The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943)

“The trouble with kids is they always figure they’re smarter than their parents – never stop to think if their old man could get by for 50 years and feed ’em and clothe ’em – he maybe had something up here to get by with – things that seem like brain twisters to you might be very simple for him.” – Constable Kockenlocker

Number of Times Seen – 1 (23 Jun 2019)

Brief Synopsis – After a wild night with a group of soldiers about to be shipped overseas, a young girl finds out that she is married and pregnant yet doesn’t know who the father is.

My Take on it – This is a film that I came across by accident without knowing anything about the plot and was intrigued to see what it was all about.

The subject matter of this film wasn’t something i would have expected to see being made in the 40’s.

They are able to keep this story quite entertaining despite the subject matter due to the way that they utilize innuendo and euphemisms throughout despite the censorship laws of the time.

The premise is quite racy for its time, yet it still works well throughout.

The comedy of errors presented here is so much fun even though it doesn’t feel unique at all and is pretty predictable from start to finish.

The cast is great and helps keep the enjoyment level quite high. Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton are both great as the leads and the mix of physical and verbal comedy works really well.

Great seeing William Demarest in this film as Hutton’s widower father who is overly protective of her and her sister.

The dialogue is layered really well and helps keep the story flowing so well from start to finish even when it sometimes gets a bit out of hand.

This film helps show how timeless the concepts presented in this film are and serves as a blatant reminder that just because movies of this era seems to be quite “pure”, the world of that time wasn’t very different from our current world.

Bottom Line – Interesting film that manages to be quite entertaining since they properly utilize innuendo and euphemisms to try and deal with its very racy premise due to the censorship laws of the day. The film is able to keep the comedy of errors quite enjoyable even if things don’t feel very unique and is extremely predictable. Bracken and Hutton are both great in the leads. Great seeing Demarest in this and he is perfectly cast as Hutton’s protective widower father.  This film has great dialogue that keeps the story flowing even when it gets a little out of hand.  Helps show how timeless some of the concepts in the film are and is a reminder that just because movies were “purer” during this era, doesn’t mean the world was. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The long tracking shots of Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken (and also Hutton and Diana Lynn) delivering pages of dialogue while walking for five minutes down several blocks of the town streets were extremely complex to film for that era. Cameras were placed on tracks and pulled backwards by six crewmembers. The sound crew also walked backwards with handheld boom microphones, while other assistants maneuvered 300 yards of cable, lights and reflectors. Preston Sturges and John Seitz shot more than 11,000 feet of film before they got the desired footage (400 feet) they needed. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)

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