This movie may be the best comedy produced during World War II, especially in reference to the timing and the language related to the humorous treatment of a serious subject. Eddie Bracken is superb as Norval Jones, and delivers lines in a rapid-fire fashion that intensifes the satire. Betty Hutton as Trudy Kockenlocker is the perfect foil for Norval. Where Norval is witty, Trudy is coy. Norval anticipates problems, Trudy is expedient. Norval is so nervous that he sees "black spots" when agitated, Trudy is calm--though in trouble. And the constant conflict between Emmy (Diana Lynn) and Constable Kockenlocker(William Demarest) is typical of a wisecracking teen and an overly protective widower. There is hardly a funnier scene in movies than the marriage ceremony for Trudy and Norval. The humor in the whole movie seems to improve with each subsequent viewing.
83 Reviews
The miracle is that this ever got past the censors
AlsExGal17 April 2017
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.
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.
A film-maker's response to over-discipline
Spondonman26 December 2005
Although I've always preferred Palm Beach Story this is my 2nd favourite Preston Sturges film (Lady Eve 3rd). It still makes me hoot with laughter or bring tears to my eyes by turns even though I know it's basically only satirical screwball comedy. The problem is that anybody watching this who doesn't know anything at all about Hollywood censorship and the Hays Office is likely to be very puzzled by it all and hardly understand it. The tortuous plot was solely meant to circumvent and sneer at the prevailing censorship enforcement, whilst simultaneously maintaining the standard decorum expected from media in 1942-44. Otherwise we might have been treated (among many other things) to coitus scenes with Ratzkywatzky, Officer Kockenlocker comically swearing his head off or at the very least a shot of Trudy's belly at Christmas. Nowadays with the relentless progress of acceptable "taste" none of this matters - we are not spared the littlest thing!
The main actors give it their best and play it with gusto: live-wire Betty Hutton and 4F Eddie Bracken as the simple young lovers who don't find it so simple, Diana Lynn as her sidekick cynical 14 yo sister, but especially William Demarest who turned in his finest knockabout and farcically violent performance here - at 50, too. I think it also helps to have seen Star Spangled Rhythm with Hutton and Bracken really "enjoying" themselves in a ... more light-hearted way before seeing this. My favourite bits are the scenes where Norval and Trudy are preparing to leave home and get "married", both of them joyfully stuttering away.
The Production Code was ridiculously strict - I've even thought it was designed by a bunch of perverts - but it at least provided some kind of discipline to all concerned. It's a discipline that is completely missing from todays films, except for my personal discipline in avoiding most of them. This is a wonderful film, the old story told cleverly and differently about simple people in Hicksville having fun and paying the price. Even only 2/3 years later Sturges would have done it differently, but along with Capra's "Arsenic and old lace" this has got to be one of the best of the many tombstones over the grave of the Hays Office there is.
The main actors give it their best and play it with gusto: live-wire Betty Hutton and 4F Eddie Bracken as the simple young lovers who don't find it so simple, Diana Lynn as her sidekick cynical 14 yo sister, but especially William Demarest who turned in his finest knockabout and farcically violent performance here - at 50, too. I think it also helps to have seen Star Spangled Rhythm with Hutton and Bracken really "enjoying" themselves in a ... more light-hearted way before seeing this. My favourite bits are the scenes where Norval and Trudy are preparing to leave home and get "married", both of them joyfully stuttering away.
The Production Code was ridiculously strict - I've even thought it was designed by a bunch of perverts - but it at least provided some kind of discipline to all concerned. It's a discipline that is completely missing from todays films, except for my personal discipline in avoiding most of them. This is a wonderful film, the old story told cleverly and differently about simple people in Hicksville having fun and paying the price. Even only 2/3 years later Sturges would have done it differently, but along with Capra's "Arsenic and old lace" this has got to be one of the best of the many tombstones over the grave of the Hays Office there is.
A subversive satirical gem
penelopedanger9 December 2004
Writer-director Preston Sturges is generally regarded as one of the greatest comic talents ever, and his impeccable track record--including The Lady Eve and Sullivan's Travels--is more than worthy of the praise. Often overlooked, The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek ranks with Sturges' absolute best work.
Sturges takes an almost Capra-esque WWII America and turns it on its pointy little head, with Betty Hutton as a girl who's more than willing to give "the boys" departing for the war the utmost reason to fight for our country. Stripped of her usual production numbers, Hutton cranks up her comic acting skills and creates a surprisingly rich characterization of a young woman straining against the restrictive social attitudes of the time. Eddie Bracken is his usual self-effacing self, and his sad-sack Norval Jones is an earnest, often moving portrayal of the kind of understanding, devotion and love almost never seen in American movies of the era.
