Violence/Gore: Lots of pratfalls, including old men pointing guns at young men, old men kicking so high they fall, and Norval Jones either being smacked around or falling of his own accord.

Sex/Nudity: Trudy Kockenlocker gets knocked up after a highly suspect marriage.

Best Line: “I’m not so crazy about uniforms.” “You’re not. Gee, I’d give anything to wear one.” “That’s because you’re a man.” “Oh, lots of women wear them too, like those wackos.” (Trudy Kockenlocker and Norval Jones on the porch)

Score:

It’s war time and Trudy Kockenlocker is a small town girl with a thing for the military boys. After an all-night dance and some serious alcohol consumption, she discovers the next morning that not only has she gotten married to a man she can’t remember, but she’s pregnant. Enter Norval Jones, the boy who’s been madly in love with Trudy from the get go. When he finds out about Trudy’s predicament, he does his best to help her and in the process the two fall madly in love.

Preston Sturges’ World War II comedy focused on the ‘war bride’ problem of the time, where women would marry GIs - or get knocked up by GIs - in the heat of the frantic doom-tinged environment of those good old days. This sort of social commentary may only appeal to historians in the audience, but what about the six billion other people who may come across this film? What does it offer them?

Preston Sturges offers a fast-paced, intermittently funny, dated and heart-wrenching film that can still be enjoyed by those who appreciate the human comedy (people who enjoy robot comedies, however, will not be as impressed). The film’s tale of a young dope proving his love to the girl of his dreams and subsequently getting her is a time-worn fantasy for almost half the population.

Nevertheless, paradigms do not a good film make, and Sturges also inflects his film with a slow-building kinetic pace that is sure to produce a smile. Under this current of comedy is a humane social drama that holds one’s interest so there’s never a dry patch. On top of all this are the two star performances from Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton. Betty Hutton’s Trudy Kockenlocker is the personification of the idealized girl next door. Her bubbly performance is a delight, and this is a rare actress who is not afraid of making a fool of herself.

But the film belongs to Eddie Bracken as Norval Jones. As orphaned earnest young Norval, Bracken injects the character with all the pathos and quiet dignity you’d expect of a man whose whole life has been devoted to one far-fetched dream - a dream only the most extreme of circumstances has finally enabled him to achieve.

By the way, Preston Sturges and Eddie Bracken teamed up again for HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, a wonderful film about the nature of heroism and lying about being a hero.

VHS Note: There is no DVD of THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN’S CREEK available at this time, but Paramount has a VHS tape out. Note the film’s ratio, 1.33:1, is the same as a standard TV screen, so you will not lose any of the image.

AH