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*** 1/2 “The Great McGinty.” MCA. $29.95. NR.

No one wrote more daringly funny scenarios than Preston Sturges. “The Great McGinty,” his first directorial effort (1940), is a viciously satiric look at politics, utterly without illusions. In it, a corrupt machine mounts its own “reform” gubernatorial campaign--running McGinty (Brian Donlevy), an almost illiterate ex-goon, for whom a marriage of convenience is arranged. But the scheme backfires, marriage “civilizes” McGinty, and the sparks and ironies explode like a ward-heeler’s Fourth of July. “The Great McGinty” is less well-filmed than well-written, but it’s a prime example of Sturges’ comic genius and audacity.