Preston Sturges inspires the kind of rapturous drunkenly-exuberant logorrheic responses in critics that he depicts in his characters. There are moments of sublime confusion in most of his films–and a few (The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek and Unfaithfully Yours are my favorites) never flag once they’ve set up the idiosyncrasies of characters and subplots: you get dizzying explosions of action and chatter, everyone overly-crammed into a shot, leaning and yelling over one another, as if but for the camera’s framing they’d fly off into all corners of a room. It can be exhilirating.
I decided to watch Sturges’ work with Harold Lloyd, the wonderfully-named Sin of Harold Diddlebock, with limited expectations, having heard that it was lesser Sturges and lesser Lloyd. That said, with limited expectations, it’s a lot of fun–and there is one of those perfect moments (as described above) in a bar that has to be seen. Diddlebock (who carefully enunciates his name every time he says it, one of my favorite gags throughout) has just lost his job, and half-despondent is picked up by a little low-level con artist for a drink. Diddlebock has never had a drink before, a fact that inspires the bartender–who starts muttering to himself, a gleeful look of rapture on his face, about the potential, even as Diddlebock continues to protest that it shouldn’t be too “potent” and the little guy keeps a running monologue about how drinks will cheer a fellow up. The five minutes that ensue are comic perfection: Diddlebock letting out piercing yells, and running off at the mouth; a cop coming in to cut the commotion; etc. The film is fun throughout–and ends with Lloyd and a lion on a ledge, teetering. But that scene. Wow. (It could only be better if it had been staged at Hank’s….)
mike, since your favourite sturges is not “the palm beach story” you cannot be taken seriously. the wienie king will be over shortly to explain.
Hanks would enhance any scene especially if the sun-lamped baloney “appetizers” were in view
This was on TCM the other night. I recorded it on my DVR and watched it tonight and lo and behold, it proved to be a treat. Mad Wednesday is its other name, and it’s a lousy one since we never see the mad Wednesday, and we’re not supposed to. That’s the central gimmick of the script–that we never really see Harold’s benders. To title it such is to fail to understand the film, which no doubt Howard Hughes did.
It’s not Sturges’s greatest, but a bad Sturges film is still good, like a disappointing night at your favorite restaurant. I wonder if in 1940, when Sturges was at his peak, this film would have been allowed the 15 or so minutes it needs. Just 2 or 3 scenes, because the meat of this film is all there: the story, the gags, the partnership (of Diddlebock and Wormy).
Lloyd gives a great performance. Like the Diddlebock drink itself, it’s a magical mix–three parts Cary Grant (Walter Burns, Mortimer Brewster, Dr. David Huxley) and one part Henry Fonda (Charles Pike).
Wonder what Amy Garawitz has to say about this one.