A "screwball comedy" only on paper, the often frenetic pacing and physical humor was sufficient to distract censors (and often audiences) from Morgan Creek's almost brutally derisive satire about the hypocrisy of small town "values" and military behavior during wartime, satire that still resonates given the current political climate. No target is safe, from "the troops" and bucolic Anywhere USA to state governors, the Dionne quints, and Adolf Hitler. Sturges pushed hard against the production code and probably earned a few ulcers slipping racy plot twists and subversive dialogue past the censors, but the results were well worth the Maalox. One of the funniest and most pointed satirical comedies ever produced.
Sturges takes an almost Capra-esque WWII America and turns it on its pointy little head, with Betty Hutton as a girl who's more than willing to give "the boys" departing for the war the utmost reason to fight for our country. Stripped of her usual production numbers, Hutton cranks up her comic acting skills and creates a surprisingly rich characterization of a young woman straining against the restrictive social attitudes of the time. Eddie Bracken is his usual self-effacing self, and his sad-sack Norval Jones is an earnest, often moving portrayal of the kind of understanding, devotion and love almost never seen in American movies of the era.
A "screwball comedy" only on paper, the often frenetic pacing and physical humor was sufficient to distract censors (and often audiences) from Morgan Creek's almost brutally derisive satire about the hypocrisy of small town "values" and military behavior during wartime, satire that still resonates given the current political climate. No target is safe, from "the troops" and bucolic Anywhere USA to state governors, the Dionne quints, and Adolf Hitler. Sturges pushed hard against the production code and probably earned a few ulcers slipping racy plot twists and subversive dialogue past the censors, but the results were well worth the Maalox. One of the funniest and most pointed satirical comedies ever produced.
For the boys
jotix1007 April 2005
Preston Sturges was one of the most interesting directors and screen writers working in the Hollywood of the thirties and forties. His incredible look at a small town USA during WWII is the basis for this delightful comedy. Mr. Sturges was a man ahead of his times. It's incredible how he was able to get this film approved for release by the Hays Code. Mr. Sturges direction was impeccable. It is easy to see how in most of his films he keeps showing a lot of the same faces, as it's evident the actors loved the quick tempo he gives to the movie.
Betty Hutton was an incredible appealing Trudy. She shows us a young woman, who in spite of what happens to her, keeps trying to make her situation right by drawing the nerdy Norval into her side to correct what she has done. Ms. Hutton projected such a luminous presence as she demonstrates with her take of Trudy, the girl next door type, who finds out how a reckless moment of pleasure comes to haunt her. After all, Trudy only wanted to do the best for the boys going to a war where most of them wouldn't come back alive.
Eddie Bracken was given one of the best opportunities of his career to play the kind hearted Norval. He is willing to break the law in order to make Trudy happy, after realizing she clearly doesn't care for him. This actor was an accomplished comedian with a great sense of timing, as he shows, for our amusement, in this picture.
The supporting cast is great. William Demarest, who played in a lot of Mr. Sturges' films, is seen as Trudy's father, the nutty Constable Kockenlocker. Diana Lynn is immensely appealing as the young sister Emmy, an intelligent girl who is more mature than the happy go lucky Trudy. Brian Donlevy is seen briefly as the governor and Akim Tamiroff plays a minor part.
Preston Sturges was a man that had an understanding about the times in which he lived. This comedy, as well as most of his other films, is a testament to his vision of America during those years. His films were a way of commenting about what was wrong with the American society during those years. Mr. Sturges' films made him the toast of Hollywood. That is why it's ironic how soon the same industry he helped elevate artistically, forgot him after his comedies fell out of favor with the public.
This movie is a classic and the proof is in the way audiences are still moved and amused watching them after more than sixty years since they made their debut.
Betty Hutton was an incredible appealing Trudy. She shows us a young woman, who in spite of what happens to her, keeps trying to make her situation right by drawing the nerdy Norval into her side to correct what she has done. Ms. Hutton projected such a luminous presence as she demonstrates with her take of Trudy, the girl next door type, who finds out how a reckless moment of pleasure comes to haunt her. After all, Trudy only wanted to do the best for the boys going to a war where most of them wouldn't come back alive.
Eddie Bracken was given one of the best opportunities of his career to play the kind hearted Norval. He is willing to break the law in order to make Trudy happy, after realizing she clearly doesn't care for him. This actor was an accomplished comedian with a great sense of timing, as he shows, for our amusement, in this picture.
The supporting cast is great. William Demarest, who played in a lot of Mr. Sturges' films, is seen as Trudy's father, the nutty Constable Kockenlocker. Diana Lynn is immensely appealing as the young sister Emmy, an intelligent girl who is more mature than the happy go lucky Trudy. Brian Donlevy is seen briefly as the governor and Akim Tamiroff plays a minor part.
Preston Sturges was a man that had an understanding about the times in which he lived. This comedy, as well as most of his other films, is a testament to his vision of America during those years. His films were a way of commenting about what was wrong with the American society during those years. Mr. Sturges' films made him the toast of Hollywood. That is why it's ironic how soon the same industry he helped elevate artistically, forgot him after his comedies fell out of favor with the public.
This movie is a classic and the proof is in the way audiences are still moved and amused watching them after more than sixty years since they made their debut.
Great Comedy!
jhnjrv18 May 2002
I first saw "Miracle" during WW2, sitting on an emptied bomb crate in a field where Special Services had set up a screen. We soldiers howled with laughter. Since then I have seen it a few more times and I enjoy it more than ever.
Good "clean" fun
FilmOtaku5 April 2005
"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
Sturges was a genius at combining slapstick with talk.
arel17 October 2002
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.
Interesting, dated antique. Great movie for William Demarest fans.
PWNYCNY16 June 2008
There was second Lucille Ball, her name was Betty Hutton. The latter's resemblance to the former is uncanny, especially in this movie. As for the movie itself, although there are amusing moments, the movie is woefully dated with a story that's a stretch. But the real star of this movie is William Demarest who gives one of the great performances in a Hollywood movie. Although Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton got top billing, this movie is a vehicle for William Demarest whose performance outshines that of the other performers. This movie offers an interesting glimpse of Hollywood's impression of the American military personnel circa World War Two. The movie has not aged well, it's story is corny, full of hokum, and suggests an amazing naiveté. All the performances are good but the story is simply too weak to make this movie more than just an interesting antique.
Screamingly funny farce
lqualls-dchin21 December 2000
One of the most audacious comedies ever made in Hollywood, this is a screamingly funny satirical farce about the World War II homefront. Betty Hutton, Eddie Bracken, Diana Lynn and William Demarest give phenomenal performances (Lynn is particularly funny as she keeps her composure while everyone else is cracking up around her), and Preston Sturges's writing and direction were never more frenetic and explosive. This is Sturges's most sustained comedy: he starts it in overdrive, and he never lets up. The movie would be exhausting if it weren't so hilarious.
Critics Had the Last Laugh! Many regard it as the funniest picture ever made!
JohnHowardReid30 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Producer: Preston Sturges. Copyright 5 January 1944 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 19 January 1944. U.S. release: January 1944. Australian release: 20 April 1944. 10 reels. 8,869 feet. 100 minutes. (Available on an excellent Paramount DVD).
SYNOPSIS: In the small town of Morgan's Creek lives Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton), who works in a music store and whose father, Officer Kockenlocker (William Demarest) is the traffic policeman and a sergeant of the last war. Little sister Emmy (Diana Lynn) is worldly wise and sharp-tongued and Trudy's boy friend, Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken), is a bashful guy who works in the town bank.
Norval would like Trudy to go to the movies with him the evening the story opens, but Trudy is sorry, she is going to dance with the soldiers. Norval can't be talked into going to this dance because he's long wanted to be in uniform, but every time he tries to enlist he gets so nervous, up goes his blood pressure and spots appear before his eyes.
NOTES: Second to "Going My Way" as Paramount's top domestic box- office successes of 1944. Initial box-office gross: over $10 million. Nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award for Original Screenplay, losing to Lamar Trotti's "Wilson". Number 3 on the National Board of Review's list of the Ten Best Movies of 1944. Betty Hutton was cited by the National Board of Review (along with nine other players) for the year's Best Acting. One of Bosley Crowther's Top Ten for The New York Times, in fact "the year's best farce". Re-made in 1958 as "Rock-a- bye Baby".
COMMENT: How this movie got past the Hays Office, was something that puzzled all reviewers from New York to Los Angeles. The answer, of course, is simple. Censorial bodies are not only blind and deaf, they have absolutely no common sense. Did you notice the heroine's name? If you still haven't got the joke, just say her name out loud. And this is just the start. You wouldn't believe how many times this name is repeated in the movie. I would say at least forty times. Maybe even fifty?
I first saw this movie at a revival in the early 1950s. To my surprise, the usually half-empty suburban theater was packed to the doors and every time, our heroine's name was mentioned - which, as I aid before, was at least forty times - the whole theater just exploded with laughter. In fact, there was one particularly long scene between the hero and the heroine's dad, in which our hero answered a multitude of questions from his soon to be father-in-law by consistently addressing him as "Mr. Kockenlocker!" The whole theater just exploded with continuous laughter. A few of us even fell off our chairs!
OTHER VIEWS: "Excellent. The funniest picture of this year, or any other year within memory." — Archer Winsten in N.Y. Post.
"Situations spark, dialogue crackles and the Sturges camera works like a playful Peeping Tom." — Bosley Crowther in N.Y. Times.
"One of the funniest pictures I've ever seen in a long span of viewing and reviewing." — Film Daily.
"I am still hysterical over The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. It is the funniest picture I ever saw. I'd never laughed so much in all my life." — Lee Mortimer in N.Y. Daily Mirror.
P.S. I'd like to give the movie 10/10, but it is so brazen - and this one play-on-words is repeated at least forty times - I just can't bring myself to rub it in!
SYNOPSIS: In the small town of Morgan's Creek lives Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton), who works in a music store and whose father, Officer Kockenlocker (William Demarest) is the traffic policeman and a sergeant of the last war. Little sister Emmy (Diana Lynn) is worldly wise and sharp-tongued and Trudy's boy friend, Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken), is a bashful guy who works in the town bank.
Norval would like Trudy to go to the movies with him the evening the story opens, but Trudy is sorry, she is going to dance with the soldiers. Norval can't be talked into going to this dance because he's long wanted to be in uniform, but every time he tries to enlist he gets so nervous, up goes his blood pressure and spots appear before his eyes.
NOTES: Second to "Going My Way" as Paramount's top domestic box- office successes of 1944. Initial box-office gross: over $10 million. Nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award for Original Screenplay, losing to Lamar Trotti's "Wilson". Number 3 on the National Board of Review's list of the Ten Best Movies of 1944. Betty Hutton was cited by the National Board of Review (along with nine other players) for the year's Best Acting. One of Bosley Crowther's Top Ten for The New York Times, in fact "the year's best farce". Re-made in 1958 as "Rock-a- bye Baby".
COMMENT: How this movie got past the Hays Office, was something that puzzled all reviewers from New York to Los Angeles. The answer, of course, is simple. Censorial bodies are not only blind and deaf, they have absolutely no common sense. Did you notice the heroine's name? If you still haven't got the joke, just say her name out loud. And this is just the start. You wouldn't believe how many times this name is repeated in the movie. I would say at least forty times. Maybe even fifty?
I first saw this movie at a revival in the early 1950s. To my surprise, the usually half-empty suburban theater was packed to the doors and every time, our heroine's name was mentioned - which, as I aid before, was at least forty times - the whole theater just exploded with laughter. In fact, there was one particularly long scene between the hero and the heroine's dad, in which our hero answered a multitude of questions from his soon to be father-in-law by consistently addressing him as "Mr. Kockenlocker!" The whole theater just exploded with continuous laughter. A few of us even fell off our chairs!
OTHER VIEWS: "Excellent. The funniest picture of this year, or any other year within memory." — Archer Winsten in N.Y. Post.
"Situations spark, dialogue crackles and the Sturges camera works like a playful Peeping Tom." — Bosley Crowther in N.Y. Times.
"One of the funniest pictures I've ever seen in a long span of viewing and reviewing." — Film Daily.
"I am still hysterical over The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. It is the funniest picture I ever saw. I'd never laughed so much in all my life." — Lee Mortimer in N.Y. Daily Mirror.
P.S. I'd like to give the movie 10/10, but it is so brazen - and this one play-on-words is repeated at least forty times - I just can't bring myself to rub it in!
One of the best comedies of all time!
inframan13 January 2002
Not as well known to the general public as the Marx brothers movies, this film is unquestionably one of funniest, best-written, best-acted & best-directed comedies of all time, right up there with Bringing Up Baby, Duck Soup & The Bank Dick. The writing in particular is extraordinary - just check out the names: Gertrude Kockenlocker & Ignatz Ratzkywatzky? It's also full of memorably hilarious set-pieces. 11 stars!
The Spots!
SnoopyStyle31 December 2015
In the small town of Morgan's Creek, Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) likes to dance with the soldiers going off to war. Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken) would love to be a soldier but he can never pass the physical. Single father Constable Edmund Kockenlocker (William Demarest) refuses to let his girls Trudy and Emmy (Diana Lynn) go to the party. Trudy tricks her father and uses Norval as a cover to go to the party. The next morning, she wakes up pregnant and married but don't know who's the guy. Emmy suggests Trudy should marry poor sap Norval. Then it's loopy schemes, all kinds of cops, arrest, a reluctant escape and sextuplets. It's utter mayhem.
The censors must have taken a bribe. The story is outlandish and inappropriate for its time. Trudy starts off not very well liked and that does stop some of the comedy in the beginning. She wins me over when she starts stuttering. For the first time, she and Norval match. They become believable as a couple. They're both idiots and they're still funny even today.
The censors must have taken a bribe. The story is outlandish and inappropriate for its time. Trudy starts off not very well liked and that does stop some of the comedy in the beginning. She wins me over when she starts stuttering. For the first time, she and Norval match. They become believable as a couple. They're both idiots and they're still funny even today.
Looks different to me.
jshaffer-16 April 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this movie in its own time period, when having a baby out of wedlock not only ruined your life, but stamped your child as a bastard. In these days of 'single mothers' that may seem very far-fetched, but it was very true. And I'm not crazy about laughing at someone who is stammering, either. Between these two problems I had difficulty finding this movie funny. At that time I didn't know who had directed it or what a marvelous reputation he had. I did know who Betty Hutton was, and she just made me nervous because she was so frenetic. I loved "Bringing Up Baby", but I find this movie just embarrassing. I'm sure the punch at some church functions probably was spiked, but I was the one needing a drink after watching this again. The idea the girl would have to be drunk in order to 'get married' and get pregnant just added to the misery. An entire town could turn on you under these circumstances, so the outcome of this movie is really the funny part. Of course, shoot me, I don't like "It's a Wonderful Life" either.
