American Cinematheque celebrates comic genius Preston Sturges

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Before there was Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and James Dean, there was John Garfield. The New York theater actor brought a brooding intensity and realism to his roles in such films as 1938’s “Four Daughters” and 1947’s “Body and Soul” (he earned Oscar nominations for both) and 1945’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice.” Warner Archive’s recently released six of his movies on DVD: 1939’s “Dust Be My Destiny” and “Blackwell’s Island”; 1940’s “Flowing Gold,” “Saturday’s Children”’ and “East of the River; and 1941’s “Dangerously They Live.” A victim of the blacklist, Garfield died of a heart attack at age 39 in 1952. Pictured: American movie star John Garfield, left, testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee on April 23, 1951, accompanied by his lawyers, Louis Hizey, center, and Sidney Davis. (Bob Mulligan / AFP / Getty Images)

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One of Lon Chaney’s greatest cinematic feats was playing Victor Hugo’s tragic Quasimodo in the lavish 1923 Universal silent “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” His poignant performance made Chaney one of the major players in Hollywood. No expense was spared to bring this classic to the big screen. Acres of Universal’s back lot were transformed into 15th century Paris, including the elaborate facade of the Notre Dame Cathedral. The production took six months to film, using 750 crew members and more than 2,000 extras. Now Flicker Alley in association with Blackhawk Films Collection has released the Blu-ray of this seminal silent. Since the film apparently did not survive in 35mm, the digital restoration was made from a multi-tinted 16mm print that had been struck from the original camera negative in 1926. This edition also features a new symphonic score arranged by Donald Hunsberger and conducted by Robert Israel. For more information go to http://www.flickeralley.com. Pictured: Lon Chaney as Quasimodo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” directed by Wallace Worsley, 1923. (Universal Pictures / Getty Images)

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Lewis Allen’s 1944 “The Uninvited” is one of the best ghost stories you probably have never seen. Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey play a London-based brother and sister who fall in love with a beautiful, abandoned seaside house during a vacation to the British coast. They are surprised when they are able to buy the house for a very low price, but they soon find out why they got it for such a bargain. A favorite of directors Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro, “The Uninvited” also stars Donald Crisp and Gail Russell. And Victor Young’s lush score produced the hit “Stella by Starlight,” based on the film’s main theme. Criterion has just released the new digital restoration of “The Uninvited” on Blu-ray. (Keystone / Getty Images)

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John Cherry, partner and head of the creative department at Carden and Cherry Advertising in Nashville, hit pay dirt in the 1980s with a series of quirky commercials starring the late rubber-faced Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell, an unwelcome pest of an unseen neighbor named Vern. Ernest’s catchphrases, “Hey, Vern” and “Know WhutImean?,” quickly became part of the pop lexicon. Ernest proved so popular with kids that Varney and Cherry took the character to the big screen for several films, starting with 1987’s “Ernest Goes to Camp” to television with the 1988 CBS kids’ show, “Hey Vern, It’s Ernest.” Cherry has written a memoir which he points out is not for children about his experiences called “Keeper of the Clown: My Life With Ernest,” available on Amazon, at bookstores and at http://www.HeyVernItsErnest.com.m. (Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)

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Over the last few years cinema and TV buffs have become addicted to Warner Archive, which has released classics, rarities and vintage TV series and movies on DVD. Now cineastes can get access to even more classic product on the Warner Archive Instant pay streaming service. The service isn’t available on iPad or IPhone, but it can be accessed on computers or by using a Roku2 or 3 set-top box hooked up to an HDTV. Selections are added weekly. Some available titles that aren’t yet on DVD include the TV series “77 Sunset Strip” and “Hawaiian Eye.” For more information go to http://instant.warnerarchive.com. Pictured, Edd “Kookie” Byrnes from “77 Sunset Strip,” circa 1960. (Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images)

