The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)

Directed by

Preston Sturges

Genre

romantic comedy

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 39m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 124 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A small-town woman goes to a party with soldiers and wakes up married and pregnant, but she cannot remember the husband. She tries to hide the situation with the help of a shy local boy, leading to a cascade of misunderstandings. The story ends with an unexpected twist involving multiple newborns.

fast-pacedzanyirreverentfarcicalwhirlwindromantichilariousabsurd

What happens

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek is a 1943 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton, and featuring Diana Lynn, William Demarest and Porter Hall. Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff reprise their roles from Sturges' 1940 film The Great McGinty. Set against the backdrop of World War II-era America, its plot follows a wayward young woman who, after attending a party with soldiers in her small town, awakens to find herself married and pregnant, with no memory of her new suitor's identity. Sturges began developing the idea for the film in the late 1930s, and wrote both Hutton's and Demarest's roles with the actors in mind. Principal photography took place between late 1942 and early 1943. Early into production, the film was met by considerable objections from the Hays Office for its candid depiction of an unwed pregnant mother, as well as for its representation of American soldiers, which the United States War Department felt might be potentially unflattering. The film's narrative structure is shaped around the titular "miracle"—the lead character's birth of sextuplets—being revealed at the end of the film, and Paramount Pictures promoted it with the suggestion that audiences and the press avoid revealing its surprise ending. Released in the United Kingdom in December 1943 and in the United States in early 1944, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek was met by critical praise at the time of its release, and continues to receive generally positive reception in modern reviews. It was nominated for a 1945 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2001, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film ranks #54 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Laughs list of the top 100 funniest films in history. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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