Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 22-August-10
Spoiler Rating: Low

Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)

Two things stand out about Preston Sturges' wartime comedy Hail the Conquering Hero. One is how adroitly Eddie Bracken inhabits the central role. He plays a young man named Woodrow Truesmith who has moped around for a year after being benched from World War II due to allergies. One night he buys beers for six Marines on leave. The eldest (William Demarest) knew his father, a Marine who died grandly, and as if to prove his parentage Woodrow recites the names of the corps' famous battles. The sincerity in this scene suggests, along with another at the end of the movie, that Bracken might have been a versatile star like Cary Grant if he had possessed a leading man's looks. From this semi-serious start the story launches into a cascade of white lies for which the actor glides easily into farce. One of the leathernecks, a sentimental bruiser (Freddie Steele), objects to Woodrow's having deceived his mother into thinking that he shipped overseas, even though Woodrow did this out of kindness as much as shame. The Marine gets the mother on the phone, and before he knows what's happening Woodrow has been honorably discharged and bundled on a train for a reunion with Dear Old Ma. His new friends come along to witness the results of their handiwork. Expecting a quick and low-key visit, Woodrow arrives to find his entire hometown welcoming him as a war hero. He gapes at marching bands, people waving laudatory placards, and his old girlfriend (Ella Raines) with stars in her eyes. Over the next few days he tries to escape the lie, or at least prevent the need for more lies, but they bloom around him like summer roses. Bracken shows every evidence of feeling the thorns.

The other remarkable thing about Hail the Conquering Hero is how writer/director Sturges pokes fun at the corniness of the small town while simultaneously approving of its simplicity. Woodrow's mother (Georgia Caine) is a classic type, with a cameo adorning her plump bosom and a wonderful way about the kitchen. The mayor (Raymond Walburn) is the sort of scoundrel only one-horse politics could spawn. Every outdoor scene features a picket fence or porch on a Queen Anne cottage. But even as we laugh at how the rubes overdo their adoration of the local hero, we notice among them a desire for honest dealings and a deep-seated civic pride. Woodrow embodies these virtues. The irony is that he is the neighbor least likely to tell a lie, yet he is the focal point of an egregious misrepresentation. When a committee of concerned citizens asks him to run for mayor, his guilt grows unbearable because he truly believes that the position carries a sacred trust.

I much prefer Sturges' wit when applied to stories like this (another example: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, also from 1944 and starring Bracken). When he concocts gender-based snafus among the sophisticated set, his humor is cynical and cold; here it is warm and inviting. Anchored by an actor with range, Hail the Conquering Hero takes advantage of the amusing smallness and admirable bigness of the traditional hometown.

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