"Palm Beach Story" on TCM tonight (May 2) at 9:30

[Eve]

One of the funniest (Preston Sturges) screwball comedies ever, with luscious Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea, an unexpectedly funny Rudy Vallee, and dizzy Mary Astor all wildly romancing each other.

Plus, The Weenie King!

[Miss Mapp]

It's been awhile since I've seen it, but the ending has to be one of the most goofy of the screwball comedies:

SPOILER:

So you and your sister have fallen in love with me and my husband. Well, we're not available, but we each have an identical twin who have recently split up from each other--you can marry them!

Cut to a shot of the weddings...

[hogarth]

I had heard good things about it, so I started watching it once. I didn't think it was very funny, though. I quit about halfway through.

Give me "Bringing Up Baby" any day!

[Eve]

Originally Posted by hogarth

Give me "Bringing Up Baby" any day!

See, I keep hoping Cary Grant will beat Katharine Hepburn to death with a dinosaur bone and George will bury her in the back yard. Anything to stop her endless fluttering and posturing and Katharine Hepburning all over the place.

[RealityChuck]

One of Sturges best (though Miracle of Morgan's Creek tops it), but it's no Bringing Up Baby.

[Sigmagirl]

I think Palm Beach Story is far funnier than Bringing Up Baby; in fact, it's my favorite screwball comedy. I love Toto and the gorgeous outfit Claudette puts together from donations on the train (why does she wear the hat?) and the Ale and Quail Club. I always push up my sweaters to "bracelet length."

[Eve]

I once took a train cross-country in the hopes of stepping on Rudy Vallee's pince-nez.

"I'm the Weenie King! Invented the Texas Weenie! Lay off 'em, you'll live longer."

[Labdad]

But how does it compare to "The Lady Eve?"

[Eve]

Originally Posted by Labdad

But how does it compare to "The Lady Eve?"

I like this better--I adore Barbara Stanwyck, but Henry Fonda gives me the creeps. This is zanier, too.

[Little Nemo]

Wish I had known Sullivan's Travels was on before it. I'd have liked to watch that again.

A good movie. Liked the Weenie King and the Ale and Quail Club. I was surprised to see Alan Cumming playing Toto - didn't know he had worked for Sturges.

But I'm confused about the opening and closing scenes. Who ended up married to whom?

[TriPolar]

Definitely superior to the other movies mentioned here. At least for me. To each his own. But I think it's the best of the classic screwball comedies.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by TriPolar

But I think it's the best of the classic screwball comedies.

Arsenic and Old Lace will always be my favorite.

"Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops."

[C K Dexter Haven]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

But I'm confused about the opening and closing scenes. Who ended up married to whom?

The opening scenes seem to be a frantic rescue, very fast-paced and with much cutting and quite confusing. That stands as a joke on its own. Then the final revelation is that

SPOILER:

they're both sets of identical twins, so that some of the confusion in the opening is because BOTH brothers and BOTH sisters are involved (one is tied in the closet while the other is doing something else.) At the end, the original couple is back together, and the other Joel McCrea marries Mary Astor while the other Claudette Colbert marries Rudy.

I find Preston Sturges wonderful, just wonderful, and I'd hate to compare screwball comedies.

[Little Nemo]

So the opening scene was not Tom and Gerry's wedding in 1937? It was connected to those closing scenes of the weddings in 1942?

I thought the opening wedding was a separate wedding. We saw that Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert were the bride and groom (playing either Tom and Gerry or their twins). And there was also some apparent attempt being made to replace the bride and groom - Gerry or her twin got locked in a closet and Tom or his twin was switching clothes in the cab. So who was supposed to be getting married and who was trying to replace the real couple?