The Miracle of Morgan's Creek is a 1944 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.
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.
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 may be potentially unflattering.
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."
Norval is accused of abducting Trudy, impersonating a soldier, impairing the morals of a minor, resisting arrest and perjury.
Trudy's father arrests Norval and locks him in the town jail after the justice of the peace rips up the fake marriage certificate.
After months in hiding, Norval appears at his attorney's office, where he learns that the constable was fired after his ruse was not believed and that the Kockenlockers have moved out of town.
The governor even gives Norval a retroactive commission in the state guard, entitling him to legally wear a uniform, and Trudy's father is named police chief.
[4] Sturges developed the idea for The Miracle of Morgan's Creek in the late-1930s: The original story revolved around his heroine, Trudy Kockenlocker, a woman who becomes pregnant by a wealthy banker's son who refuses to marry her, leading her to being cared for by a hermit before she gives birth to sextuplets.
[6] Describing the screenplay, Sturges biographer Diane Jacobs notes that the film features small-town characters who "are as diverse and scrappy as city folk.
"[7] While Sturges was completing The Great Moment (1944), he pitched the idea for the film intending to cast Betty Hutton and Harry Carey in the lead roles as Trudy and Norval.
[8] The role of Papa Kockenlocker was written with William Demarest in mind, while Sturges chose to cast pianist Diana Lynn as Trudy's sister.
[11] Sturges was reported to have been "moody" on the set, partly attributed to the pressure he had received from the production code over the film's controversial content.
[15]Problems arose with Hays Office censors early into the film's production because of its subject matter, particularly its candid representation of an unwed pregnant woman.
[23] Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times: "a more audacious picture—a more delightfully irreverent one—than this new lot of nonsense at the Paramount has never come slithering madly down the path.
"[24] Critic James Agee noted that "the Hays office has either been hypnotized into a liberality for which it should be thanked, or has been raped in its sleep" to allow the film to be released.
Its critics' consensus says: "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek finds director Preston Sturges at his most zanily subversive -- not to mention hilarious.
[28] In a positive review of nine out of ten stars by Mike Massie, writing for Gone With The Twins, states the film is "handled with a spectacular hilarity and cleverness; when the hole is dug this deep, the only way out is through further outrageousness.