Preston Sturges the same scene. A tender love scene between Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in "The Lady Eve" was enlivened by a horse, which repeatedly poked its nose into Fonda's head. Prior to Sturges, other figures in Hollywood (such as Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, and Frank Capra) had directed films from their own scripts, however Sturges is often regarded as the first Hollywood figure to establish success as a screenwriter and then move into directing his own scripts, at a time when those roles were separate. Sturges famously sold the story for "The Great McGinty" to Paramount Pictures for $1, in
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