The Great Moment (USA, 1944) 83 min B&W DIR-SCR: Preston Sturges, based on the book Triumph Over Pain, by René Fülöp-Miller. PROD: Buddy G. DeSylva. MUSIC: Victor Young. DOP: Victor Milner. CAST: Joel McCrea, Betty Field, Harry Carey, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Porter Hall. (Paramount Pictures)
Of the eight pictures that Preston Sturges wrote and directed for Paramount from 1940 to 1944, seven are classics. The Great Moment is not one of these. It is the least, and thereby the least seen, of this otherwise breathtaking roll of films. Sturges was a brilliant satirist of 20th century societal mores, so this odd-film-out is actually a strange period piece set in the 1890s, about William Thomas Green, the man who developed ether as anesthesia for patients to be asleep during an operation. In some ways this picture is even darker than Sturges’ Unfaithfully Yours (his later work that makes high comedy out of cold-blooded murder), as the trials of perfecting this gas result in people’s deaths! The tone is made even more strange by an inclusion of a slapstick routine right in the middle of the movie. Sturges’ favourite leading man, Joel McCrea, gives it an honest shot, and as always the director’s great stock company is on hand (William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, etc.), but the result is still somewhat flabbergasting. Few directors had quite a consistent run of masterpieces as did Preston Sturges during the early half of the 1940s. His command of the English language was only rivalled by Shaw or Shakespeare. But like the Bard, Sturges could also make an odd career choice sometimes.
Originally presented in Vol. #1, Issue #7. One of these days, I will revisit this film to see if I like it any better. But still, I have a nice memory of the movie if because it was a Saturday night rental at my “local” 2-For-1 Movies. (The second title was Single Room Unfurnished!)
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.