The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943)

After an all-night send-off party for the troops, a small-town girl wakes up to find herself married and pregnant, but with no memory of her husband's identity.

Director:

Preston Sturges

Writer:

Preston Sturges

Stars:

Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Eddie Bracken	...	Norval Jones
Betty Hutton	...	Trudy Kockenlocker
Diana Lynn	...	Emmy Kockenlocker
William Demarest	...	Constable Edmund Kockenlocker
Porter Hall	...	Justice of the Peace
Emory Parnell	...	Mr. Tuerck
Al Bridge	...	Mr. Johnson (as Alan Bridge)
Julius Tannen	...	Mr. Rafferty
Victor Potel	...	Newspaper Editor
Brian Donlevy	...	Governor McGinty (as McGinty)
Akim Tamiroff	...	The Boss

Storyline

Trudy Kockenlocker, a small-town girl with a soft spot for American soldiers, wakes up the morning after a wild farewell party for the troops to find that she married someone she can't remember--and she's pregnant. Norval Jones, the 4-F local boy who's been in love with Trudy for years, tries to help her find a way out of her predicament. Trudy complicates matters further by falling for Norval, and events snowball from there.

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Plot Keywords:

hero father | unknown husband | song | singer | singing | 

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Taglines:

Here's The Funniest Movie Ever Made!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

February 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

El milagro de Morgan Creek

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The long tracking shots of Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken (and also Hutton and Diana Lynn) delivering pages of dialogue while walking for five minutes down several blocks of the town streets were extremely complex to film for that era. Cameras were placed on tracks and pulled backwards by six crewmembers. The sound crew also walked backwards with handheld boom microphones, while other assistants maneuvered 300 yards of cable, lights and reflectors. Preston Sturges and John Seitz shot more than 11,000 feet of film before they got the desired footage (400 feet) they needed.

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Goofs

When Norval and Mr. Kockenlocker are sitting on the front porch talking, Mr. Kockenlocker is cleaning his gun. He has an automatic pistol, he cocks it to open the chamber for cleaning, and in the next scene he cocks it again.

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Quotes

Mr. Tuerck: Women are always trying to take the blame for men - it's what you call the mother instinct.

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Connections

Featured in Sex, Censorship and the Silver Screen: Censored (1996)

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Soundtracks

The Bell in the Bay
(uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Preston Sturges

User Reviews

Sturges was a genius at combining slapstick with talk.

Seeing this movie consolidated 2 things for me: Sturges's genius and an interesting view of life in the United States during World War II. This is at the same time a fascinating sociological study and a sample of what made Sturges a popular director/writer. The history of motion pictures takes us through a long (more than 30-year) period during which no sound was available except that provided in the performance space--organ, orchestra or piano music. During that time, performers were made up to emphasize facial expressions, and they mimed and mugged for the camera, using broad gestures and waiting for reactions and intertitles. When sound came in, slapstick mostly went out, and writers flocked to Hollywood to make the sophisticated comedies so popular in the 30s. Sturges deftly combined the physical comedy of the early Chaplin/Sennett/Keaton/Lloyd era with the sophisticated comedy of the early talkies. Watch William Damarest mug in this movie, or the perfection of his pratfalls. His portrayal of physical comedy is worthy of the best early Sennett or Chaplain or Keaton. At the same time, there is sophisticated talk, social commentary and political satire. Akim Tamiroff as "The Boss" is a wonderful little portrayal of the influence of "Tammany Hall" tyrants on politics in the US of this time. Hutton gets a chance to do comedy denied elsewhere, and she shows good timing and an ability to laugh at her own public image. Eddie Bracken is a well put-together package of the Sturges comedy trademark: physical humor, good comedic timing, articulate performance just a little beyond the fringe but not too broad for the time (remember that Laurel and Hardy were simultaneously competing for screens). This is a great movie for students of film, US history and culture, and of comedy.