The Great Moment was the last of the Preston Sturges Universal run, and it was the film that managed to sink his career when he was on a high. There were fights with the studio, the film was shelved for quite a while, and it ruined Sturges reputation. It’s very sad, but also easy to see why, as the film is really poor, especially compared to his previous outings. It has much of the cast that Sturges used, but the film itself is structured very poorly and the story is mediocre, despite having some potential. The acting is from ok to just bad, and the characterization is poor.
The story is based on the real story of a dentist who discovers and invents anesthesia, but suffers because of it. It’s an interesting premise, where the dentist, Morton, is in some quarters lauded and praised for his discovery, while others criticize and ridicule him, either because they are jealous or because they somehow took part in the discovery and want to be part of the claim. In the end it ends very badly for Morton, as he loses everything. I shouldn’t say “by the end”, because this is how the film starts, showing us the fall from grace that he suffered, before flashing back in time to show how this came to be in the first place. The problem is that the story is told in a very tedious way, it’s actually very boring. A lot of the drama falls flat because of Joel McCrea, who while suited for Sturges comedy, doesn’t really work here. Sturges doesn’t handle the dramatics as well as one would think he could, and the structure of the film seems very muddled. Actually it’s almost ironic considering the premonition Sturges himself made in Sullivan’s Travels. Apparently this film was going to be his greatest, but it turned out so badly. One could say that the studio destroyed something as well, but there are little signs in this film of any real potential. As I said, the story has some potential but the execution is very bad.
Another problem with this “drama” is that there are indeed some comedic moments, but they really and truly fall flat and are unfunny. Because of the tone and the style of the film, the comedic just seems silly, particularly one painful slap-stick moment which is completely out of sync with the rest of the film. It seems that Sturges could make comedies with drama, but not dramas with comedy. The character progression is very sub-par compared to how Sturges works his characters in his other films, and overall I felt the film lacked the Sturges “touch”. The film is one very few would watch if it wasn’t for the fact that it was made by Sturges. The only real significance the film has is as some sort of historic document. Anyone interested in Sturges from a historical studies viewpoint should watch the film, as it is quite an astounding fall from grace. Other than being of historic interest, any regular viewer should avoid this film, and rather watch Sturges’ excellent comedy run for Universal, as these films offer so much more than The Great Moment.
The Great Moment isn’t completely BAD, it just is very mediocre. It has very little to offer in terms of comedy, drama, satire or entertainment. It’s sad that Sturges ended his Universal career like this, and while he made a few films afterwards, he never quite recovered from this bomb. Strange how a career can so quickly loop downwards.
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