, Sturges was that.My personal favorite of his movies is the romantic screwball comedy The Palm Beach Story (1941), featuring Claudette Colbert as a woman who loves her husband too much to see him fail, and so decides to divorce him and marry a rich man to support him! It's great silly fun, insanely contrived but irresistible for all that, with winning performances by Colbert and the other leads, especially Rudy Vallee as the improbably nice rich guy whose path Colbert crosses.

The opening credits were rather confusing, showing little bits of the story, like a lady tied up in a closet. The movie had some rather dramatic characters and also held a lot of qualities of a silent film, with the big over exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures. The music was also very similar to that of a silent film. The journey the lead woman goes on to help her poor husband is incredible. The train scene was definitely my favorite. The passion between the Gerry and her husband as they try to face getting a divorce and the money for her husbands airport project is nothing short of modern, with a few classic touches.

After his wife leaves him for an eccentric millionaire, an inventor pursues her to Palm Beach and laughs follow. This was Sturges's follow-up to "The Lady Eve" and "Sullivan's Travels" from the previous year. That's a hard act to follow for any director. Although this is generally enjoyable, it is not at the same level of brilliance as the preceding pair. There are funny bits but the comedy is not sustained. It gets off to a hilarious start but sort of runs out of steam. Scenes go on much too long after they have been mined for comic effect. Still, Sturges is always worth watching. McCrea, Colbert, Vallee, and Astor lead a capable cast.