hell's kitchen (1939)

In Hell's Kitchen (1939) Stanley Fields and Grant Mitchell turn in some great character performances and remind me very acutely of why I love Preston Sturges films (of which this is not one). Sturges films rarely had leads that stood head and shoulders above the supporting cast. His films are typically driven by character actors, or a-list actors taking on character rolls.

And Sturges knew how to use faces - how could you ever forget any of his carefully chosen faces? It's almost as if each actor was chosen for their face, not their star power. Even in something like The Palm Beach Story the main characters never exist in a different world than the excellent supporting cast, they fit perfectly.

Hell's Kitchen is definitely not a Sturges film, but it does have some great character faces and performances - hence this tangent.