Frantic farce is given the full Sturges treatment...
Doylenf18 October 2003
This is an amusing farce guaranteed to bring some good hearted laughter as it recounts the story of a small town girl's indiscretion that has to be covered up with a series of lies. Betty Hutton is terrific as the partyloving gal who can't remember the man she married during a drunken joyride. Eddie Bracken as her nerdy but loyal boyfriend has the kind of role he was born to play--as does William Demarest as her outraged father who always has his shotgun ready and complains about having two rambunctious daughters. Diana Lynn shines as Betty's younger sister. Her scenes with William Demarest are among the funniest in the entire film--even though her 14 year-old seems a bit too sensible at such a tender age.
All of the main cast are perfect. Demarest never had a funnier role in his life. His pratfalls are performed as naturally as the great silent comics.
The technique of long takes with lots of dialogue going on must have been very demanding for Hutton and Bracken--but they handle it brilliantly. Many of their scenes are done in one long take and it's amazing how much material and physical comedy they had to memorize for such extended takes.
Some of the storyline seems a bit dated by today's standards but on the whole the film holds up well in the laugh department. I liked it much better than HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO with Bracken in a similar role.
Preston Sturges deserved his nomination for Best Original Screenplay but lost the award to Lamar Trotti for WILSON. Sturges was also nominated the same year for HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO.
All of the main cast are perfect. Demarest never had a funnier role in his life. His pratfalls are performed as naturally as the great silent comics.
The technique of long takes with lots of dialogue going on must have been very demanding for Hutton and Bracken--but they handle it brilliantly. Many of their scenes are done in one long take and it's amazing how much material and physical comedy they had to memorize for such extended takes.
Some of the storyline seems a bit dated by today's standards but on the whole the film holds up well in the laugh department. I liked it much better than HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO with Bracken in a similar role.
Preston Sturges deserved his nomination for Best Original Screenplay but lost the award to Lamar Trotti for WILSON. Sturges was also nominated the same year for HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO.
It's a miracle that it ever got released.
FilmSnobby14 September 2005
Warning: Spoilers
(The whole review is a spoiler, so, you know.) Virtually a 100-minute-long thumb-nosing at the Hayes Office, *The Miracle of Morgan's Creek* is the most relentlessly subversive movie in the Sturges canon. It's one of his very best, too, standing alongside *Sullivan's Travels*. *Miracle*, in fact, may be more purely pleasurable.
The newly released DVD has a pair of informative special features, in which we learn that Sturges submitted the script to the Hayes Office in haphazard, piecemeal installments, thereby obfuscating the blasphemous subtext of the movie. Apparently, the censors never read the script in toto before Sturges finished shooting the picture. While Breen and the other Production Code toilers obsessed over a phrase here and there in the handful of pages that Sturges submitted, they were missing the forest for the trees. Sturges' aim seems to have been to construct a film in which nearly every scene subverts any number of the Code's sacred cows: premarital sex, drunken women, the U.S. military depicted in a non-too-flattering light, foolish peace officers (in fact, everyone in an authority role is made to look foolish), you name it. And of course, the overarching comparison of Betty Hutton's "miraculous" birthing of sextuplets -- at Christmastime! -- to the Virgin Birth is the coup de grace. Sturges even supplies a cow that turns the Knockenlocker living room into an incipient manger. All the while, we're reminded that Hutton is no virgin -- she was knocked up one drunken night by an anonymous G.I. ("I think his name was Ratzkywatzky"). Sturges sneers mightily at the censors by having everyone drink "lemonade" at the farewell balls for the soldiers, to say nothing of Hutton banging her head on a chandelier that is supposed to explain her woozy behavior the following morning. One expects the actors to look directly at the camera and wink. Or at the very least, intermittent title cards blaring "GET it?"
What makes Sturges an artist, rather than just a clever smart-ass, is the humanity he brings to his fierce farce. Eddie Bracken as the 4-F loser is given some amazingly romantic things to say, things that would melt any woman's heart, including the heart of an over-sexed manipulator like Hutton's. In fact, Sturges is adamant that the Eddie Brackens of the world can offer a different type of heroism than what we usually acknowledge that word to mean (e.g., physical bravery). It's a heroism born out of a big heart, tempered by steadfastness, honesty, and ardent loyalty and love. The movie is a celebration of non-showy sacrifice, of the sort Christ prescribed. "Ratzkywatzky", the knocker-upper, the brave soldier, is never heard from again, forgoing one kind of responsibility for another -- the war. But Norval's there, trying to get Hutton out of the several sad jams she's gotten herself into because he loves her. Who's the hero?
