Preston Sturges Preston Sturges Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. In 1941, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film "The Great McGinty", his first of three nominations in the category. Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. It is not uncommon for a Sturges character to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall within
The Great Moment (1944 film) office, becoming the only film directed by Sturges for Paramount not to turn a profit. Sturges' reputation never quite recovered from its failure, and his post-Paramount career is the record of a sad decline. "The Great Moment" was released on video in the U.S. on 11 November 1990 and re-released on 30 June 1993. It was released on Laserdisc on 26 October 1994. The Great Moment (1944 film) The Great Moment is a 1944 biographical film written and directed by Preston Sturges. Based on the book "Triumph Over Pain" (1940) by René Fülöp-Miller, it tells the story of Dr. William