Hail the Conquering Hero

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This article is about Preston Sturges's 1944 film. For George Frideric Handel's musical composition of the same name, see Judas Maccabaeus (Handel).
Hail the Conquering Hero
Robert Emmett Dolan
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
August 9, 1944
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) is a

comedy-drama film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines and William Demarest, and featuring Raymond Walburn, Franklin Pangborn, Elizabeth Patterson, Bill Edwards and Freddie Steele
.

Sturges was nominated for a 1945 Academy Award for his screenplay. Many critics consider the film to be one of Sturges's best.[1] It was the eighth film he made for Paramount Pictures, and also his last, although The Great Moment was released after it. Sturges later wrote about his departure, "I guess Paramount was glad to be rid of me eventually, as no one there ever understood a word I said."[2]

In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3][4][5]

Plot

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith is a small town boy whose father, "

hay fever. Rather than disappoint his mother, he pretends to be fighting overseas in World War II while secretly working in a San Diego
shipyard.

In a chance encounter in a bar he buys a round of drinks for six Marines back from the

Master Gunnery Sergeant Heffelfinger. It transpires that Heffelfinger served with Woodrow's father in the 6th Marines in World War I. One of the Marines decides to telephone Woodrow's mother, telling her that he has received a medical discharge, so she will not have to worry about him. Woodrow is vehemently opposed to the fraud, but the Marines are all for it. Heffelfinger embellishes the charade by having Woodrow swap coats with one of the Marines that have the 1st Marine Division Battle Blaze
and Pacific Theatre of Operations medals on it.

When they step off the train, the seemingly harmless deception has escalated beyond control; the entire town turns out to greet its homegrown hero. With an election coming up, the citizens decide to make an unwilling Woodrow their candidate against the pompous current mayor, Mr. Noble. Complicating matters even further, Woodrow had written his girlfriend Libby, telling her not to wait for him. She has since gotten engaged to Forrest Noble, the mayor's son.

Finally, Woodrow can stand it no longer. He confesses everything at a campaign rally and goes home to pack. Libby breaks her engagement and tells Woodrow she is going with him. Meanwhile, Heffelfinger praises Woodrow's courage in telling the truth to the stunned townsfolk, and after considering the matter, they decide that Woodrow has just the qualities they need in a mayor.

Cast

Songs

Aside from songs associated with the military, such as "

Mademoiselle from Armentieres" by Harry Carlton and Joe Tunbridge and "Halls of Montezuma", music by Jacques Offenbach, Hail the Conquering Hero contains two original songs by Preston Sturges
:

  • "Home to the Arms of Mother" - music and lyrics by Preston Sturges, orchestral arrangement by Charles W. Bradshaw, vocal arrangements by Joseph J. Lilley
  • "We Want Woodrow" - music and lyrics by Preston Sturges, arranged by Charles W. Bradshaw

Other songs in the film include two written by

Robert Emmett Dolan
: "Have I Stayed Away Too Long" and "Gotta Go to Jailhouse".

The score also contains excerpts from "Hail the Conquering Hero" from

Judas Maccabeus by George Frideric Handel.[6][7]

Production

Hail the Conquering Hero had a number of working titles on its way to the screen. An early title was "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition", and "Once Upon a Hero" and "The Little Marine" were also used.

Although The Great Moment, which had been filmed before Hail the Conquering Hero, was released after it, this film was the last that Sturges made for Paramount Pictures, as his contract ran out and he left the studio even before the film was completely edited. He and the studio had numerous conflicts over editorial control, censorship problems and other issues on The Great Moment and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. The studio also balked at Sturges' repeated use of the same bit actors again and again in most of his Paramount films, what has been called his "stock company" or "repertory troupe." The studio was concerned that people would get tired of seeing the same faces, and wanted Sturges to use different actors, which he refused to do: "I always replied that these little players who had contributed so much to my first hits had a moral right to work in my subsequent pictures."[2]

There were also conflicts with the studio about this film: Paramount wanted actress Ella Raines, who was playing "Libby", to be replaced: not only did they feel she did not look like a small-town girl, but she did not have enough box-office draw, and with the other lead roles being taken by Bracken and Demarest, the studio was concerned that the film would not have enough star power to be effectively sold. But filming had already started, and Sturges refused to replace her.