The audience will have to make up their own minds, because Sturges is remarkably non-judgmental about these circumstances and characters. The director doesn't frown disapprovingly at the carousing G.I.'s and the small-town girls who provide them "morale", nor does he celebrate them. These people are merely healthy, sexual males and females enjoying life's finest pleasures before those pleasures are snatched away by solitude at the Home Front and bloody death in the theater of war. The people here are rather like figures out of Boccaccio, trying to indulge in a little bacchanalia before the Reaper overwhelms them. *The Miracle of Morgan's Creek*, among its many other virtues, is a vivid reminder of a world at the edge of the precipice, and a stern rebuke to our current commentators who have unaccountably made saints out of this "Greatest Generation". It's a relief to discover that the Greatest Generation folks were lusty savages like our own decadent, worthless selves.
An American classic -- 9 stars out of 10. By the way, I feel I must correct some commentators on the message boards and review pages here, because they're not really grasping the outrageousness of the Hutton/Mary-Mother-of-God comparison. The "Immaculate Conception" refers to Jesus' MOM. His Mom had to be exempt from all stain of Original Sin -- an immaculate vessel to contain and later convey the Son of God to the world. Mary = Immaculate Conception; Jesus = Virgin Birth. If we're going to be the good Christian nation that our brave President wants us to be, we should at least get our mythology straight.
The newly released DVD has a pair of informative special features, in which we learn that Sturges submitted the script to the Hayes Office in haphazard, piecemeal installments, thereby obfuscating the blasphemous subtext of the movie. Apparently, the censors never read the script in toto before Sturges finished shooting the picture. While Breen and the other Production Code toilers obsessed over a phrase here and there in the handful of pages that Sturges submitted, they were missing the forest for the trees. Sturges' aim seems to have been to construct a film in which nearly every scene subverts any number of the Code's sacred cows: premarital sex, drunken women, the U.S. military depicted in a non-too-flattering light, foolish peace officers (in fact, everyone in an authority role is made to look foolish), you name it. And of course, the overarching comparison of Betty Hutton's "miraculous" birthing of sextuplets -- at Christmastime! -- to the Virgin Birth is the coup de grace. Sturges even supplies a cow that turns the Knockenlocker living room into an incipient manger. All the while, we're reminded that Hutton is no virgin -- she was knocked up one drunken night by an anonymous G.I. ("I think his name was Ratzkywatzky"). Sturges sneers mightily at the censors by having everyone drink "lemonade" at the farewell balls for the soldiers, to say nothing of Hutton banging her head on a chandelier that is supposed to explain her woozy behavior the following morning. One expects the actors to look directly at the camera and wink. Or at the very least, intermittent title cards blaring "GET it?"
What makes Sturges an artist, rather than just a clever smart-ass, is the humanity he brings to his fierce farce. Eddie Bracken as the 4-F loser is given some amazingly romantic things to say, things that would melt any woman's heart, including the heart of an over-sexed manipulator like Hutton's. In fact, Sturges is adamant that the Eddie Brackens of the world can offer a different type of heroism than what we usually acknowledge that word to mean (e.g., physical bravery). It's a heroism born out of a big heart, tempered by steadfastness, honesty, and ardent loyalty and love. The movie is a celebration of non-showy sacrifice, of the sort Christ prescribed. "Ratzkywatzky", the knocker-upper, the brave soldier, is never heard from again, forgoing one kind of responsibility for another -- the war. But Norval's there, trying to get Hutton out of the several sad jams she's gotten herself into because he loves her. Who's the hero?
The audience will have to make up their own minds, because Sturges is remarkably non-judgmental about these circumstances and characters. The director doesn't frown disapprovingly at the carousing G.I.'s and the small-town girls who provide them "morale", nor does he celebrate them. These people are merely healthy, sexual males and females enjoying life's finest pleasures before those pleasures are snatched away by solitude at the Home Front and bloody death in the theater of war. The people here are rather like figures out of Boccaccio, trying to indulge in a little bacchanalia before the Reaper overwhelms them. *The Miracle of Morgan's Creek*, among its many other virtues, is a vivid reminder of a world at the edge of the precipice, and a stern rebuke to our current commentators who have unaccountably made saints out of this "Greatest Generation". It's a relief to discover that the Greatest Generation folks were lusty savages like our own decadent, worthless selves.
An American classic -- 9 stars out of 10. By the way, I feel I must correct some commentators on the message boards and review pages here, because they're not really grasping the outrageousness of the Hutton/Mary-Mother-of-God comparison. The "Immaculate Conception" refers to Jesus' MOM. His Mom had to be exempt from all stain of Original Sin -- an immaculate vessel to contain and later convey the Son of God to the world. Mary = Immaculate Conception; Jesus = Virgin Birth. If we're going to be the good Christian nation that our brave President wants us to be, we should at least get our mythology straight.
I love Ignatz Ratzkywatzky - I named my dog after him.
inframan18 July 2000
There are 3 perfect comedy films that I never get tired of watching. In fact I HAVE to watch them each at least twice a year. One: The Bank Dick. Two: Bringing Up Baby. Three: Miracle of Morgan's Creek. Three wacky brilliant movies the like of which will never again be made. Preston Struges was at his peak here.
