"The Great Moment" *** (out of ****)
Preston Sturges' "The Great Moment" (1944) probably has gained one of the worst, if not the worst reputation among his films. It is routinely cited as an embarrassment for the great comedy filmmaker. The film was his first not to return a profit for Paramount Studio and is believed to have been the beginning of his decline, which ended a four year run Sturges had as an unstoppable force in comedy.
So why have I chosen to write about "The Great Moment" instead of some of Sturges' better known titles such as "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944) or "Sullivan's Travels" (1942)? First of all, I admire Struges greatly. He is one of my favorite directors. I have said before and will say again, he makes the kind of comedies I aspire to make. I have seen nearly all of his work. But, as I have stated many times already, I don't like to only write about the celebrated films by directors. You don't need me to tell you about those. Secondly, I don't think "The Great Moment" deserves to be forgotten and shun by movie fans. It is not the disaster so many claim it to be.
I first saw "The Great Moment" about three years ago. I reviewed it on amazon.com. I explained how even I, a Sturges fan, had some trepidation about watching this movie. Its reputation proceeded it. It seemed like such an odd subject matter for a film and more specifically a Preston Sturges film. But I enjoyed it anyway. I mentioned at the time how "The Great Moment" even demonstrated Sturges' brilliance. How a man could find humor within a story such as this took vision and great creativity on his part.
"The Great Moment" is based on the book "Triumph Over Pain" by Rene Fulop-Miller about the life of W.T.G. Morton, the man who discovered the use for ether. You see, before this doctors had to perform surgery without the use of an anesthetic. You can imagine the pain involve say in something like an amputation. But this is how things were done. Morton, a dentist, tried to find a way to numb the senses long enough for him to pull teeth. Clearly the material presented here does not cry out for comedy.
And originally Preston Sturges did not want to make a flat out comedy. "The Great Moment" was intended to be a semi-serious film. The picture was originally slated for a 1942 release, but after mixed reaction from the public and critics it was shelved for two years. The film was taken away from Sturges and re-edited to a shorter length to place more emphasis on the comedic moments of slapstick. This was all done without Sturges' consent. When the film was finally released in 1944 it didn't improve reaction. The film became forgotten. Sturges no longer worked for Paramount. It was his first disaster. The film came out the same year as "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" which was a huge box-office success. People couldn't understand how the two films could have been directed by the same man.
The problem was Sturges had secured a reputation as comedy writer and director. The audience expected a comedy. Sturges attempted something different and people weren't buying. "The Great Moment" didn't meet public expectation because they weren't viewing it on the film's term. That is the difficult thing for an artist, to try and grow and expend your talents. The public doesn't want you to. There is great comfort in the familiar. When you walk into a Preston Sturges' comedy you expect certain things, laughs being one of them.
Joel McCrea stars as W.T.G. Morton. McCrea was an old Sturges regular having appeared in "The Palm Beach Story" (1942), and "Sullivan's Travels". So his appearance alone probably suggested comedy to audiences watching the film for the first time. But McCrea didn't do strictly comedy. He had a serious side to him. Watch him in Alfred Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent" (1940). He was in several westerns such as "The Virginian" (1946) and "Colorado Territory" (1949).
Co-starring is another Sturges regular, William Demarest, best known to today's movie audiences as the father in "Morgan Creek". He plays Morton's first patient, who came to him complaining about a tooth ache. It is in the Demarest character, Eben Frost, that Sturges throws in his physical comedy making Frost take more pratfalls than Buster Keaton.
The remaining cast consist of Betty Field as Morton's wife, Elizabeth. Julius Tannen, another Sturge regular, as Morton's old medical professor, Dr. Charles Jackson, who first gives him the idea. Harry Carey as Prof. Warren, the first doctor to perform a surgery using Morton's discovery and Louis Jean Heydt as Dr. Horace Wells, who was a fellow student with Morton, who decides to use laughing gas as a means to numb the senses.
Once Morton's discovery becomes famous, everyone claims to have known about it years before. The difference is no one put it to use the way Morton did. Ether did exist before Morton, but it was not done to sedate patients. Doctors and scientist may have wondered how to lessen pain but none seemed to have turned to ether.
"The Great Moment", as it stands now, is 80 minutes. I have no idea how long the film was originally suppose to be but the viewer can tell something is missing. The film ends which when things are starting to get interesting. The majority of the film is told in flashbacks, so we know how everything will end but the film doesn't take us through the process completely.
Some might complain the balance between comedy and drama seems clumsy. I disagree. Even though the film was re-edited, I think you can get an idea of what Sturges wanted to do with this film. He finds a nice balance between the film's more serious moments and Demarest's comedy. The comedy never interferes with the progression of the story. There are not comedy bits that leave you wondering why is this sequence in here?
Clearly there are problems with the film, mainly due to the editing but as I have explained that wasn't Sturges' fault. I'm not trying to make excuses but you have to consider that. Sturges' vision was not presented on-screen. Maybe one day we might discover some "lost" footage.
Preston Sturges started off as a comedy writer. I have not seen all the films where he was just the writer. I have seen two of them. "Easy Living" (1937) which I reviewed on here and "The Good Fairy" (1935) which takes place in Budapest. Both are good movies though I prefer "Easy Living". It has more of the Sturges touch.
He got his start as a director with "The Great McGinty" (1940) a political satire, which supposedly he was paid $1 for the screenplay in order for him to direct it. In total Sturges directed 13 films, 10 of which I have seen. The three I have not seen are "Vendetta" (1950). He has not given final screen credit for it because he was fired by producer Howard Hughes. Mel Ferrer was given directing credit. He made a film in France, "Les Carnets du Major Thompson (The Diary of Major Thompson)" (1955), his final film, which is no longer available. And finally "The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend" (1949) with Betty Grable, which is available.
Of the films I have seen I would say "Unfaithfully Yours" (1948) is my favorite. Which I will include in my "Masterpiece Film Series". I'm also a big fan of "Hail the Conquering Hero" (1944), another title I'll include in the series. The only title I have seen which I didn't like was one which surprised me the most. It is called "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" (1947). On paper this film sounds great. Harold Lloyd stars in it. It was suppose to be a kind of sequel to Lloyd's silent classic "The Freshmen" (1925).
If you have seen Sturges' better known films and consider yourself a fan I would recommend watching "The Great Moment". It is not essential Sturges, because of the shift in tone, but it should be seen and enjoyed. Don't let the film's reputation intimidate you. At 80 minutes the film moves quickly, it is a pleasurable diversion.
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