The Good Fairy (DVD)

From Preston Sturges, the acclaimed screenwriter of The Great McGinty, The Lady Eve and The Palm Beach Story, and William Wyler, the renowned director of The Best Years of Our Lives, The Big Country and Ben-Hur, comes this classic romantic comedy about a naïve girl just out of a cloistered orphanage who finds that being a “good fairy” to strangers makes life awfully complicated. When a brash movie theater owner needs usherettes for his Budapest cinema, he recruits young Luisa (Margaret Sullavan, The Shop Around the Corner) from a nearby orphanage. Encouraged by her kindly guardian (Beulah Bondi, It’s a Wonderful Life) to “spread her wings,” Luisa embarks on her quest to live the life of a fairy-tale angel. Quickly encountering the debonair wolves that roam the sidewalks of Hungary, Luisa randomly chooses a man to play the role of her husband: Dr. Max Sporum (Herbert Marshall, Murder!), a humble and idealistic lawyer. Even as Luisa’s simple ruse grows hopelessly complicated, the dream-eyed girl refuses to abandon the charade, determined to evade another suitor’s wily grasp, provide Max the prosperity he so deserves, and allow the opportunity for true love to enter his life. The stellar cast also includes Frank Morgan (The Wizard of Oz), Alan Hale (The Adventures of Robin Hood) and Cesar Romero (The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend).