Preston Sturges and four by Elliott J. Clawson.) Though he had a thirty-year Hollywood career, Sturges' greatest comedies were filmed in a furious five-year burst of activity from 1939 to 1944, during which he turned out "The Great McGinty", "Christmas in July", "The Lady Eve", "Sullivan's Travels", "The Palm Beach Story", "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and "Hail the Conquering Hero". Half a century later, four of these – "The Lady Eve", "Sullivan's Travels", "The Palm Beach Story" and "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" – were chosen by the American Film Institute as being among the 100 funniest American films. The film
John Sturges John Sturges John Eliot Sturges (; January 3, 1910 – August 18, 1992) was an American film director. His movies include "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955), "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957), "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), "The Great Escape" (1963), and "Ice Station Zebra" (1968). In 2013, "The Magnificent Seven" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". He was not related to director Preston Sturges. He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932. During World War II, he directed documentaries