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Will Hutchins of “Sugarfoot” in 1958. Hutchins starred as a clumsy cowboy in the ABC series. The first season of the genial western TV series “Sugarfoot” has moseyed onto DVD thanks to Warner Archive. Will Hutchins starred in the ABC series, which alternated on the network with “Cheyenne,” from 1957 to ’59 and “Bronco” from 1959 to ’60. Hutchins played Tom “Sugarfoot” Brewster, a young correspondence-school law student from the east who heads west for adventure and excitement only to discover he’s a pretty clumsy cowboy. Among the guest stars appearing on the series were Dennis Hopper, Charles Bronson and Martin Landau. “Sugarfoot,” which was based on the 1954 film “The Boy From Oklahoma,” rode off into the sunset in 1961. (Cloyd Teter / Denver Post via Getty Images)

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In 50 years, he made more than 400 films and worked with Douglas Fairbanks, Shirley Temple and John Wayne.

Director Allan Dwan’s career spanned from the early silent era in 1911 through 1961. He made more than 400 films including Douglas Fairbanks’ 1922 “Robin Hood” and 1929’s “The Iron Mask,” Shirley Temple’s 1937 melodrama “Heidi” and the John Wayne 1949 war film “Sands of Iwo Jima.” Called the “last pioneer” by Peter Bogdanovich, he’s the subject of an exhaustive book, “Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios” by Frederic Lombardi. The richly detailed study of Dwan coincides with the Museum of Modern Art’s upcoming retrospective of the director’s work. (Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

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Silent screen star John Gilbert stands out in ‘Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 6.’ Warner Archive’s new “Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 6” includes such pre-Code goodies as 1932’s “The Wet Parade” and 1934’s “Mandalay” and “Massacre.” But the pièce de résistance of the set is 1932’s delectable melodrama “Downstairs,” starring John Gilbert, who also wrote the story. The silent screen star struggled in talkies after the disastrous 1929 melodrama “His Glorious Night,” but “Downstairs,” in which he gives one of his most daring performances as a charming but manipulative chauffeur, proves that Gilbert had the chops for the sound era. (Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

By Susan King

Aug. 6, 2013 1:06 PM PT

For several years in the 1940s, Preston Sturges wrote and directed a series of flawless social comedies that were an intoxicating mix of sophisticated dialog and freewheeling slapstick.

The American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood is honoring the filmmaker with the new retrospective “Sturges Rally: Comedy Built for Speed,” which opens Friday.

Sturges, who was born in 1898 and died in 1959, came from a wealthy family and, as a young boy, helped out his mother’s friend, Isadora Duncan, in her stage productions. A World War I veteran, he began writing short stories while recovering from an appendectomy. He scored his first big success on Broadway in 1929 with the comedy “Strictly Dishonorable.”

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He moved to Los Angeles three years later and began writing such classic films as 1937’s “Easy Living.” He was frustrated with the lack of control over his scripts and made a deal with Paramount: He would sell them the script of his 1940 political satire “The Great McGinty” for $1 if he could direct it. Not only was his directing career born, he won the Academy Award for his screenplay.

The Egyptian’s celebration opens with “The Great McGinty,” which stars Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff and William Demarest, who became a member of Sturges’ stock company of players.

The second feature Friday evening is the lovely 1940 comedy-drama “Remember the Night,” starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. Mitchell Leisen directed Sturges’ screenplay.

On tap for Aug. 11 is the riotous 1942 romantic comedy “The Palm Beach Story,” with Joel McCrea, Claudette Colbert, Mary Astor and a hysterically funny Rudy Vallee. And who can forget the Wienie King?

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The bill is rounded out by one of Sturges’ best films, 1944’s “Hail the Conquering Hero,” starring Eddie Bracken.

Stanwyck, Henry Fonda and Charles Coburn are near perfection in his 1941 hit “The Lady Eve,” which screens Aug. 15. The second feature is his brilliant 1941 Hollywood satire “Sullivan’s Travels,” with McCrea and Veronica Lake.

The retrospective concludes Aug. 23 with a hilarious triple bill: “Easy Living,” also directed by Leisen, with the great Jean Arthur at her screwball comedy best; the lovely 1935 comedy “The Good Fairy,” directed by William Wyler and starring Margaret Sullavan, and the 1940 comedy “Christmas in July,” his second feature as a director, with Dick Powell and Ellen Drew.

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