Preston Sturges - 1944
An oddish film, partly because it isn't purely a comedy. Sturges seems to be making a point that is pretty ambiguous; the hero really does want to exploit people's pain for money, in a way. For all the positives. There is a great joke here as well, made by precisely not making it; we're always waiting for him to gas his wife.
Why is this film not entirely succesful in its field, in the same way Sturges' comedies are? I would argue he lacks the shadings (even the length?) to make a full world. We are always in the slightly abstract realm of flat surfaces of Sturges-land. The slapstick here looks a little desperate, aggressive smashing. And as for the drama, there is a slight uneasiness about the fact that unnecessary tensions, suspense is made, pointless bits of drama or deadline that add nothing... Struges just doesn't seem to be comfortable with a completely classical, transparent drama of that tradition. All the same, interesting formally, and quite interesting simply in being about patents and the dental profession.
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