Preston Sturges was and remains an enigmatic film director. For a decade--from 1940, when he began directing as well as writing, until 1950--Sturges was one of the most successful men in Hollywood. Between 1940 and 1944 he made nine films, all huge critical and financial successes. During those years, he garnered an Academy Award and two Academy nominations and was one of Paramount's highest paid directors. After leaving that studio in late 1943, he merged his creative and monetary forces with multimillionaire Howard Hughes to produce films. By 1947 Sturges had reached the pinnacle of success that he, as much as the many success-hungry characters he created, so frantically desired. But even during these years of financial and critical success, artistic maturity, and energetic creativity, the enigma of Preston Sturges remained. The often bitter, satirical tone so evident in his screenplays of the 1930s became even more pronounced in the 1940s. There was...