Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer

I knew practically nothing about Preston Sturges going in to this, other than he was an expert writer on fast-paced dialogue.

Now I know as a child he spent much time in Europe due to his mother, providing him with "cultural indoctrination". Interestingly, he tried to run from the European culture, though so much became a part of who he was. Isadora Duncan, the famous dancer, was a big part of his childhood, which is odd.

Sturges was possibly the first writer to turn director. This was very uncommon, at Paramount or anywhere else. Sam Goldwyn hated this sort of crossover, as we know from Howard Hawks -- Goldwyn wanted directors to direct, and not tamper with the scripts.

The narrator says Sturges "introduced irony to screen comedy". Now, that is a hard claim to back up. Was he really the first? Probably not. But to say his style was not larger than life would be a lie.