Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
Country: US
Technical: bw 101m
Director: Preston Sturges
Cast: Eddie Bracken, William Demarest, Raymond Walburn, Ella Raines
Synopsis:
Discharged from the Marines because of chronic hay fever, and ashamed to return home because his father was a hero in the last war, a shipyard worker does a good turn to some Marines on furlough and before long finds himself packed off on a train back to California where a hero's welcome awaits him.
Review:
The story-writing and sentiment are etched across the screen in bold capital letters but elsewhere this bold wartime comedy displays its creator's finesse for dialogue and satire, in this case on how ordinary folk can be made suckers of by the most obvious appeal imaginable. In the end of course they go for our hero anyway simply because they like him, but then it is a Hollywood product after all and a Paramount one at that. The adroit playing of a stock Sturges cast of character actors, counterbalanced by the unnerving portrayal of a mother-complexed, toothpick-chewing Italo-American corporal, adds up to an exhilarating ride for the bright and breezy (those feeling remotely jaded of mood may find the incessant shouting just too much!)
Country: US
Technical: bw 101m
Director: Preston Sturges
Cast: Eddie Bracken, William Demarest, Raymond Walburn, Ella Raines
Synopsis:
Discharged from the Marines because of chronic hay fever, and ashamed to return home because his father was a hero in the last war, a shipyard worker does a good turn to some Marines on furlough and before long finds himself packed off on a train back to California where a hero's welcome awaits him.
Review:
The story-writing and sentiment are etched across the screen in bold capital letters but elsewhere this bold wartime comedy displays its creator's finesse for dialogue and satire, in this case on how ordinary folk can be made suckers of by the most obvious appeal imaginable. In the end of course they go for our hero anyway simply because they like him, but then it is a Hollywood product after all and a Paramount one at that. The adroit playing of a stock Sturges cast of character actors, counterbalanced by the unnerving portrayal of a mother-complexed, toothpick-chewing Italo-American corporal, adds up to an exhilarating ride for the bright and breezy (those feeling remotely jaded of mood may find the incessant shouting just too much!)
Country: US
Technical: bw 101m
Director: Preston Sturges
Cast: Eddie Bracken, William Demarest, Raymond Walburn, Ella Raines
Synopsis:
Discharged from the Marines because of chronic hay fever, and ashamed to return home because his father was a hero in the last war, a shipyard worker does a good turn to some Marines on furlough and before long finds himself packed off on a train back to California where a hero's welcome awaits him.
Review:
The story-writing and sentiment are etched across the screen in bold capital letters but elsewhere this bold wartime comedy displays its creator's finesse for dialogue and satire, in this case on how ordinary folk can be made suckers of by the most obvious appeal imaginable. In the end of course they go for our hero anyway simply because they like him, but then it is a Hollywood product after all and a Paramount one at that. The adroit playing of a stock Sturges cast of character actors, counterbalanced by the unnerving portrayal of a mother-complexed, toothpick-chewing Italo-American corporal, adds up to an exhilarating ride for the bright and breezy (those feeling remotely jaded of mood may find the incessant shouting just too much!)