The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

In the middle of WWII comes this film that is full of references to that war yet manages to undermine the usual image of the valiant warrior marching off to battle, suggesting that along the way one of them took advantage of a tipsy girl, maybe even drugged her drink from her lack of recollection of the evening that was supposed to be an innocent farewell dance for the soldiers, and left her pregnant from a one night stand, never to inquire about her again. In the 21st century date rape comes to mind. If it was even a date.Now of course this soldier is never found or named. And instead a sanitized version of the story appears. What I wrote in the first paragraph is strictly between the lines. Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) is an underaged girl, probably late teens, back when legal age was 21, who is told by her widowed father, the town constable (William Demarest), that she is not to go to the farewell party because he rightly fears the rowdiness of the event. So Trudy says instead she will go to the movies with Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken). She knows he loves her and she is accustomed to using him, although she would probably never admit that to herself. So she borrows Norval's car, tells him she will pick him up after the last feature, but does not appear again until the next morning at 8AM, with a big blank where the latter part of the evening should be. As they drive away a "Just Married" sign falls off of the car's rear bumper, and when Trudy gets home she notices she is wearing a ring. Slowly, through the haze of memory, a "maybe" wedding comes back to her, but not the who or where. The trouble appears later when Trudy realizes she is pregnant by her anonymous husband, and she has no marriage license to prove her story.As in any Sturges film, there is a veritable cornucopia of wonderful one liners, which can come from any and every member of the large comic ensemble cast, at any time. No scene is too sacred, including a wedding, or a father's viewing of his newborn children. As for the cast, Hutton plays it sweet and somewhat dizzy, showing that she could prevail in other genres besides musicals, Eddie Bracken plays it nervous and a bit over the top as the only man in Morgan's Creek between 18 and 40 who is not in the military because of his 4F status, and the always funny William Demarest is full of pratfalls and one liners and even compassion when it is called for as Trudy's exasperated dad. Why does this remain in Paramount's possession when they sold off just about every other talking picture made between 1929 and 1949 to Universal? It is because, at the time, nobody believed anyone would ever allow this to be shown on TV.Highly recommended.

After an all-night send-off party for the troops, a small-town girl (Betty Hutton) wakes up to find herself married and pregnant, but with no memory of her husband's identity.There were problems with the censors at the Hays Office over the film's subject matter. In October 1942, after a story conference, the office sent Paramount a seven-page letter outlining their concerns, including remarks made by the character Emmy, who is 14 years old; the potential of the film's portraying Trudy as being drunk; and reducing anything to do with Trudy's pregnancy. Of course, all these objections are part of what makes the film so darn funny, along with the screwball nature of it all. The scene where the cop tells a man over and over how to escape is just hilarious.Critic James Agee noted (not too subtly) that "the Hays office must have been raped in its sleep" to allow the film to be released. Although the Hays Office received many letters of protest because of the film's subject matter, it was Paramount's highest-grossing film of 1944, playing to standing-room-only audiences in some theaters. Such an interesting situation of humor trumping censorship... today, do we even have a censor? The MPAA is a shell of its former self.

