"Hail the Conquering Hero"

Preston Sturges has the ability, all too rare among Hollywood's directors, to understand and to portray sympathetically honest human emotion. He succeeds where others fall, in avoiding the maudlin and trite by weaving just the right amount of humor into a situation. He succeeds so well that it is often a question whether the humorous frame rather than the theme is the dominant note in the motion picture.

"Hall the Conquering Hero" packs a punch. The theme of the picture is patriotism. Against this, Sturges plays love, plain and simple. The conflict of these forces within the protagonist, Eddie Bracken, generously spiced with ridiculous situations and hilarious horseplay, forms the basis of the plot.

Eddie Bracken, a would-be Marine hero, has been discharged from service because of chronic hay-fever, and is working at a war plant near his home town. The home-coming at the railroad station--the mayor orating, crowds cheering, the "hero" trying to get away, bands playing, the poor master of ceremonies tearing his hair as everything goes awry, and everyone (but Eddie) having a wonderful time--is a masterly bit of parody.

The acting is restrained and competent. Ella Raines does an admirably sincere job as Eddie's girl. William Demarest is a typical, but not a stereotyped, top sergeant. And in the part of the "little man" turned hero, Eddie Bracken is in his element.

Admittedly, the opening situation is absurd, but the plot resolves naturally, in spite of being humorously exaggerated, without contrivance. "Hall the Conquering Hero" is Sturges at his best, thoroughly human and thoroughly worth-while.