Background on Sturges, players and making of Morgan's Creek

This 14-minute special video documentary came as a bonus with my DVD of "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek." As a movie buff and student of films and their history, I appreciate the fact that the industry has been making more of these documentaries about the better movies of the past. Sometimes we get a chance to see and hear from people directly involved in the making of a film – actors, director, producer, writers, etc. And, film historians, authors and others who have expertise in the field tell us some of the background and history of the participants. 

Such is the case in this 2005 video done for Paramount. Those interviewed include Andrew Dickos, author of "Intrepid Laughter: Preston Sturges and the Movies;" James Ursini, writer, film historian and English teacher; Eddie Bracken who co-starred in the film with Betty Hutton; and Sandy Sturges, widow and fourth wife of Preston Sturges. The parts with Bracken were from interviews a few years earlier. He died in 2002 at age 87. Sandy Sturges died in 2006 after the documentary was released. She was married to Sturges from Aug. 15, 1951 until his death on Aug. 6, 1959. They married almost eight years after Morgan's Creek was made. 

This brief recap gives some background on Sturges. His mother had a cosmetics company while he was growing up. But, this short film doesn't mention the dysfunctional nature of his childhood. Or, that he got his name from his mother's third husband, wealthy stockbroker Solomon Sturges. With his mother's amorous friendships and other interests in Europe, Sturges traveled a lot between America and Europe. After a short stint in the Army stateside during WWI, he did various jobs and got his start on Broadway.

After he landed in Hollywood, he soon became the most popular director at Paramount. Ursini says that Sturges "was the first writer-director." Before his time, Ursini says, "there had been a sort of invisible barrier between writers and directors." Nowadays the dual roles are very common. 

Sturges "was a supremely gifted screenwriter," says Dickos, "and he was one of the first to incorporate physical comedy which had been prominent in silent screen comedy with the dialog tradition that grew out of the 30s." 

Ursini says, "The overlapping, witty dialog was common to screwball comedy. You know, Hawkes had done it a lot in "His Girl Friday: and so forth. But he (Sturges) sort of perfected it, so that  five or six characters are talking simultaneously. You have to listen real closely. They're all talking over each other, and everything they say is hysterical. 

Dickos says "Sturges pokes fun at small town life, marriage, family, service in the military. He was known to take our sacred cows and turn them upside down; and that hadn't been done before." Ursini adds, "But he didn't do it so viciously that audiences would reject it." 

Bracken and Sandy Sturges noted that Sturges was a perfectionist and a hard worker, who never seemed to sleep. Sandy says that Preston said "you get all the sleep you need in a graveyard. You don't have to worry about it while you were here." 

However, Sturges died at 60 – yet an early age to die even in 1959. He was alone, staying in the Algonquin Hotel in New York and working on his autobiography, when he suffered a heart attack. He had titled the story of his life, "The Events Leading Up to My Death."

The rest of this short film pays compliments to the cast – Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken as co-stars, and the supporting leads in William Demarest and Diana Lynn.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

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The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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