The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

Synopsis: Trudy Kockenlocker, a small-town girl with a soft spot for American soldiers, wakes up the morning after a wild farewell party for the troops to find that she married someone she can't remember--and she's pregnant. Norval Jones, the 4-F local boy who's been in love with Trudy for years, tries to help her find a way out of her predicament. Trudy complicates matters further by falling for Norval, and events snowball from there.
Genre: Comedy, Romance, War
Director(s): Preston Sturges
Production: Paramount Home Video
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
7.9
Rotten Tomatoes:
88%
APPROVED
Year:
1943
98 min
413 Views


- Hey, Doctor!

- I'm not a doctor. He's upstairs.

Hold the presses! Hold everything!

Hold it! Get me the state capital.

I've got to talk to the Governor immediately!

It's a matter of life and death.

- Hello. Mr. Governor?

- Yeah.

The editor of what? The Bugle? Yeah.

What town was that again? Morgan's Creek?

Is that in my state? Never heard of it.

You never heard of it?

By tomorrow morning,

Morgan's Creek will be...

- the most famous town in America.

- The world!

This is the last free phone in town.

Every room has been reserved...

- for 15 miles around.

- Thirty!

A 100 newspapermen are here

and 500 more are expected tomorrow.

A thousand.

- There's a shortage of food, telephones...

- Milk.

- Telegraph wires!

- Liquor.

- Transportation, policemen and everything.

- Tents.

We need a lot of help or they're going

to tear this town up by the roots.

We need state police...

- food, water, beds, blankets.

- Plumbing!

Wait a minute. Take it easy, will you?

What happened down there?

You got a flood or did you strike oil

or something?

- "Did we strike oil or something?"

- Tell him!

- No, Mr. Governor, we did not strike oil.

- Anybody can strike oil.

- We have not got a flood.

- Anybody can have a flood.

- What we've got, Mr. Governor, is...

- You got what?

- Yes, Mr. Governor.

- Shut up! Not you.

Are you sure of your facts?

This is important.

I wish I could be down there myself.

This is a matter of state policy,

state pride, national pride.

Hold the wire a minute. Get on this line,

take everything down in shorthand.

Get a map of the state.

Make sure that Morgan's Creek is in it.

If it ain't, maybe we could persuade them

to move over.

- Yes, Mr. Governor?

- Shut up! Not you.

Get me all the newspapermen.

I want to speak to the radio stations.

- What happened?

- Things like this gotta be guided.

Get right down to Morgan's Creek,

buy up a few choice corners...

some hotel sites, they'll need some.

And the bus franchises will be very valuable.

- Morgan's what?

- "Creek," like a little river.

- A little river should have a big dam.

- Why not? Give me the facts.

It's the biggest thing happening to

this state since we stole it from the Indians.

- Borrowed.

- Who's excited now?

I'll tell you all I know, Mr. Governor.

I started the whole thing.

I was writing my midweek editorial,

I was looking for a subject for it.

I'm rather famous for my editorials

in this part of the state.

He's going to tell us his life story!

And I noticed a few soldiers in the town.

- What an eye!

- What a bore!

It occurred to me

that the girls in the town...

and the soldiers around the towns would

make an excellent subject for my editorial!

All right, let's have it!

We're going to get it anyhow.

I was looking out the window

and there I saw Off. Kockenlocker...

our town constable,

directing traffic as usual.

Keep moving! Can't you see it says "Go?"

Get out of here!

We got to get some dates for that

dance tonight. You got any numbers?

Try the telephone company.

What do you think I am?

- Tough guy, huh?

- Tough enough, rookie!

Where do you get that rookie stuff?

Listen, cookie, I was in France

before you were housebroken.

Now, get off the street

and behave yourselves.

- What's all the trouble?

- There's no trouble.

I just don't like to be talked to

by rookies, that's all.

This is Mr. Kockenlocker, gentlemen,

a sergeant in the other war.

- It's all different now, Ed.

- It's all done with kindness.

Yeah. Come on, get off the street.

Quit blocking the traffic.

- Please.

- Please.

You get the idea, Ed?

It's more psychological.

- Good afternoon.

- Good afternoon.

Excuse me, were you looking for some girls?

- We certainly were.

- I know of one.

- I'll bet you do, sugar.

- It's Mr. Kockenlocker's daughter.

That crab?

She's one of the prettiest girls in town.

She works in Rafferty's Music Store.

Come on now, you got to beat it or buy

something before Mr. Rafferty gets after me.

- Will you come tonight?

- Sure, I'll be there.

All right, so long, Trudy.

- Save the first dance for me, will you?

- I'll flip you for it.

Save me the last dance.

- Hello, Trudy.

- Hello, Norval.

I'd like a package

of phonograph needles, please.

- Three Indestructos or 36 Ragons?

- It really doesn't matter.

- I think the Indestructos...

- Thank you, Trudy.

I passed by the lobby. They've got

three pictures playing at the Regent tonight.

I thought that if you weren't doing anything,

considering that I was also free...

I'm awfully sorry, Norval,

but I wouldn't be able to make it tonight.

I promised to go to the dance

for the boys that are going away.

- For the soldiers.

- That's right, Norval. I'm awful sorry.

You'd think they'd give a party sometime

for those who have to stay behind.

They also serve, who only sit and...

Whatever they do, I forget.

I'm sure they do, Norval.

I don't get to see you quite as much

as I used to, or as I'd like to, Trudy.

I'm awfully sorry, Norval.

Naturally, the camps, the canteens and

everything take up a lot of your spare time.

Naturally.

Why don't you come tonight?

The tickets are only 50 cents.

It isn't the 50 cents.

I wouldn't feel right not being in uniform.

- I guess nobody feels good about that.

- It isn't as if I hadn't tried.

- But every time they start to examine me...

- I know.

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Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. In 1941, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film The Great McGinty, his first of three nominations in the category. Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. It is not uncommon for a Sturges character to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall within the same scene. A tender love scene between Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve was enlivened by a horse, which repeatedly poked its nose into Fonda's head. Prior to Sturges, other figures in Hollywood (such as Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, and Frank Capra) had directed films from their own scripts, however Sturges is often regarded as the first Hollywood figure to establish success as a screenwriter and then move into directing his own scripts, at a time when those roles were separate. Sturges famously sold the story for The Great McGinty to Paramount Pictures for $1, in return for being allowed to direct the film; the sum was quietly raised to $10 by the studio for legal reasons. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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