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The release of Miracle was held up for two years

posted 19 years ago by NewtonFigg
6 replies | jump to latest

In 1942, when the movie was made, patriotic fervor was at its peak. Pearl Harbor had to be avenged and boys had to be made to feel eager to fight the enemy. Girls did their part for the war effort by being nice to the new servicemen to reinforce how important it was to be a fighter. Life Magazine had a cover article about a pretty girl who kissed 100s of servicemen in one day. She was held up as a model of feminine behavior. The character of Trudy was not at all far fetched. But, it would seem that Life never thought things through, like what comes after kissing. Sturges' satire was wholly subversive because he ran with the situation to its logical conclusion, not what the drum beaters wanted. When the movie was finally released, it depicted an almost forgotten time. Possibly, the movie got through in its unbelievably racy form because the censors were made to feel guilty about holding it up for years.

[–] justaudrey 14 years ago

Um, I would hardly call this "unbelievably racy", even for its day. Trudy was married after all, and even if she wasn't she didn't have full leave of her senses because of hitting her head. I thought the movie was a very sweet and funny story and very tastefully done.

[–] PillowRock 13 years ago

Trudy was married after all

It was also a textbook case of a "one night stand", right down to being unable to remember the other person's name.

[–] NewtonFigg 13 years ago

I'll stick with my original description: "racy". Trudy thinks she got married. Aside from seeing a cheap ring on her finger and vaguely remembering something about a soldier yelling "Let's get married", she can't really say she was married. I would guess that even in 1942, you needed a marriage license. Would a Justice of the Peace have married someone who appeared to be drunk? If she was already legally married, her marriage to Ignatz was bigamous.

What about the scenes with the evil little sister urging Trudy to find a patsy to marry? Or the scene where little sister is sitting at the piano and playing a low down dirty blues. We see her father across the room reading the newspaper. As he hears the music, the newspaper slowly comes down and we see the look of disbelief of his face. "Where did you learn that doghouse music?"

I think it was film critic James Agee who wrote about the movie that the Hayes Office was raped in its sleep.

[–] Eightythreeyearoldguy 13 years ago

"Where did you learn that doghouse music?"

I assume that "doghouse" was an euphanism for another animal's house...LOL

Life, every now and then, behaves as though it had seen too many bad movies

[–] NewtonFigg 12 years ago

Believe it or not, I just watched a newer print and that scene is deleted! I hope I kept the old tape.

[–] lipotypastic 13 years ago

It got past the censors because the censors had to follow the Motion Picture Production Code, with a specific list of what could and couldn't be shown. If a film adhered to the letter of the law, it could not legally be held back. Writer/director Preston Sturges was a genius when it came to putting together movies which managed to stay within the literal text of the Code, while mocking its spirit at every turn. "The Lady Eve" is another great example of this.