:
Eddie Bracken,
Eddie Bracken,
Betty Hutton,
more...
:
Preston Sturges,
Preston Sturges
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Paramount
: Classics, Comedies, Classic Comedy, Classic Comedy, Screwball, Dysfunctional Families
: 98 min.
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"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Firmly in the latter category is Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken), a feckless wartime 4-F who must stand by helplessly as his sweetheart Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) entertains every visiting GI in town. One morning after a particularly wild night, Trudy labors under the apprehension that last eve, she'd married a soldier named Ratzkywatzky or something. Evidently something had happened that night, for soon Trudy discovers that she's pregnant. Hiding this information from her bombastic policeman father (William Demarest), Trudy begs Norval to tell the world that he's the father. He agrees, but only after secretly wedding Trudy under an assumed name. Complications and disasters pile up thick and fast, and before long Norval is facing arrest on a variety of charges. Providentially, Trudy gives birth to sextuplets-and suddenly Norval is a national hero! This vintage Preston Sturges farce plays so fast and loose with the censorial restrictions of mid-1940s Hollywood that critic James Agee was moved to comment that, "the Hays office must have been raped in its sleep." As usual, Sturges populates his cast with steadfast members of his stock company-- including, in guest roles, Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff, the stars of his previous film, The Great McGinty. Originally filmed in 1942, Miracle was held from release from two years, not because of censor problems but because its parent studio, Paramount, was overloaded with product. Miracle of Morgan's Creek was remade (and considerably laundered) as the 1958 Jerry Lewis vehicle Rock-a-bye Baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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| Sane As A Dane
by randomcha
August 30, 2005 - 11:47 AM PDT
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5 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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| Actually, that's an Eddie Bracken quote from another Sturges classic ("Hail The Conquering Hero"). But you still ought to see THIS one too! No mushy-mouthed yuletide heartwarmer this (without giving away too much of the plot twist), no sir. Instead what we have here is a subversive film that so darn cheerful, you almost wouldn't notice that it's satirizing small town Americana, wartime patriotism and every single one of the Ten Commandments! Sturges sure knew how to pull a fast one. |
| The SPOTS!!
by ZenBones
August 30, 2005 - 10:47 AM PDT
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5 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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| Where Preston Sturges' "Sullivan's Travels" is a hilarious movie and gives us a soulful understanding of why comedy is so necessary, this movie just knocks you off your feet like a million bowling balls coming at you full speed. It's hard for me to say which one of two is my favorite of his movies, but if I were to add up all of my chuckles and howls on a whoop-o-meter, I'd have to say that this is - dare I say it? - the greatest slapstick movie ever made. There isn't an ounce of subtlety in its comedy, as one can see from the names of the beloved couple - Trudy Kockenlocker and Ignatz Ratzkywatsky (formally Norval Jones). But the movie does have layers of sophistication and cleverness, because it dared to cover the taboo subject of unwed motherhood at a time when you couldn't even say the word "pregnant". How they managed to get away with that is indeed the 'miracle' of Morgan's Creek and of Sturges' fertile, screwball mind. The cast, which includes many Sturges regulars, are each at their top form, including Eddie ("The Spots!") Bracken, who chews up scenery like a neurotic piranha, and the wonderfully grinchy William Demarest, who performs balletic pratfalls with the utmost dignity. I hate to sound like a cliché, but they really don't make 'em like this anymore! |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.86)
36 Votes
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