touser2004 Big fan of Colbert but can't understand why people like this film.Similar concept to Midnight where a woman doesn't trust love and feels money and security are more important.Though it works in Midnight it feels very forced in the Palm Beach Story.JDHackensacker is not believable or funny and the same is true of Mary Astors character .Colbert and McCrea make an attractive couple but the plot and screenplay just don't fly. It's not horrible but neither is it very good

Jackson Booth-Millard From director Preston Sturges (The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels), I found this film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was well rated by critics, the title didn't suggest anything particular to me, but I was hoping I would agree with the positive opinions. Basically in New York, Gerry (Claudette Colbert) and Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea) have been married for five years, but with a lack of money coming in they are due to be evicted from their apartment, Tom is an architect and inventor near bankruptcy and unable to find an investor for his latest idea. As time has gone by Gerry finds herself unable to cope and realises that their marriage has been over for some time, so she leaves him and is heading to Palm Beach for a quick divorce and marry a millionaire to help Tom's project, but Tom is determined to do whatever he can to stop her. It is boarding a train when Gerry meets one of the richest men in the world, eccentric billionaire bachelor J.D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee), and travelling on the yacht to Palm Beach she also meets his sister, Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor), eventually Tom catches up to his wife, but introduces himself to them as her brother. The situation becomes more complicated with Hackensecker falling in love with Gerry, and the Princess falling in love with Tom, after some embarrassing and near ridiculous situations, the truth is eventually revealed that Tom is actually Gerry's husband, but the other siblings come into it, in the end Hackensecker marries Gerry's twin sister and the Princess marries Tom's twin brother. The cast all do their parts well, Colbert being the wife who thinks the husband would be better without her, and McCrea as the husband trying to better himself and reignite her feelings, I did laugh at the moments with the mildly deaf man mistaking what is being said, and the mixed relationships and absurdities are funny, I admit it might not be something I would want to see again, but it is a likable enough screwball comedy. Good!

AaronCapenBanner Preston Sturges wrote and directed this wacky screwball comedy that features Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert as Tom and Gerry Jeffers, a happily married but poor couple who are about to be evicted from their apartment. Tom is a good but poor inventor and architect who just needs money to get started, and after meeting an eccentric prospective tenant(and millionaire!) who gives him money, he is quite happy, but his wife doesn't believe him, and runs off, determined to marry a millionaire to fund Tom's projects! Tom goes after her, but gets involved with the crazy family of the millionaire(played by Rudy Valle) Gerry intends to marry... Insane comedy is undeniably funny at times, and unpredictable, with a truly bizarre ending, but that's its problem: it doesn't know when, or how to quit, becoming so absurd that it took me right out of the movie, and I ultimately gave up altogether. Seriously needed some self-restraint and discipline here!

SmileysWorld I hate to speak ill of any movie made before my time that's regarded as a classic and is an AFI award winner(# 77 on it's 100 funniest movies list),but this film just did not resonate with me at all.I found the plot utterly ridiculous.The two leads were incompatible.I hate to use the word "stupid",but it's the only word I can muster for the film's ending.This was my first viewing of any film starring most of the cast here,and while I'm sure they were great in other films,there was just no magic here,at least not for me.I can think of a few films that are more deserving of a placement in the above mentioned AFI list than this.