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

Preston Sturges had always been a perfectionist, expecting every line to be letter perfect. But with the tension brought on by directing all day, writing all night, arguing with the studio over The Great Moment (1944), overseeing the release of The Palm Beach Story (1942) and running a restaurant he owned, his temper would occasionally flare up. He would often explode at the tiniest mistake, bringing both Diana Lynn and Betty Hutton to tears several times. It soon became obvious that the film would go over schedule and budget and Sturges found it more and more difficult to direct his cast effectively.

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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. Johnson: I don't deal with spooks. She doesn't need a lawyer, she needs a Medium.

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Connections

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (2000)

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Soundtracks

Sleepy Summer Days
(uncredited)
Music by Ted Snyder
Lyrics by Preston Sturges

User Reviews

Whew!

From the very start they're off and running. Even under the opening credits cast members are seen frantically gesticulating and flailing. And the movie has hardly begun.

So what's to be done with the next 98 minutes, if one begins climatically sweating and pulsating? Ease up the pace a bit to allow viewer to catch his breath?

Not Director Sturges: he continues to plow through this comedy at breakneck speed, as though any repose might prove fatal.

We get two super energetic starts--Bracken and Hutton--and a cast of obedient supports obeying the eager director's every frenetic command. We end with one of the screwiest screwball comedies of the forties.

This film has acquired a devoted following of supporters who find "Morgan's Creek" very funny, along with a goodly number of detractors, who see it as an essentially strained and bloated one-joke yarn.

As usual, Sturges makes sharp social comments along the way and handles large groups with Capraesque skill. But that he manages to maintain his unrelentingly breathless pace throughout the shoot may be the real miracle of Morgan's Creek.