MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Dave from Ottawa Preston Sturges was a unique figure in Hollywood history. As a writer- director of witty, cleverly plotted comedies his work combined wacky fun with occasional sharp satiric potshots at social institutions and human foibles. If Hollywood had a Moliere, Sturges was that.Hail the Conquering Hero (1945) is a good place to start in any study of Sturges' work. The then-daring plot line featured a small town girl who got married and pregnant at a USO party but never got the groom's name. Mix in the brilliant comedian Eddie Bracken (sadly now nearly forgotten) as an oddball soldier that some Marines decide to turn into a war hero for a lark and you have a quite clever social satire / sex farce that managed to satisfy the production codes of the day but is still funny and watchable now.

Michael Neumann This typically madcap Preston Sturges satire about a 4F Marine reject (Eddie Bracken, suffering from chronic hay fever) who ultimately proves his bravery by admitting his cowardice makes a fitting companion piece to 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek'. But perhaps it needs to be seen in the proper historical context of wartime deprivation and homefront morale boosting. Unlike the more daring comedy of the earlier film Sturges here wants to have it both ways: mocking the gullibility of Main Street USA while at the same time celebrating its innocence. Mom and apple pie emerge triumphant, as does the little soldier, and the war effort is well served in the process. Sturges was always a master of sophisticated slapstick entertainment (an oxymoronic combination to most comedy filmmakers), but this time his famous dialogue was more fast than furious, if at least delivered with familiar gusto by the director's usual company of stock players.

bkoganbing One of the things I liked about Hail The Conquering Hero is the fact it got made at all during World War II America. The idea of a man medically discharged from the Marines passing himself off as the great hero from Guadalcanal, even at the behest of some Marines he meets in a bar is ludicrous on its face. But by golly Preston Sturges pulled it off.Think about it, within a year of the end of World War II a genuine 4F with no pretense about it would be a great American hero in Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life. In the end both George Bailey and Woodrow Pershing Lafayette Truesmith would be the saviors of their respective small towns.Generally however a military record of some kind was going to be a necessity in politics after World War II. Hubert H. Humphrey had a legitimate draft deferment and was Mayor of Minneapolis during the latter part of World War II. But his lack of war record contrasted badly in running for president against John F. Kennedy in 1960.Sturges realized that it's the integral part of his satire of small town life and politics. Certain forces within Eddie Bracken's town would like to use his new found celebrity status to make him mayor to unseat bloviating Raymond Walburn at his bloviating best on screen. Ideas about how to govern get real lost in the political process, the same way they do in Sturges's first real success, The Great McGinty.Bracken who after Sturges left Paramount gradually slipped back in the ranks of supporting players is in the hands of the director who knew how to utilize his schnook persona the best. Poor Bracken is the posthumous son of a World War I Marine hero who died at Belleau Wood and those were the first Americans in combat in that war. When the second World War comes, he enlists hoping to emulate his late father whose unseen presence was felt growing up.But he's washed out due to hay fever and can't face coming home and disappoint sweetheart Ella Raines, mother Georgia Caine, and aunt Elizabeth Patterson. He buys a round at a bar for some returning Marines from the Pacific led by William Demarest who knew his father back in the day. The Marines cheer him up and Demarest gets the bright idea of passing him off as a great war hero, discharged due to battle wounds. They accompany Bracken back to his home and his political 'career' mushrooms from there.Hail The Conquering Hero earned Preston Sturges a nomination for Best Original Screenplay and he was up against himself in that category for Miracle At Morgan's Creek. His films canceled each other out and Wilson won the Oscar in 1944 in that category.You know if they had succeeded in pulling this off, I do wonder how Bracken might have done trying to get Veteran's benefits later on.But Hail The Conquering Hero is Preston Sturges at his best.

blanche-2 Preston Sturges wrote and directed the 1944 film "Hail the Conquering Hero," which stars Eddie Bracken, William Demarest, Ella Raines and Franklin Pangborn. Bracken is Woodrow Truesmith, whose father was a famous war hero. Woodrow, however, is 4F because of hay fever. Discharged and depressed, he sits in a bar delaying going home. He confesses the truth to some marines he meets in a bar, and they decide to accompany him home to back up the story he told his mother - that he's in a hospital overseas due to war injuries. When he arrives home, he has a hero's welcome. Later there's a statue and a song. Then the town wants him to be mayor.Sturges' gift was coming up with wacky plots, while others of the era could create wacky situations within a plot. This one is pretty outrageous. As Woodrow feels more and more guilty, the public adulation becomes bigger and bigger. It's a strong message about people believing what they want to believe and their need for a hero.Bracken plays his role very seriously and lets the situation and the lines get the laughs. His character looks and feels trapped. Ella Raines plays his ex-fiancée, and she's very beautiful - a cross between Jeanne Crain and Gene Tierney, she gives a very sweet and sincere performance. She was a very underrated actress and beauty who for some reason never reached the top tier of stardom; today she is remembered for some wonderful film noirs in which she appeared. William Demarest is very funny as the marine helping to keep the story alive - at any cost.I enjoyed "The Lady Eve," "The Palm Beach Story," and "Sullivan's Travels" better, mainly because of their casts, but for Sturges fans, this is a must see.