Talk about pushing the envelope!
SmileysWorld2 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not sure how this was brought to the big screen without a hitch..It seems to have at least a small percentage of the charm you would see in (dare I compare?) any Andy Hardy film made during the day,this film takes an interesting step into the risqué.A going away party is thrown for some soon to be deployed servicemen and a girl (who disappoints a long admiring young man who is staying home) ends up married and pregnant (insert in drawn breath here..that word was banned at the time),but does not know to who because she had too much "lemonade"(as it was referred to here)..While I do love most films of the 40's,this one loses points,both for it's risqué content and Eddie Bracken's annoying stutter..This was a long awaited viewing because for some reason it is not currently available on DVD.Had to blow the dust off of my now seldom used VCR for this one after purchasing a cheap VHS copy.Perhaps I should have kept waiting..
Laugh tracking
st-shot3 June 2021
Preston Sturges was in the midst of an unmatchable comic peak when he made this small town story about a GI loving young girl who ends up in a family way and has no idea who the dad is. Cleverly circumventing censors he once again delivered a comically satiric jab at society in the middle of WW2, providing a much needed distraction if only briefly to a war weary audience.
Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken) loves Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) but she has this thing for soldiers and feels it is her patriotic duty to show them a good time before going off to war. Too good it turns out for one who leaves her with child, after properly marrying her but neglecting to leave a name.
Hutton and Bracken as a couple lack chemistry but as a team jell perfectly especially in long impressive tracking shots where they flesh themselves out to the audience but not to each other. Bracken has the born to be schlub look down pat and carries his yearning frustration well. Hutton as free spirit Trudy is shrill in moments but a perfect foil to Bracken's frustration. Taciturn Demarest suffers in all ways as the dad while Diana Lynn as the younger sister is a spry voice of reason.
Sturgis takes his serious and racy subject and turns it on its ear with a raucous response by all involved from dad (William Demarest) to the governor (Brian Donlevy's, McGinty in a cameo). Populating Morgan's Creek with his troupe of scene stealers, serving up non-sequitur and pratfalls while making pointed observations about societal hypocrisy Miracle follows the comic path from start to finish.
Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken) loves Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) but she has this thing for soldiers and feels it is her patriotic duty to show them a good time before going off to war. Too good it turns out for one who leaves her with child, after properly marrying her but neglecting to leave a name.
Hutton and Bracken as a couple lack chemistry but as a team jell perfectly especially in long impressive tracking shots where they flesh themselves out to the audience but not to each other. Bracken has the born to be schlub look down pat and carries his yearning frustration well. Hutton as free spirit Trudy is shrill in moments but a perfect foil to Bracken's frustration. Taciturn Demarest suffers in all ways as the dad while Diana Lynn as the younger sister is a spry voice of reason.
Sturgis takes his serious and racy subject and turns it on its ear with a raucous response by all involved from dad (William Demarest) to the governor (Brian Donlevy's, McGinty in a cameo). Populating Morgan's Creek with his troupe of scene stealers, serving up non-sequitur and pratfalls while making pointed observations about societal hypocrisy Miracle follows the comic path from start to finish.
Very risqué for the time
jellopuke5 December 2018
Much of what would have made this work has faded into history, but it was super daring at the time. There's a lot of funny stuff, but the two leads are such over actors that it can be really annoying, especially Eddie Bracken... he nearly ruins every scene he's in with his loud, obnoxious "Oh the spots!" exclamations.
I don't feel that this is one of Sturges's best as it seems really thrown together, like they had the great premise and didn't know how to get out of it, but it's still worth seeing to know what was considered super risqué for the time.
How Miraculous Morgan's Creek Truly Is
dfloro17 July 2021
Preston Sturges is often referred to as "the king of the screwball comedy," the acknowledged master of writing and directing this tricky variant combining rapid-fire repartee dialogue with the occasional slapstick pratfall. A lot easier to describe in words than to execute on a movie screen. Equally interesting is what Hollywood and the Hays Code allowed him to get away with, as in this above-average example starring Betty Hutton, Eddie Bracken, Diana Lynn as Betty's sister, & William Demarest as her cantankerous dad. Against her father's wishes, and w/enabling assistance from Bracken and Lynn, Hutton goes to a send off for departing soldiers, accidentally gets drunk, is married to one of the soldiers in an impromptu ceremony, and then promptly forgets which soldier was the groom. But the more scandalous part back in 1943, when this movie was made, was the revelation that this single-night soirée has resulted in Hutton's pregnancy. Yowza! The best aspects of the story here are 1) that nobody thinks of Hutton's character as a tramp or floozy, and 2) that the whole situation in which she finds herself is just considered wacky and doesn't change Bracken's genuine and long-standing love and admiration for her. I can't believe this plotline got to theater screens virtually unchanged from Sturges original screenplay, which went on to be nominated for an Oscar. Like so many of Preston Sturges' screwball comedies, this one's right in there over home plate. 8/10.
