The Good Fairy

Another forgotten gem, much like "What a Way to Go!", "The Good Fairy" is almost light years ahead of its contemporaries in terms of how it holds up to today's standards of comedy. Written by the genius Preston Sturges, and directed by Hollywood legend William Wyler (very early in both of their careers) "The Good Fairy" takes a simple story and mines it for every laugh imaginable. There is plenty of slapstick, expertly crafted banter, sublime jokes, and pitch perfect situational humor. This story of a poor girl from an orphanage in Budapest(!!) who is plucked from obscurity to work at a movie theater, only to be sought after by a sex crazed millionaire, all the while innocently doing good deeds for a perfect stranger does not sound funny, but Sturges crams it with tons of humor and even more heart. The sad turn of events in the life of Margaret Sullavan would come later and now unfortunately overshadows her incredible comic skills which were featured in several of her early films, most notably this one. Herbert Marshall exudes sophistication and the proper amount of confusion as the unwitting object of Luisa's (Margaret Sullavan) kindness. And then there's Frank Morgan. There is funny, and then there is the character Frank Morgan portrays here. As Konrad, the sexually charged millionaire, Frank Morgan bumbles, stumbles and belly flops through his role. It is nearly impossible to resist Morgan in this role, as he plays the blundering blowhard so well, the audience inevitably loves him. Fans today will remember him more for his roles in "The Wizard of Oz", most notably as the title character, but his skills of comic timing and the ability to simply sound funny while stuttering, which he would do as both the Wizard and Professor Marvel, were perfected here. Not too many people are familiar with "The Good Fairy" today which is a shame, because it truly is a comedic masterpiece.

The film opens in an orphan in Budapest (the reason for the exotic location is ostensibly because the film is adapted from a Turkish play; I think Sturges just thought it would be funny to set this movie in Budapest and left it there) where movie theater mogul Maurice Schlopkohl is looking for a new usher for his theater. He selects Luisa Ginglebusher (another Sturges trademark, make the names as ridiculous as possible) and she is both delighted and scared to be leaving the safety of the orphanage. Her first night at the theater she is hit on by a number of men, including a hilariously out of place Cesar Romero (again, I think Sturges and Wyler included the Latin matinee idol in a film that takes places in Turkey because it would be funny), and manages to avoid all of their advances with the exception of Konrad. Konrad simply does not take no for an answer and insists on taking Luisa out to a lavish dinner the next night. Soon he is showering her with expensive presents, and Luisa in turn decides to give the money away to a perfect stranger, as a good fairy would do. She randomly picks Dr. Max Sporum's name out of the phone book and informs him that he is now in the employ of Konrad and has the salary to match that distinction. Konrad of course is oblivious to what Luisa is doing with the money he lavishes on her and Sporum is too confused to completely understand what is going, but being able to move into a new office, buy new furniture and a new car, he is quite happy to go with the flow. Luisa also manages to convince him to shave off his scary beard because he will "frighten children" otherwise, which he does and it is then she realizes how handsome he is. Soon the two of them fall in love, and when all is said and done, the flustered Konrad adamently insists on keeping Sporum on his payroll because he will not have anyone else telling him how to run his business and Luisa and Dr. Sporum live happily ever after, with Luisa finally getting to live her fairy tale.

Real life for Margaret Sullavan was hardly a fairy tale however. She was a natural born troublemaker and rebel and by the time filming began on "The Good Fairy" she had already married and divorced Hollywood hunk Henry Fonda after a very brief marriage. Sullavan and William Wyler fought extensively throughout the production (which is nearly impossible to believe considering the finished product is so perfect) but still somehow fell in love and were married for about 18 months around the time the film was being made. Unable to contain her wild ways, the pair divorced and Sullavan married her agent Leyland Howard, and managed to stay married to him for eleven years. However her reputation for being impossible to deal with found her completely out of work by 1943 after only sixteen films, "The Good Fairy" improbably only her third! Tragedy struck Sullavan hard in the 1950's, as two of her children spent extensive time in mental institutions, and it was during that time that Sullavan too began to lose her grip on reality. Always potentially "crazy", the toll of two children suffering mental illnesses devastated her led to a complete breakdown. She ultimately died from a drug overdose which was ruled accidental, but the circumstances would indicate a suicide. The sad tale of Margaret Sullavan is even more perplexing when considering that on screen her characters were so innocent and compassionate, slightly quirky but inherently kind people. For a great example of Preston Sturges genius comedic writing, and a lovely image of Margaret Sullavan before her life fell apart, check out "The Good Fairy".