I missed the first half-hour of it because of “The Simpsons,” but I saw a Preston Sturges classic tonight for the first time, and I love Preston Sturges.
The movie was “Hail the Conquering Hero” (1944). It has something in common with another Sturges movie — in fact, one of the funniest movies ever made — “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek.” In both movies, nerdy Eddie Bracken impersonates a service member, with the best of intentions, and then gets in big trouble for it. But that impersonation is only a part of “Morgan’s Creek.” It’s the central premise of “Conquering Hero.”
Bracken’s character, whose late father was a war hero and whose mother expects the same of him, is medically discharged from basic training due to hay fever. He goes into hiding for a while, unwilling to disappoint his mother, until some Marines (led by the always-funny William Demarest, a Sturges regular) take him under their wing and bring him back to his home town, passing him off as a war hero. Bracken resists the subterfuge and keeps trying to tell the truth, but no one will listen and soon he’s being drafted to run for mayor.
It’s funny, typical Sturges, and well worth seeing the next time TCM airs it.
Did I mention, however, that “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” is one of the funniest movies ever made?
