What a disappointment! I'd been wanting to see "Miracle of Morgan's Creek" for YEARS. I LOVE "Lady Eve" and ESPECIALLY "Sullivan's Travels." But this one I found loud, obnoxious and unfunny. Brian Donlevy as "McGinty" was about the only thing I liked. Oh...and Diana Lynn as the little sister - very droll.
The cast is a big part of the problem, I think. Consider the actors in the Sturges movies I love - Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, the great Joel McCrea; even Veronica Lake was a real talent. I'm sorry, but as far as I can tell, Betty Hutton is just loud and energetic - not funny. (It always makes me so sad that we got stuck with her instead of Judy Garland in "Annie Get Your Gun.") As for Bracken - just unable to carry the film. I love William Demarest in a number of other films, but here he's just loud and even somewhat violent and unpleasant.
A lot of the laughs are SUPPOSED to be in the physical comedy - pratfalls, double takes, etc. I never even grinned. The situation, the speed of the movie - I see how they're all POTENTIALLY hilarious. But, for me, it just never happened.
The cast is a big part of the problem, I think. Consider the actors in the Sturges movies I love - Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, the great Joel McCrea; even Veronica Lake was a real talent. I'm sorry, but as far as I can tell, Betty Hutton is just loud and energetic - not funny. (It always makes me so sad that we got stuck with her instead of Judy Garland in "Annie Get Your Gun.") As for Bracken - just unable to carry the film. I love William Demarest in a number of other films, but here he's just loud and even somewhat violent and unpleasant.
A lot of the laughs are SUPPOSED to be in the physical comedy - pratfalls, double takes, etc. I never even grinned. The situation, the speed of the movie - I see how they're all POTENTIALLY hilarious. But, for me, it just never happened.