ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges PDF
Preview ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges
ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges ReFocus: the American Directors Series Series Editors: Robert Singer and Gary Rhodes Editorial Board: Kelly Basilio, Donna Campbell, Claire Perkins, Christopher Sharrett, and Yannis Tzioumakis ReFocus is a series of contemporary methodological and theoretical approaches to the interdisciplinary analyses and interpretations of neglected American directors, from the once-famous to the ignored, in direct relationship to American culture—its myths, values, and historical precepts. The series ignores no director who created a historical space—either in or out of the studio system—beginning from the origins of American cinema and up to the present. These directors produced film titles that appear in university film history and genre courses across international boundaries, and their work is often seen on television or available to download or purchase, but each suffers from a form of “canon envy”; directors such as these, among other important figures in the general history of American cinema, are underrepresented in the critical dialogue, yet each has created American narratives, works of film art, that warrant attention. ReFocus brings these American film directors to a new audience of scholars and general readers of both American and Film Studies. Titles in the series include: ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges Edited by Jeff Jaeckle and Sarah Kozloff ReFocus: The Films of Delmer Daves Edited by Matthew Carter and Andrew Nelson ReFocus: The Films of Amy Heckerling Edited by Frances Smith and Timothy Shary www.euppublishing.com/series/refoc ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges Edited by Jeff Jaeckle and Sarah Kozloff © editorial matter and organization Jeff Jaeckle and Sarah Kozloff, 2015 © the chapters their several authors, 2015 Edinburgh University Press Ltd The Tun—Holyrood Road 12 (2f) Jackson’s Entry Edinburgh EH8 8PJ www.euppublishing.com Typeset in 11/13 Monotype Ehrhardt by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 4744 0655 0 (hardback) ISBN 978 1 4744 0656 7 (webready PDF) ISBN 978 1 4744 0657 4 (epub) The right of the contributors to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The editors wish to thank the following people for their invaluable assistance: Robert Singer, Gary Rhodes, Barbara Lucas, Caitlan Moore, and Alice Royer. Financial support came from Vassar Ford Scholars Program, Vassar College’s Research Committee, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Foundation, and the Betty and Richard Duvall Foundation. Contents List of Figures vii Notes on Contributors ix Introduction: An Agile Mind—The Many Stands of Preston Sturges 1 Jeff Jaeckle Part 1 Contexts: Genre, Studio, Authorship 1 Preston Sturges and Screwball Comedy 25 Leger Grindon 2 Preston Sturges, Sullivan’s Travels, and Film Authorship in Hollywood, 1941 46 Virginia Wright Wexman 3 To Write and Not Direct 66 Sarah Kozloff 4 “The Edge of Unacceptability”: Preston Sturges and the PCA 83 Matthew H. Bernstein Part 2 Cultural Commentary: History and Identity 5 Sturges’s Many Mothers 109 Kristine Brunovska Karnick 6 “These Are Troublous Times”: Social Class in the Comedies of Preston Sturges 133 Christopher Beach vi CONTENTS 7 “They Always Get the Best of You Somehow”: Preston Sturges in Black and White 155 Krin Gabbard 8 Falling Hard: The Sin of Harold Diddlebock 173 Joe McElhaney Part 3 Technique: Scripting, Performance, Music 9 The Unheard Song of Joy 193 Jeff Jaeckle 10 The Eye of the Storm: Preston Sturges and Performance 211 Diane Carson 11 Presto(n) con Spirito: Comedies with Music, Sturges-style 232 Martin Marks Part 4 Impact: Reception/Reputation 12 Thrust with a Rapier and Run: The Critics and Preston Sturges 261 G. Tom Poe 13 H ail the Conquering Auteur: Preston Sturges in La Revue du cinéma (1946–1949) 280 Christian Viviani 14 O Preston, Where Art Thou? 293 Sarah Kozloff Index 311 Figures 1.1 The Lady Eve: Jean moves from the glow of fresh love to a breakdown of tearful sorrow 34 1.2 The Lady Eve: Jean/Eve’s gestures present a calculation mocking Charles’s earnest declaration 36 1.3 The Palm Beach Story: the Ale and Quail Club, an example of cartoon sexuality 40 1.4 The Palm Beach Story: the return to the altar where Tom and Gerry were wed 42 2.1 The screening room with its projector light 48 2.2 Sullivan surrounded by studio supporters 51 2.3 Poster for Sullivan’s Travels 54 3.1 Max’s point of view, as Luisa tries to sneak away 72 3.2 Mary holds her two new dogs close as she escapes from the Ball family 75 3.3 Mary offers Johnny a place to sleep after he has lost his job 76 3.4 Returning to New York City, John and Lee detour through Canada 78 4.1 The Palm Beach Story: Gerry melts after Tom has kissed her 92 4.2 The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek 98 5.1 The beatific Madonna shot 123 6.1 Jimmy McDonald is confused by events in Christmas in July 139 6.2 John Sullivan in search of life in Sullivan’s Travels 144 6.3 Gerry Jeffers is stuck between eccentric millionaires in The Palm Beach Story 149 7.1 Preston Sturges appears with two anonymous actors in an early scene in Christmas in July 161 7.2 Jess Lee Brooks sings “Go Down, Moses” to his congregation in Sullivan’s Travels 166 viii FigurES 10.1 A dominant Jean teasing a physically uncomfortable Hopsie in The Lady Eve 218 10.2 Preston Sturges regularly used slapstick humor to relieve verbal tension, as in The Lady Eve 220 10.3 An animated Gerry and a stiff, immobile Tom in The Palm Beach Story 225 12.1 Publicity poster for Sullivan’s Travels 269 14.1 Miles and the hardened divorce lawyers giddy after Miles’s pro- love speech 295 14.2 Juliette and Alex are watching Juliette’s favorite movie in Alex’s hotel bedroom 306
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