1h 41min | Comedy, War | September 1944
Director: Preston Sturges
Stars: Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines, Raymond Walburn, William Demarest
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036891/
On disc, but also available online.
I had added this movie to my quest to fill in non-musical perspectives on the war; I added lots of titles based on a query, not prejudging whether I wanted to watch them. In this quest, I've been complaining about Betty Hutton, and disliked Eddie Bracken in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek ('43) with her. Seeing that BH was absent, and I generally adore Preston Sturges, I thought I'd give this a try. I liked it.
WD plays a large role, and I like him a lot. I don't want to discuss the plot, which is good, so I can watch this fresh again later. Let's just say it's far-fetched (it's a comedy), but logically consistent. I scratched the verb in the synopsis, because it attributes the fabrication to Woodrow (EB), and that's not who does the fabricating.
The actor who plays Bugsy (the handsome Marine whose earliest plot point is that he holds out 15 cents from his friends) does an excellent job. He has several movie credits, and even has credits in a couple of musicals in this quest. But I never noticed him; now he's featured and shines.
Story, casting, direction, pacing - all good.
Paramount, dir. Sturges; 7
