The Great McGinty The Great McGinty The Great McGinty is a 1940 political satire comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff and featuring William Demarest and (in her final screen appearance) Muriel Angelus. It was Sturges's first film as a director; he sold the story to Paramount Pictures for just $10 on condition he direct the film. Sturges went on to win the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay. In the U.K. the film was retitled Down Went McGinty. Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) is a bartender in a banana republic who recounts his rise and fall
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