Cervantes. I should have known about tilting at windmills.[2]

(Raines' career did not last long in any event: she retired in 1957.)[8]

It was customary at the time for the

War Department to review scripts which dealt with military matters, but the revisions they requested were minor. Filming began on Hail the Conquering Hero on July 14, 1943, and continued through September 11 of that year. Sturges had designed the film to be relatively small scale, and he re-used sets left over from The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.[2]

After an unsuccessful preview in New York City, the film was recut by producer Buddy G. DeSylva, as Sturges had already left Paramount. After another unsuccessful preview – and, not coincidentally, after The Miracle of Morgan's Creek had been released and become a smash hit[2] – DeSylva accepted Sturges' offer to return, unpaid, and rewrite the script. Retakes, directed by Sturges, were done from April 7 to April 11, 1944. Sturges restored his overall conception of the film.[1][2][9]

The film was released on August 9, 1944.[10] Sharp-eyed viewers may have noted that in the scene where the Marines leave the Oakdale station, a billboard behind them advertises The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, the film that Sturges made, also starring Eddie Bracken, immediately before this one.[11]

Reviews were uniformly excellent, with

New York Times
that it was "one of the wisest [movies] ever to burst from a big-time studio." Sturges exulted that, "It proves that a good story can lick its weight in stars and pomposity any day."[2]

Hail the Conquering Hero was released on video on November 15, 1990, on laserdisc on October 26, 1994, and was re-released on video on June 30, 1993.[12] It was released on DVD (as part of a seven disc set entitled Preston Sturges - The Filmmaker Collection) on November 21, 2006.

Accolades

Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards[13] Best Original Screenplay Preston Sturges Nominated
National Board of Review Awards[14] Top Ten Films 4th Place
Best Acting Eddie Bracken Won
Franklin Pangborn Won
National Film Preservation Board National Film Registry Inducted
New York Film Critics Circle Awards[15] Best Film Nominated
Best Director Preston Sturges Nominated
  • The
    New York Times named the film one of the "Ten Best Films of 1944".[16]

Analysis

One writer described Hail the Conquering Hero as "a satire on mindless hero-worship, small-town politicians, and something we might call "Mom-ism," the almost idolatrous reverence that Americans have for the institution of Motherhood," and Sturges himself said that of all his films, it was "the one with the least wrong with it." The film has the normal hallmarks of Sturges' best work: an extremely fast pace, overlapping dialogue, and rapid-fire punch lines. Monty Python's Terry Jones called it "like a wonderful piece of clockwork."[2]

The film can be seen as a look at patriotism and hero worship in the United States during World War II, and while adhering to the

Production Code – even more restrictive in wartime – it can be seen as somewhat critical of people's willingness to uncritically embrace heroes. In this regard it is a companion piece to The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
, the previous Sturges satirical venture.

References

  1. ^ a b c TCM Notes
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Frankel, Mark "Hail the Conquering Hero" (TCM article)
  3. ^ Mike Barnes (December 16, 2015). "'Ghostbusters,' 'Top Gun,' 'Shawshank' Enter National Film Registry". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  4. ^ "2015 National Film Registry: "Ghostbusters" Gets the Call". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
  5. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
  6. ^ IMDB Soundtracks
  7. ^ TCM Music
  8. IMDb
  9. ^ TCM Overview
  10. ^ IMDB Release dates
  11. IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  12. ^ TCM Misc. notes
  13. ^ "The 17th Academy Awards (1945) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
  14. ^ "1944 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  15. ^ "1944 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". New York Film Critics Circle. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  16. ^ Allmovie Awards

External links

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