MADness—the Blog

As I had mentioned earlier this week, Preston Sturges doesn’t quite get the respect that I think he deserves.  He’s fairly well-known among film fans but not as well-known as other directors of his generation.  When the conversation is about auteurs and the “great” movies, Sturges and his films are often an afterthought if they’re given any thought at all.

Film critic extraordinaire Anthony Lane described the situation in his profile of Sturges (from Lane’s collection Nobody’s Perfect):

These works occupy a curious position in the pantheon of cinema, if there is such a place.  To anyone who knows his movies, they are not just entertaining; they are so obviously entertaining that only some vast, subterranean conspiracy can have stopped them from becoming as undyingly popular as Some Like It Hot or Diner, or any of the other standbys that everyone has on video, and that are ideally watched on damp Sunday nights with a tub of Chunky Monkey.  But the Sturges canon remains stubbornly half known; there are plenty of people who enjoy The Lady Eve without even realizing who made it.

Part of the problem is that Sturges made comedies, and the funny stuff never gets the respect it deserves.  What Sturges pulls off is rarer than you’ll find in dozens of Best Picture winners, but since he’s makes people laugh, they feel free not to take him seriously. 

The art of Sturges is the art of entertainment, and that poses a problem from some because “art” and “entertainment” are supposed to be two separate boxes and movies get put in one or the other but not often both. 

There are legit reasons to critique Sturges.  French director René Clair, by way of James Agee, believed Sturges was too quick for his own good; if he had slowed down he’d have been even greater.  Agee himself makes other points.  They may be right.  There’s valid criticism for every filmmaker, even the greatest.

Yet I’d guess Sturges is not overlooked because because he’s found wanting by those who give him serious consideration, but more often because he’s not taken seriously to begin with.  We suffer from a bad case of cultural amnesia, but I suspect that in time Sturges will be seen as one of those directors whose movies endure.  They still seem especially vital to me.  Much of what made audiences of the 1940s laugh seems very dated to us today, but Sturges and his films still do the trick.