"The Miracle of Morgan's Creek", like most Preston Sturges films, starts out maniacally, this time told in a series of flashbacks. Trudy Kockenlocker (Hutton) is a small-town girl working in a music store who decides that it is her patriotic duty to attend several dances that night to send off the soldiers who are laid over in their little town. When her father, the town Constable, (Demarest) bans her from attending, Trudy calls on her oldest friend Norval Jones (Bracken), a 4-F man who has pined after Trudy since they were children, to take her out and act as her decoy while she slips away to the dance. She has a great time that night until a soldier she is dancing with throws her in the air and she knocks her head on a hanging ceiling fixture. When she meets Norval at the rendezvous point, she is acting drunk, but is actually just woozy from bonking her head. As the day progresses, she is relaying the evening to her sister Emmy (Lynn) when she remembers that she got married on a lark, only she has no idea who the husband is. ("It's something with a z
like, Ratzkywatzky") Further complicating things is the fact that she didn't give her real name, and to make matters worse, she later finds out that she's pregnant, so she needs to act fast to either find the father or come up with another solution. She tries to dupe Norval into marrying her, but when she realizes how in love with her he is she can't bring herself to do it. While they are coming up with a solution, Trudy discovers that she is falling in love with Norval herself, so the solution is now to find Ratzkywatzky to divorce him so she can marry Norval.
It is amazing to me that "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek", Preston Sturges' film (released in 1944 but filmed in 1942) was able to make it past the Hayes code. The fact that the heroine is a pregnant woman with a dubious marriage was probably unheard of at that point, but Preston Sturges has never been one to shy away from using cleverness and wit to mask what he is really trying to express. The characters in the film are all wacky and exaggerated, but in a very charming way. It's almost like the performances are overdone with a huge wink and a nod. Hutton has great comic timing and flair (the scene in which we are introduced to her character has her lip synching to a record of a below-baritone voiced man that I had to watch twice because I laughed so hard at it). This was one of the first film roles for Eddie Bracken, at the time already a veteran song and dance man from vaudeville, and his portrayal of wormy, tender hearted Norval is both charming and fun.
Though my favorite Sturges film remains "Unfaithfully Yours" (1948) he really did a great job on this film, and it has plenty of belly laughs. Films like Sturges', the Marx Brothers, etc. just are not created often anymore, which is too bad. Woody Allen is definitely one successor, but this kind of slapstick, yet intelligent comedy is desperately needed today. Fortunately, I have films like "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and others to look back on when I have a yen for comedy, and I recommend that when you do too, you should do the same. 7/10 --Shelly
It is amazing to me that "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek", Preston Sturges' film (released in 1944 but filmed in 1942) was able to make it past the Hayes code. The fact that the heroine is a pregnant woman with a dubious marriage was probably unheard of at that point, but Preston Sturges has never been one to shy away from using cleverness and wit to mask what he is really trying to express. The characters in the film are all wacky and exaggerated, but in a very charming way. It's almost like the performances are overdone with a huge wink and a nod. Hutton has great comic timing and flair (the scene in which we are introduced to her character has her lip synching to a record of a below-baritone voiced man that I had to watch twice because I laughed so hard at it). This was one of the first film roles for Eddie Bracken, at the time already a veteran song and dance man from vaudeville, and his portrayal of wormy, tender hearted Norval is both charming and fun.
Though my favorite Sturges film remains "Unfaithfully Yours" (1948) he really did a great job on this film, and it has plenty of belly laughs. Films like Sturges', the Marx Brothers, etc. just are not created often anymore, which is too bad. Woody Allen is definitely one successor, but this kind of slapstick, yet intelligent comedy is desperately needed today. Fortunately, I have films like "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and others to look back on when I have a yen for comedy, and I recommend that when you do too, you should do the same. 7/10 --Shelly