I didn't find it to be that great the first time I watched it, but the second time around, I caught a lot of the subtleties, which I appreciated, such as the sign about the lemonade and what Mr. Kockenlocker (William Demarest) says about a half a dozen of kids while complaining about daughters and children in general. I absolutely loved Emmy (Diana Lynn) and she was the voice of reason throughout the film despite being only 14 years old. I thought that Demarest's acting was great and the way he portrayed Mr. Kockenlocker made the character likable that I even started admiring Demarest. I can honestly say that Demarest steals the show in every scene he is in and that I've enjoyed it whenever Mr. Kockenlocker was in the scene. Also, isn't "Kockenlocker" a great name? *winkwink* The way Trudy is introduced was brilliant and Betty Hutton's exaggerated mouth movements had me in tears because it was hilarious. I didn't find Trudy (Hutton) to be a likable character and found her to be a bit exasperating at times. I guess it's very similar with The Palm Beach Story in that Trudy cares a lot about Norval (Bracken) thus she does what she does, but at times, I wanted to slap her in the face for being selfish.What I noticed about Sturges's films is that I focus on every scene. I don't lose track of what is happening and I pay attention as if every scene/aspect is important. A lot of films have a sub-plot with the romance but with Sturges's film, it is all mixed up and there really isn't a sub-plot but a main story that is told through various events. For example, with His Girl Friday, I didn't really care much about the sub-plot but with Sturges's film, the audience focuses only on what is happening in front of them. There are no distractions and I think I like it! I wasn't too impressed by this film but was more shocked watching it. I couldn't help but wonder how in the world this film even got past the Hays Code. Watch it for yourself and wonder if this film should be considered scandalous for its times! It sure made me confused and I couldn't help but wonder what Sturges was thinking while making this film. The ending is so outrageous that I wonder if it was a tactic to distract the censors. I know that Sturges used some tactics to beat around the bush so that this film could be released, but I really don't understand how the script passed.http://sachlichkeit.net

Betty Hutton is responsible for "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek," a 1944 comedy written and directed by Preston Sturges. A very famous movie and rightly so. Hutton shares the screen with Sturges regulars Eddie Bracken, William Demarest, Brian Donlevy, as well as Diana Lynn, Akim Tamiroff and Porter Hall. Hutton plays Trudy, a small-town girl who lives with her sister (Lynn) and irascible father (Demarest). On the night before a group of soldiers in the area ship out, a big dance is held for them, and Trudy plans on going. Her father forbids it. Instead she makes a movie date with a childhood friend who's crazy about her, Norval Jones. Poor Norval - he can't get into the service because he becomes so overwrought and terrified that they won't take him that he starts seeing - THE SPOTS - before his eyes, and he winds up with a 4-F. The minute they're out of the house, Trudy tells Norval that she wants to borrow his car and go to the dance, leaving Norval watching three features in a movie theater.Once she's there, Trudy dances with practically ever soldier there and goes out drinking and nightclubbing afterward, which she is unaccustomed to. She picks Norval up at 8 o'clock the next morning at the movie theater. Once in the house, she realizes that she got married, but she can't remember to whom except his name had a Z in it. Then she finds out she's pregnant.This is a hilarious film that many people have seen many times - there is an enormous amount of dialogue - if you took three films today and put them together, you probably wouldn't have the amount of dialogue in this film. It also moves at a lightning pace. It's so fascinating to see how this subject was handled in the '40s and how our mores have changed. The Trudy character could never have just gotten pregnant while unmarried and be unsure of the father's identity - or else the censors would have demanded she die at the end. The family goes to such lengths to cover up the pregnancy, even moving out of town to protect Trudy's "reputation." And poor Norval offers to marry her as the soldier, whose name she thinks is Ignatz Ratzkywatzky so she has a marriage certificate, which Ignatz evidently took with him. Since she used a fake name, she won't be able to find it in any documents.Today a young woman getting pregnant and not knowing who the father is has become a common plot. Trudy could have just gone out and had a good time, gotten pregnant, and the father could have been a soldier or one of the guys in town. She'd have the child and remain unmarried if she so chose.A lot of people don't like Betty Hutton - I'm not sure why. She was a vivacious performer and a fantastic singer. She is wonderful as Trudy, showing a great sense of comic timing. Her energy, as usual, jumps off the screen. Eddie Bracken has the better role, and he makes the most of it. He's hilarious as the depressed Norval. Both he and Demarest have some very funny slapstick moments. Demarest comes off as a meanie, but you know deep down he cares. His repartee with Diana Lynn, who plays his other daughter, Emmy, will have you laughing. I think in the movie she said she was 14 - I thought 17 - and sure enough, the actress was 17. Fourteen was really pushing it."The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" is a real gem, made during World War II, a fascinating time in our history. Many women met their husbands while the men were at training camps - so did Trudy - but she never knew his name. I wonder whatever happened to Ignatz Ratzkywatzky - and if he'd try to find her if he knew the result of the honeymoon!