Dec. 2: Miracle of Morgan's Creek
Tonight's movie is different from the usual offering. I don't know anyone with quite the gift for character and story than Preston Sturges. His career flashed bright for eight, maybe ten movies, but they were classics and beloved by lovers of visual storytelling, clever dialogue, eccentric characters, gags, and plots that pull at our heartstrings as well as they pull at our funnybone. They are stemwinders of storytelling. And this one, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, has a Christmas climax.
The Kochenlockers of Morgan's Creek, the small middle America non-descript town, are well-known by everyone there. The older daughter -of the town's sole law enforcement officer (William Demarest)- is Trudy (Betty Hutton), who likes a good time like any gal in her age group. She wants to go to the big sendoff dance for the local servicemen; Papa says no, so Trudy enlists her platonic friend since childhood, Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken) (who cannot get into the service because of his blood pressure--he sees "spots") to help her out by pretending to go to the movies with him that night.
Things do not work out as planned.
And because babies born at Christmastime are special.
Merry Christmas and Happy birthday!
DVD available at Amazon, video streaming at various sources, including Amazon and YouTube.