The Cinema of Preston Sturges

Most published works on writer-director Preston Sturges (1898-1959) have focused on the elements that made him a symbol of classic Hollywood comedy or his contributions to the genre via such 1940s classics as ""The Lady Eve"", ""Sullivan's Travels"" and ""Miracle of Morgan's Creek"". In contrast, this critical study asserts that there are enough unexplained incongruities, fragmentations and contradictions in Sturges' output to demand a re-evaluation of his place in film history as a predecessor (and perhaps progenitor) of later postmodern filmmakers. The five appendices include a generous selection of previously unavailable material, an exclusive interview with the director's fourth wife Sandy Sturges, and a sequence-by-sequence comparison between the original script of Sturges' controversial ""The Great Moment (1944)"" and the drastically altered final film version.