(William Wyler, US 1935, 98 min., 35mm nitrate print)
Director: William Wyler
Writer: Preston Sturges
Story: Felix Salten
Producer: Carl Laemmle Jr.
Cinematographer: Norbert Brodine
Art director: Charles D. Hall
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Eric Blore, Beulah
Bondi, Alan Hale
Production company: Universal Pictures Corp.
Sound, b/w, 98 min.
English language
Print source: William Wyler Collection, UCLA Film and Television Archive, Los Angeles, CA
Translated from Ferenc Molnár’s 1930 Hungarian stage comedy A jó tūndér, and a hit on
Broadway with Helen Hayes, the play The Good Fairy was acquired in early 1934 by Universal
Studios as a vehicle for its brightest new star, Margaret Sullavan. She had originally aspired to a
stage career, against the wishes of her well-to-do Virginia family, and by 1933 Sullavan was
appearing in the Broadway production of Dinner at Eight. She attracted the attention of
Paramount Studios and Columbia Pictures, but eventually signed a three-year, two-pictures-per-
year contract with Universal that would allow her to occasionally return to the New York stage.
The Good Fairy would be Sullavan’s third film with the studio.
The stage-to-screen adaptation was written by the young Preston Sturges who, having already
worked with Sullavan on Broadway, tailored the role of Luisa especially for her. Though Sturges
was under contract as a director, Universal instead chose one of its best, William Wyler. First
cousin once removed to Universal owner Carl Laemmle, Wyler began unpromisingly as a studio
messenger in New York in 1921. By the early 1930s, he was in Hollywood directing such
prestige dramas as A House Divided (1931) and Counsellor at Law (1933), and had a reputation
for fine comedies like Her First Mate (1933). Unfortunately, Wyler also had become infamous
for his insistence on multiple takes, which resulted in production delays on The Good Fairy and
friction with the front office. It would be Wyler’s last film for Universal.
The Good Fairy went into production before Sturges’ final script was approved by the
Production Code Administration, with Universal’s assurance that changes would be made to
material the censors found objectionable. Rewrites were happening daily with Sturges being only
a day ahead of shooting with the script. Eventually Sturges and Wyler were both dropped from
the studio payroll. The film met with generally favorable reviews when it opened in early 1935.
The New York Times critic Andre Sennwald wrote, “[I]t proves to be an engaging and often
uproariously funny work [...]. [The Good Fairy] contains some of the most painfully hilarious
merriment of the new year [...].”
This 1948 print was struck for William Wyler’s personal collection and is now on deposit at the
UCLA Film & Television Archive. The print is in excellent condition with only 0.75% shrinkage
and an average of four splices per 20-minute reel.
Anthony L’Abbate