The Miracle of Morgans Creek
starring Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton,
Diana Lynn, William Demarest, Porter
Hall
A Christmas Miracle
During World War II, Hollywoods patriotic duty was to shoot stirring dramas
and good-hearted comedies that celebrated Americas brave soldiers and
honored their loyal, virtuous wives and girlfriends. Which goes a long way
toward explaining why this delirious Preston Sturges farce, filmed in 1943
at the height of the war effort (and of its directors powers), was delayed for
a year while Paramount executives wrestled with Sturgess irreverence: in
Morgans Creek, the writer-director tweaked those stereotypes with his tale
of Trudy Kockenlocker, a small-town girl who only wants to send our boys
off with a smile. That she does, but she wakes up after an all-night party
with vague memories of a dubious wedding and soon finds herself
pregnant. Trudy, played by the ebullient Betty Hutton, is wholesome, sexy,

and something of a ditz, in contrast to Sturgess usual savvy heroines
(represented instead by Trudys teenaged younger sister, played by Diana
Lynn). Trudys savior is would-be boyfriend Norval, played to apoplectic
perfection by the rubber-faced Eddie Bracken, who was never better than
in this wide-eyed, pratfall-happy performance as the weary but loyal draft
reject who stands by his girl. As Trudys father, Sturges regular William
Demarest likewise achieves a series of comic peaks as the exasperated
and increasingly desperate Officer Kockenlocker. Like Sturgess other
Bracken-Demarest vehicle, the equally fine Hail, the Conquering Hero, The
Miracle of Morgans Creek was unique among wartime movies for its
satirical sting and unblinking eye for hypocrisy on the home front. Its also
enormous fun, a comedic romp that epitomizes Sturgess kinetic, high-
speed style. --Sam Sutherland
Personal Review: The Miracle of Morgans Creek starring Eddie
Bracken, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, William Demarest, Porter
Hall
This has got to be one of the funniest, hilarious, zaniest, outrageous
movies of its time. Preston Struges, was one of the top writers then
directors for Paramount Studios when he made this film. He was the type
of man to have a crazy scene in there some kind of way. Another thing
about him is that he sprinkled the word sex in his movies pretty liberally.
Supposedly, it was made in 1941,1942, delayed a while, some say due to
the nature of the film, and hmm, I could see why if that be the case. Some
say for other reasons; Either way, with all the tampering, changes, what
have you, you still come up with this. Now you have this young girl Trudy
Knockenhocker played with relish by Betty Hutton, who is the daughter of
the local policeman William Demarest(who gave a sterling performance);
It's World War 2, the boys are leaving town, and Trudy wants to go to the
party the town is holding for the boys leaving for war. ok, but the father,
doesn't want her to go; So she gets Norval Jones, her 4F dependable
buddy, who also loves the proverbial ground she walks on(played by Eddie
Bracken)to say they were going to the movies. well, she ditches him there
and goes to the ball; Now first off the bat, when Trudy leaves supposedly
going to the movies in a ball gown and William Demarest doesn't get the
hint, something ain't right. Let me not neglect to add Diana Lynn who plays
her little but wise knowing sister; So, Norval gets stuck at the movies,
Trudy has the time of her life at the ball; And boy what a time.So much so,
she has a memory lapse due to her drinking too much champagne, and is
late picking Norval up that has folks thinking he took advantage of her; Oh
if they only knew...Anyhow, Trudy ends up noticing this ring on her finger
but she vaguely remembers the details. Now folks, even in this day and
time, we look at women kind of funny for that to an extent, but in those
days, THAT WAS A NO NO! and to show it in the movies, BIG NO NO!! To
this day, I still wonder how The Hays Office let this movie come off the lot
to theaters. But moving on, the night is forgotten but then old Trudy ends
up pregnant (OH HORROR!) and now she's got a dillemma; She can't
remember the name of the man, only some funny name and that they all
use fake names to marry. So lil sister cooks up a scheme to let Norval take

the fall and marry her. Now mind you, the fella only loved her from Day
One, so for him it was a big opportunity, but for her it was a way outof a
funky situation. So, she come up with the idea of him dressing up in a
uniform (WW1)and go somewhere to get married with fake names, but
when they kissed and stated their real names afterwards, the license folks
got wise and bring in the law all the way to the state government gets
involved in this one girl's business.Talk about a little problem snowballing..
I could go on, but you get the gist.
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