Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
Director: Preston Sturges
Honors:
In the heart of World War II many men felt the call of duty to
serve their country, but not all men would qualify for the task. Preston
Sturges’ comedy Hail the Conquering Hero
takes a humorous look at a man that does not qualify for the armed forces, but is
desperate to not embarrass his family in the process. As one of the most
creative comedic writers in Hollywood, Sturges was a misunderstood filmmaker at
the studio, and although Hail the
Conquering Hero was one of his finest works, it marked an end to a significant
time period in his career.
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| Hero... the fraud. |
Preston Sturges and his usual band of character actors
return in Hail the Conquering Hero, a
satirical comedy/drama of a young man whose fabrications of military service
brings him unwanted renowned by his hometown, much to his embarrassment and
guilt. Humiliated by his discharge from the military for his chronic hay fever,
Woodrow Tuesmith’s (Eddie Bracken) white lie of serving overseas turns him into
a local hero when a group of Marines made aware of his lie force him to return
to his small home town. To his embarrassed chagrin Woodrow’s neighbors, seeing
him an honorable man, sing his praises to the point where they attempt to make
him their next mayor. Unable to live with such a lie Woodrow admits his fabricated
story and prepares to leave town in shame only for the citizens to embrace him
for his honesty, compared to the crooked politician that runs the town.
It is a wacky comedy full of wit and off the wall humor. As
an audience you are embarrassed along with Woodrow as we witness him dig
himself into further holes of untruths. This is a classic Preston Sturges
comedy that keeps you entertained, laughing, while concurrently makes to some
degree a statement about the American culture and hero worship. Hail the Conquering Hero is a tale that
honors the men and women fighting overseas while bringing those who cannot
pride in that they can still do honorable things at home. The film is a lot of
things, but in the end it is just a movie, simply to entertain, which it does
so very well.
Utilizing his classic humor and storytelling qualities, writer/director/producer
Preston Sturges returns many of his favorite actors in yet another one of his
goofy comedies about ordinary people in a small American town. Starring the
peculiar, but very endearing Eddie Bracken as the young man whose military
discharge puts him in position he feels will shame his family. From this simple
notion this film takes us on a journey of how one man’s little white lie leads
to great problems. Much like Buster Keaton’s character in The General, Bracken’s character feels great shame in his inability
to join the service. Even though Bracken is not as talented as Keaton in the
realm of physical comedy, it is his use of expression that make Bracken just
about the perfect little guy that wants to do good, but finds himself in a deep
mess.
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| Bracken with Ella Raines under the watchful eye of Demarest. |
Other players of the usual Sturges’ company of actors make
their appearance in this picture, none more prevalent than the character actor
William Demarest as Sgt. Heffelfinger. In this picture Demarest is the
figurehead Marine of the group and plays a father figure to Wodrow, whose
father died in World War I. It is Heffelfinger that builds up his confidence
and pushes him to do the right thing. His performance is altogether
forgettable, meaning just about any middle aged Paramount actor could have
filled this character’s shoes, but with Sturges being loyal to his actors it
ended up with the stern, barrel-chested Demarest in the role.
Ella Raines performs as Bracken’s love interest, Libby, a
local sweetheart of a girl, adding an additional layer to the complications of
Woodrow’s life. Libby was Woodrow’s girlfriend before he attempted to join the
Marines, but in the length of time he had been gone she became engaged to the
mayor’s son, but does not have the heart to tell Woodrow. Woodrow, unaware of
Libby’s romantic entanglement, wants Libby to be free of their old relationship
and find herself a better man, but has trouble telling her, afraid of hurting
her feelings. As the two become
reacquainted they eventually share the truth to each other, but realize they
have fallen in love with each other all over again.
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| Woodrow drinks away his sorrows as a discharge with Marines. |
Producers did not agree with the casting choices of Sturges,
disliking his reuse of actors in his prior movies, as well as casting Ella
Raines, feeling she was too pretty to play a small town girl. Sturges’ tactic
to get his way was to simply plow on with production until the studio had no
choice, but to let Sturges complete the picture.
However, by the end of principle production the studio had
as much as they wanted from the filmmaker and dismissed him before the editing
began. The studio edited to their liking the picture and tested it with
audiences to vastly negative reviews. Stumped, the studio allowed Sturges to
return to Paramount to rework the script, shoot new scenes, and re-edit the
picture back to his liking, all done for the filmmakers own pride and without
pay. This newly reworked picture would become the feature that would eventually
release to wide audiences and played to positive reviews garnering Sturges an
Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.
All this praise did not smooth out anything between Paramount
and Preston Sturges as the severed ties. Paramount struggled to understand the
ways of a filmmaker that tended to work only with the same people every time
and finding himself under fire by censors for his material. Sturges would
attempt to work independently, taking years to finally produce more films and
to far lesser accolades.
Hail the Conquering
Hero was one of the highest praised films of the year by the National Board
of Review and other film critics. In time the picture was seen as one of
Sturges’ most beloved picture, even finding itself elected to the National Film
Registry in 2015. Ultimately it was the marker for the beginning of the end for
Sturges as one of the greatest comedy directors in Hollywood. His humor
inspired countless filmmakers, writers, humorists, and comedians well into the
future and films such as Hail the
Conquering Hero lives on in tribute of this man’s great creative mind.
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