The Palm Beach Story (1942)

 

            Everyone loves a madcap remarriage rom-com, especially when it stars two of Old Hollywood's best and most gorgeous stars. Meet The Palm Beach Story, the perfect summer watch for comedy lovers, costume design lovers, and Joel McCrea lovers (so, everyone).

             The movie starts with a wild credits sequence in which we see our main characters, Tom and Gerry Jeffers (Joel and Claudette Colbert), race to the altar and get married. Five years later, they're broke (but somehow living in an amazing Art Deco apartment, of course). An old couple come to tour the now-for-rent apartment and find Gerry. The old man, who turns out to be the incredibly wealthy owner of a sausage company, likes Gerry enough to give her 700 dollars to pay off the rent and buy some nice things. As one does.

            Tom, who is a struggling inventor, is trying and failing to get his plan for an all-new airport off the ground. (Pun intended). Gerry welcomes Tom home to the news that the rent has been paid by a random benefactor known as the Weenie King (yes, really). Tom, being a stereotypical jealous husband, decides that Gerry must have seduced the old man into giving her money. They have a strange discussion about Gerry's beauty being a moneymaking asset, which is very 1940s, and get into a fight. Gerry decides their marriage has become a "bad habit" and decides it would be better for both of them if she leaves (you have to try really hard to believe that one). Despite Tom's protests, and the sense that maybe Gerry still loves her unsuccessful-yet-dreamy husband, she makes up her mind to get a divorce.

            Tom chases Gerry as she leaves the apartment, wrapped in an absurdly puffy bedspread that trips him enough to let Gerry escape. He then accuses her of stealing his suitcase so a policeman will detain her, but that plan falls through too. Gerry goes to the train station where she plans to go to Palm Beach and find a rich husband who can finance Tom's airport. The only problem is, she's out of money. Using her aforementioned feminine wiles, Gerry charms a group of old men - the Ale and Quail hunting club - into letting her travel with them as mascot.

            The Ale and Quail Club is made up of a group of old hunters, their dogs, and a whole bunch of rifles. The train journey quickly takes a turn for the insane when the club gets incredibly drunk and starts shooting up the train and "hunting" for Gerry, dogs in tow. They then serenade her in the middle of the night with hunting songs, so she escapes again to the sleeping car. There, Gerry makes a really terrible attempt to climb into a top bunk and gets help from the man below her.

             After repeatedly stepping on the man's face and breaking his glasses, Gerry goes to sleep. In the morning, she lunches with the man and learns that all her luggage has been left on the Ale and Quail car, which the conductor detached from the train after the club's drunken adventure. Now that Gerry is clothes-less, the bottom-bunk stranger offers to buy her a new wardrobe. Obviously.

            The stranger has a seemingly unlimited budget, which he uses to buy Gerry a million dresses plus jewelry, luggage, stockings, makeup, and everything else you could imagine. After this lovely display of gowns designed by Irene, the man takes Gerry to Palm Beach himself on his private yacht. Turns out, this random rich guy is actually John D. Hackensacker (no, not Rockefeller) and he's one of the wealthiest men alive. She tells John that she's escaping from her husband, a terrible man who won't divorce her unless she pays him $99,000 (the amount needed to fund Tom's airport). On shore, Gerry meets John's sister Princess Maud (Mary Astor) who talks a mile a minute and has been married three times - but engaged five.

            Also onshore is Tom, who followed Gerry to Palm Beach after receiving plane ticket money from none other than the Weenie King, another guy with absolutely no budget. The startled Gerry introduces Tom as her brother, Captain McGlue. She's great with fake names. The group now consists of Maud (who has a crush on "Captain McGlue"), John (who's falling in love with Gerry), Tom, Gerry, and a "refugee" named Toto who speaks an unidentifiable language and is there for some outdated comic relief. They travel to the Hackensacker estate in Palm Beach where they've all agreed to stay.

            The estate is insanely large and fancy, as can be expected. Tom and Gerry are angry with each other for having the Hackensacker siblings fall in love with them, and thus continue the grand scheme of miscommunication. At a dinner and dance, Gerry convinces John to finance her "brother's" airport, and knows that this probably means she'll have to marry John. But anything to support your now-ex-husband, right?

            The wealthy siblings continue their advances towards Tom and Gerry, who are increasingly realizing that they're still in love with each other. John (played by the talented Rudy Vallee) hires an orchestra for Gerry and serenades her with "Goodnight Sweetheart," which plays in the background as she wanders sadly around her room in a gorgeous lacy dress. The dress presents a problem, though - the zipper gets stuck. With nobody around to help except Tom, well, they end up reconsidering their relationship.

            In the morning, Maud and John find Tom and Gerry packing. An awkward confession ensues - "We're in love! Also we're not related! Also this is my husband!" John is understandably heartbroken, but still agrees to fund Tom's airport because he thinks it's a good idea. Now Tom and Gerry are both financially secure and back in love, so here's our Hollywood happily-ever-after!

            Also - Tom and Gerry reveal that they're both identical twins, to the delight of the Hackensacker siblings... leading to a very confusing plot twist and some 1940s camera trickery. The end!

            I thought The Palm Beach Story was a great film and the perfect end-of-summer watch. Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert are both fabulous actors, and they did wonderfully in this fun screwball rom-com. If the plot got a little unhinged at times, it was made up for by the pretty gowns and charisma of the main stars. Hooray for Hollywood endings!