Directed by:
Preston SturgesScreenplay:
Preston SturgesCinematography:
Victor MilnerCast:
Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest, Eric Blore, Martha O'Driscoll, Janet Beecher, Robert Greig, Luis Alberni (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Barbara Stanwyck sizzles, Henry Fonda bumbles, and Preston Sturges runs riot in one of the all-time great screwballs, a pitch-perfect blend of comic zing and swoonworthy romance. Aboard a cruise liner sailing up the coast of South America, Stanwyck’s conniving card sharp sets her sights on Fonda’s nerdy snake researcher, who happens to be the heir to a brewery fortune. But when the con artist falls for her mark, her grift becomes a game of hearts—and she is determined to win it all. One in a string of matchless comedic marvels that Sturges wrote, directed, and produced as part of a dazzling 1940s run, this gender-flipped battle-of-wits farce is perhaps his most emotionally satisfying work, tempering its sparkling wit with a streak of tender poignancy supplied by the sensational Stanwyck at her peak. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Barbara Stanwyck
USA
Best movies:
Double Indemnity (1944)
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Henry Fonda
USA
Best movies:
12 Angry Men (1957)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Fail-Safe (1964)
Charles Coburn
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
Kings Row (1942)
Eugene Pallette
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
William Demarest
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Mountain (1956)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Eric Blore
UK
Best movies:
Shall We Dance? (1937)
Top Hat (1935)
The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Martha O'Driscoll
USA
Best movies:
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
The Lady Eve (1941)
Follow the Boys (1944)
Janet Beecher
USA
Best movies:
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
Robert Greig
Australia
Best movies:
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
You Can't Take It with You (1938)
Tales of Manhattan (1942)
Luis Alberni
Spain
Best movies:
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Anthony Adverse (1936)
George Melford
USA
Best movies:
The Stratton Story (1949)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Wanda McKay
USA
Best movies:
The Lady Eve (1941)
Voodoo Man (1944)
Bowery at Midnight (1942)
Bess Flowers
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Rear Window (1954)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Robert Warwick
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
The Power and the Glory (1933)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Bert Stevens
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Sam Harris
Australia
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Harold Miller
USA
Best movies:
Song of Love (1947)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Bobby Barber
USA
Best movies:
Modern Times (1936)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Melville Cooper
UK
Best movies:
Rebecca (1940)
The Dawn Patrol (1938)
Random Harvest (1942)
Al Bridge
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)