Phonetic gymnastics and pratfalls make for classic screwball comedy
PudgyPandaMan20 July 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I found this to be a mildly funny and extremely fast paced screwball comedy. Betty Hutton is quite cute in her portrayal of Trudy Kockenlocker. Yes, that's her name. And yes, there are quite a few phonetic gymnastics required in the crazy dialogue. There's "Ignatz Ratzkywatzky" - the so called husband Trudy marries on a whim after a night of partying with soldiers about to ship out. But the problem is, she can't exactly remember his name and used a fake name for herself. So, she can't find proof of the marriage and is devastated when she learns she is pregnant.
I'm not sure I like the humor poked at having a unknown marriage partner, and a resulting pregnancy. But I'm sure things happened like that during the war as boys were being shipped out.
The dad is very funny and is played by William Demarest (male nanny from "My Three Sons". His pratfalls, at his age, are quite impressive and are probably some of the funnier moments in the movie for me. And the younger sister, played by Diana Lynn, is very wise beyond her years. Quite a mature performance for such a young girl.
I'm not sure I like the humor poked at having a unknown marriage partner, and a resulting pregnancy. But I'm sure things happened like that during the war as boys were being shipped out.
The dad is very funny and is played by William Demarest (male nanny from "My Three Sons". His pratfalls, at his age, are quite impressive and are probably some of the funnier moments in the movie for me. And the younger sister, played by Diana Lynn, is very wise beyond her years. Quite a mature performance for such a young girl.
Hilarious historical gem
ldydo26 September 2004
I was captivated from the beginning! I watch old movies looking for how much has either remained the same or changed in our society. Lots to think about in this one! Then, ten minutes in, I realized how charmed I was by the goofy comedy. Very daring for it's time - Betty spends nearly the whole movie pregnant, without anyone ever saying "pregnant"! I was absolutely beguiled by every character, even while they were irritating me! Attitudes towards female/male roles in old movies are always an eye opener.
And pure genius to bring in Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini for a laugh!
I passed up watching NFL football to finish watching this one. And to me, football is religion. So how's that for a recommendation?
And pure genius to bring in Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini for a laugh!
I passed up watching NFL football to finish watching this one. And to me, football is religion. So how's that for a recommendation?
It gets better
DrTuvok1 November 2021
Many of the glowing reviews here are a bit puzzling in that they praise this movie's 'satire'. I saw very little satire here worth noting; the entire opening act was a series of increasingly shrill set-pieces with scant laughs in between. People who see this as satire poking fun at patriotism or whatever are, I think, reading too much into it.
But then something happens. The movie starts to get funny! It's all in the momentum; situations of absurdity begin to build and spiral out of control, even culminating in Hitler. I'd say the second half provides more laughs then can be found in any other individual Preston Sturges film, and indeed, any comedy made after the 1980s.
But then something happens. The movie starts to get funny! It's all in the momentum; situations of absurdity begin to build and spiral out of control, even culminating in Hitler. I'd say the second half provides more laughs then can be found in any other individual Preston Sturges film, and indeed, any comedy made after the 1980s.
Didn't Laugh Once; Didn't even come CLOSE to laughing
kwaits9 May 2008
What a disappointment! I'd been wanting to see "Miracle of Morgan's Creek" for YEARS. I LOVE "Lady Eve" and ESPECIALLY "Sullivan's Travels." But this one I found loud, obnoxious and unfunny. Brian Donlevy as "McGinty" was about the only thing I liked. Oh...and Diana Lynn as the little sister - very droll.
The cast is a big part of the problem, I think. Consider the actors in the Sturges movies I love - Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, the great Joel McCrea; even Veronica Lake was a real talent. I'm sorry, but as far as I can tell, Betty Hutton is just loud and energetic - not funny. (It always makes me so sad that we got stuck with her instead of Judy Garland in "Annie Get Your Gun.") As for Bracken - just unable to carry the film. I love William Demarest in a number of other films, but here he's just loud and even somewhat violent and unpleasant.
A lot of the laughs are SUPPOSED to be in the physical comedy - pratfalls, double takes, etc. I never even grinned. The situation, the speed of the movie - I see how they're all POTENTIALLY hilarious. But, for me, it just never happened.
The cast is a big part of the problem, I think. Consider the actors in the Sturges movies I love - Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, the great Joel McCrea; even Veronica Lake was a real talent. I'm sorry, but as far as I can tell, Betty Hutton is just loud and energetic - not funny. (It always makes me so sad that we got stuck with her instead of Judy Garland in "Annie Get Your Gun.") As for Bracken - just unable to carry the film. I love William Demarest in a number of other films, but here he's just loud and even somewhat violent and unpleasant.
A lot of the laughs are SUPPOSED to be in the physical comedy - pratfalls, double takes, etc. I never even grinned. The situation, the speed of the movie - I see how they're all POTENTIALLY hilarious. But, for me, it just never happened.
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