Sturges' latter day reputation as a great comedy director rests on a handful of comedies he made in the 1940s and this isn't one of them. The story is dragged down by the two central characters, Jimmy MacDonald and Betty Casey, who are so sappy that it's impossible to empathise with them. They both deserve a good slap.
Not only are they wetter than the Atlantic Ocean but there's something a little disturbing about the 36 year old Dick Powell in the part of a young man on the make. Jimmy MacDonald is a supposedly humorous spin on the kind of characters Powell made his name playing in Warner Bros backstage musicals in the early 1930s. Back then he looked convincing as a fresh faced juvenile trying to make his way in the world and woo the equally young lady of his dreams. By 1940 he had assumed a more mature appearance but here he is still living at home, still trying to make it in the rough and tumble of New York City, and still wooing his young lady.
Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, Warren Williams and all those other members of the Warner Bros stock company whose job it was in those early musicals to place obstacles in the path of young Dick's route to happiness and success have been replaced by lesser known actors such as Raymond Walburn, William Demerest and Harry Hayden but otherwise the film pretty rehashes the themes and scenarios which were presented to much better effect in "Gold Diggers of 1933", "Footlight Parade" and "42nd Street."
Preston Sturges is admired for his acerbic characters and sharply witty dialogue but there's precious little of either here. CHRISTMAS IN JULY is a very minor entry in his canon and if you want to discover just why he is so admired by many cinephiles I recommend you start with the movie he made immediately afterwards.
"The Lady Eve" with Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda and a wonderful cast of character actors has everything that this film doesn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment