Memorable dialogue in The Good Fairy

One of the best things about The Good Fairy is the dialogue. Earlier when I looked back on the film, I found so many great lines and the delivery of those lines were equally as great. It's hard to picture the film being told otherwise. In fact, I read that Preston Sturges based his script rather loosely from the play by Ferenc Molnár, and I believe it because I find it hard to believe any other writer could be responsible for a character like Detlaff.

A very important use of dialogue comes at the very beginning of the film and it set the tone right away. The exchange between Shlapkohl and the young orphan girl who answers the door is a misunderstanding that turns silly at the end. This interaction in itself is what screwball comedy is about: the misunderstanding which eventually leads to a conflict that develops across the film. In this particular case, the misunderstanding doesn't do that, but when the misunderstanding continues and the orphan girl nods that she understands in spite of the tripping-up of words, she goes on to call Shlapkohl ma'am instead of sir. What does this tell us? While the current setting is at an orphan asylum, and it is terrible to see all those girls of all ages without parents, this film isn't going to be Oliver Twist.

Perhaps my favorite exchange comes later on at the party when Detlaff shows up at Konrad's private room to check up on Luisa but under the guise to take their order. What follows between them is the most ridiculous bit of words in the film. Konrad orders lobster soup, Detlaff informs him that the chef doesn't know how to make any sort of soup. Konrad asks about the fish, Detlaff informs him it must've gone bad because the ice in the packaging melted along the way to the hotel from the channel. And what about the lamb dish? Why, it's leathery. How can lamb be leathery? Because Detlaff suspects it must be goat. Throughout this entire exchange Konrad grows more irritated by the second, while Detlaff keeps a straight stern face and agrees with Konrad that there's nothing first class about the hotel except the prices. This bit made me laugh so much, yes it drags on, but the execution of it is great.

Aside from some great laughs, dialogue is used to convey important bits of information to the plot. When Luisa is introduced, she is climbing up a ladder to put away dishes, meanwhile she tells the younger girls a story about a Good Fairy. The screwballiness comes in when at the top of the ladder she takes a broom and bounces up and down repeating,

“Wampa wampa, Wumpa wumpa, Eenie meenie minie mo; Sweet and faithful Rosalinda, Take me where I want to go.”

This introduction of a clumsy Luisa is another memorable moment in the film, but it also serves as an important point. Later, when asked how she'd behave if let out into the real world, if she'd do her good deed, she joins hands with the little girls and recites an oath about doing good deeds. So, when the innocent Luisa is caught in the predicament with Konrad, who wants to spoil her with riches and furs, and jewels, and things, lots of expensive things, and he decides to do so via her non-existant husband, it's only natural for her to think that by allowing Konrad to make her non-existent husband rich, she is doing her good deed for a poor lawyer out there who really needs it. And how does she pick this husband? By repeating the "Wampa wampa" speech over a phonebook. This idea of the Good Fairy is something Luisa keeps coming back to in the second half of the film. What does she use as her defense in the last sequence of the film? The Good Fairy defense, she was simply trying to do her good deed.

In this last sequence we also get to see something that is kind of a callback to an earlier scene in the film. Earlier, when Luisa is first starting out as an usherette, she hangs back and watches the film playing on the screen. In this great Go scene as I like to call it, a couple is in the midst of a break-up. All he keeps saying is for her to, "Go!" And all she does is protest, "surely you don't mean it, Meredith. Oh, Meredith!" And while the audience is either sleeping or crying or gets up and leaves, this scene on the screen continues without getting very far. I'm not doing it any justice here by explaining it, because it's really meant to be watched. Sturges wrote a great scene here, parodying the average romantic film. Back to the last sequence, once you reach the end of The Good Fairy, Luisa leaves Dr Sporum's apartment, knowing she's made a mess of things and thinking Dr Sporum will want nothing to do with her again. But once she's on her way out, Dr Sporum gets up and calls after her and says, "Don't go!" The opposite of what happens in the earlier dull melodramatic film playing in the theatre where Luisa works at. The Good Fairy is a fast and entertaining film that gives great laughs and the happy couple ends up together and married in the end.

I think I've gone on and on about Sturges as I've looked back on the film, and the truth of it is that I put more weight on the writers. A script is the backbone to the film, get one part faulty and the whole thing won't work or worse it'll fall apart. I think taking a look at the dialogue is a great example of that. It's very entertaining and smart, allowing you to see the pay-offs at the end of the film. It sets the tone and makes The Good Fairy every bit as much a Preston Sturges film as it is a William Wyler one.