The Palm Beach Story

A comedy set in New York and Florida. Tom is an inventor. He has an idea for an airport; a net stretched over a city. Nobody will invest. He lives with his wife Gerry. The rent is unpaid and they are to be evicted. One day a man comes into the flat. An old businessman is looking at renting it. He sees her and gives her money. For no reason. He simply wants to. Gerry pays the rent. Then she makes a decision: she will divorce. Her reason is this: she can help Tom best by marrying someone rich. He will not accept it. She leaves. From there the film is a journey. Gerry goes to Florida; a divorce is easy there. She boards the train with no money. There is a group of men in the carriage. All of them hunters; armed, drunk and loud. The train journey is the most chaotic section. She reaches Florida. She meets a man there. John D. Hackensacker III is very rich. Calm, courteous, and he does not like spending money. He takes an interest. He has a sister as well. The Princess has married several times and is always with someone new. Tom follows her down. Gerry introduces him as her brother. From there the film is a comedy of mistaken identity. The Princess takes an interest in Tom. What the narrative is interested in is not marriage but money: its idea is that love is measured against a cost in every scene, and that nobody hides it. A resolution comes at the end and it is entirely absurd. The narrative offers it as an explanation and winks at the audience. Preston Sturges wrote and directed. The dialogue is very fast. The lines overlap. The film was made during the war and its tone is wholly escape. Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes classic American comedy and fast dialogue. Who it is not for: anyone looking for logic; the narrative keeps breaking its own rules and the last section does it as a joke.