Stuart Klawans

Crooked, But Never Common: The Films of Preston Sturges, by Stuart Klawans, primarily looks at his classics and ties them together in a way that offers a much more coherent and appreciative view of his work as a whole.

While I have watched the main ten films at least once, this volume took me back to the times we studied one in a film course. Because none of the courses were devoted to Sturges, it seemed very much like we would have fun discussing the movie, the professor would comment on Sturges being the writer and director, but we never seemed to talk about him as a true groundbreaker. Yet he was, though admittedly not on the grand scale of those who are usually cited as such. Klawans does a great job of remedying that situation.

The chapters, each devoted to one of the films, offer wonderful readings largely through connecting them to Sturges' personal life as well as the society which they were critiquing. As we move from film to film, we begin to see what his strengths during this red-hot period of his career were as well as anticipate why it wasn't going to last.

For those less interested in film history, this is still an ideal book to use to revisit these films, The different ways into each film will make them speak to you in new ways. And if you've never seen any of his films, or maybe don't remember them, this is a great companion.

I found the attempt to trace a genealogy of Sturges into contemporary film artists to be particularly interesting. For me, I find the directors and screenwriters who treat all of the characters lovingly to be the ones I would associate with Sturges. I don't necessarily think that is because they are directly descended from him but rather that that feeling toward the characters is what I most enjoy in Sturges, and what I most enjoy in a lot of contemporary film.

While not extensive, I think the bibliography offers a number of key texts not only on Sturges but also a handful of general books that are well worth reading.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (more)