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
Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) is a 1931 American pre-Code film directed and produced by Robert Z. Leonard and starring Greta Garbo and Clark Gable. The film was based on the novel by David Graham Phillips and made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was the only film in which Greta Garbo was paired with Clark Gable. The notoriety of the novel alone was enough for British censors to ban it from release. With a few cuts, it was finally approved in the UK with a new title: "The Rise of Helga". Helga Ohlin (Greta Garbo)