Movie review – “Preston Sturges: the Rise of an American Dreamer” (2003) ***

Decent doco on the famed filmmaker suffers from hyperbole at times (eg “he introduced irony to American cinema”, “he changed Hollywood”) but has some great talent (especially former flames of Sturges), and great vision eg colour home movies, Sturges on a quiz show with Katy Juarando, taped interviews with him. It’s a shame no vision from The French they Are a Funny Race or a film version of Strictly Dishonorable, but it does have filmed interviews with several of Sturges’ girlfriends (all bright, smart and funny – I’m not surprised).