Before "Christmas In July" and "The Great McGinty" Preston Sturgis was a screenplay writer - one of the two great screenplay writers of the 1930s who graduated into very respectable directorial careers (the other being Billy Wilder, of course). Oddly both men cut their abilities at Paramount, not MGM. And both claimed that they were dissatisfied with the ways two of their best scripts were shot ("Easy Living" and "Remember The Night"),butchered (in their opinion) by the same director: Mitchell Leisin.

Actually this was hardly fair to Leisin. If he did not have quite the cynical bite of either Sturgis or Wilder, he did not ruin their screenplays. He tended to make characters more human. Moreover, it is hard to support the comment about "Easy Living", when Leisin is credited (not Wilder and Charles Brackett his partner) with the most famous scene in that film: Leisin created the Automat scene where all the doors of the Automat food compartment fly open and all the bums in New York City run amok getting free food! This was not ruining a film, but improving it.

Sturgis' screenplays were an interesting group. He wrote the screenplay for the Edward Arnold biography "Diamond Jim". He also did the Ronald Colman - Basil Rathbone film "If I Were King". He also did the Bob Hope - Martha Raye - Andy Devine comedy "Never Say Die". His screenplay work was generally quite sharp, and never sharper (prior to his own directing) than in "The Good Fairy".

Margaret Sullavan plays Luisa Ginglebusher, who has just come of age, and has to leave the convent school presided over by Beulah Bondi. Luisa has been well brought up, and she is determined to live up to the best traditions. One thing is her determination to do good. Naturally, she is like a wide eyed lamb in a world of wolves. Sure enough she soon is taken (briefly) under the wing of an arch-wolf, Cesar Romero. But she finds she has attracted a good fairy of her own, Detlaff the waiter (Reginald Owen). If one thinks of Owen solely from his nice performance as Ebenezer Scrooge, it is wonderful to see him kick off his comic shoes and timing in a film like this. He sees Luisa as a decent girl, and she is making sure she remains that way in the wilds of the wicked city of Budapesth.

But Luisa sees herself as a good fairy, and she picks, out of a telephone book, a name of a person to help. It is a lawyer, Dr. Max Sporum (Herbert Marshall - complete with chin whiskers). Sporum is a fiercely honest attorney (which explains the lack of clients). Luisa, when she discovers this, decides to encourage customers. She has attracted one old goat: Konrad a rich meat factory owner (Frank Morgan). She manages to convince him that she is married to the struggling Sporum, and that she would do anything to help her "husband" make a success. Konrad takes the hint, and goes to Sporum to make him his lawyer. Sporum is amazed but thinks Konrad was told about him by an old law professor, Dr. Stanislav Metz (Eric Blore). When Luisa talks to him about his success afterward Sporum is still in a state of euphoria (he took some of the first retainer money to buy a pencil sharpener). Luisa does suggest some new clothing and he shave off his whiskers.

Eventually Luisa is in over her head, as she tries to balance Sporum (who she is falling for),Konrad, and the guardian angel Detlaff. And it's done quite well. Look at the scene where Detlaff is serving Konrad and Luisa in the restaurant and keeps knocking every possible dish Konrad suggests they order ("What kind of restaurant is this?", a perplexed Konrad/Morgan asks). The scene where Marshall has to shave his beard (Luis Alberni is the barber - also with a beard) is brief but funny, as Alberni tries to talk Marshall out of the sacrifice. He just barely loses.

It was a wonderful comedy, hinting at what the writer was capable of. And with names like Sporum and Ginglebusher future Sturgis names like Kockenlocker and Hackensacker were just around the corner. One only regrets that none of the leads, except Cesar Romero, ever appeared in a Sturgis film when he was directing them.

Ferenc Molnar's The Good Fairy ran for 151 performances on Broadway in the 1932 season and a young Helen Hayes played the title role of Luisa Ginglebuscher. That name itself I'm sure produced a few chuckles from the audience.

The Good Fairy is the kind of work where casting of the lead is all. If you don't have an actress skilled enough to bring off an almost impossible role of an orphan waif who may have stayed too long at an orphanage and brings her naivete out with her, just forget about doing the play or the film. In the case of this film Margaret Sullavan in her third film proved to be just right for the part. You get this wrong and you'll get hooted off the stage.

Not that Sullavan didn't have help with William Wyler directing her who was legendary in his painstaking methods of doing dozens of takes so a player could get it exactly as he wanted. Molnar's play was adapted for the screen by Preston Sturges whose directorial career was about four years in the future. During the film Wyler became Sullavan's second husband.

Wyler even got Herbert Marshall to bend a little. Usually Marshall was cast in serious dramatic roles, characters with the weight of the world on their shoulders like in Foreign Correspondent or The Little Foxes. Here Marshall lightens up and proves a good comedic foil. Frank Morgan plays an aging roue, millionaire owner of a meat import business and he's settling into character as the eternal bumbler.

The Good Fairy is a star vehicle and it's got one great star in Margaret Sullavan to put it across.

There was no doubt in my mind that 'The Good Fairy' would be at least a very enjoyable film. How could it not be with such a wonderful director in William Wyler (one of the best at the time and ever, if better known for dramas),such an immensely talented cast and a writer that wrote imaginative, funny and elegant dialogue better than most writers at the time in Preston Sturges. Equally great also as a director with five and more consecutive successes in the 40s and only like two or three disappointments (which were still watchable) in his whole career.

Luckily was proven absolutely correct. 'The Good Fairy' was a sheer delight all the way through and in every single aspect. It is not one of Wyler's very finest, but it is so refreshing to see something different from his dramas and to me it is one of his most underrated and underseen films. All the cast are brilliantly served in roles that suit them perfectly. As is Sturges in one of his best achievements as a writer, what made him so great a screenwriter is more than evident throughout here.

Everything here in 'The Good Fairy' works. It is beautifully filmed and designed, with a sumptuous style. The music never sounds at odds with what goes on. Wyler directs with a lot of flair of energy, who never allows the film to get too heavy or over-silly. Taking it seriously but having fun, just like Sturges and the cast were.

Sturges' script is inventive, supremely witty to hilarious effect and sophisticated, while there is not a dull moment in the story. Which is always entertaining to watch and vibrant without any straining, it can be silly but in this case it's endearingly so, while also being very charmig and heart-warming without being cloying. 'The Good Fairy' has characters that are easy to care about.

Furthermore, there are great performances from the whole cast. Ever luminous Margaret Sullavan brings bags of charm to her role without also bringing overdone sentiment. Herbert Marshall, usually seen in more dramatic roles, doesn't play his character too seriously and enjoys himself. Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen are hilarious support (especially Morgan),actually didn't care that Owen's character is slightly underwritten. As is scene-stealing Eric Blore, including one of the funniest drunk acts one will most likely ever see.

In conclusion, a sheer delight in every area. 10/10