Miracle au village

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.