The Miracle of Morgan's Creek - Production

Production

Although shot in 1942 and early 1943, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek was withheld from distribution until early 1944, because Paramount had too much product on hand, including Preston Sturges' The Great Moment. In September 1942, Paramount sold a number of films, such as I Married a Witch, to United Artists, which needed to keep its distribution pipeline filled, but Sturges was their star filmmaker in this time period, so Miracle... was held back until Paramount had a slot in its schedule to release it.

There were problems with the censors at the Hays Office over the film's subject matter. In October 1942, after a story conference, the office sent Paramount a seven-page letter outlining their concerns, including remarks made by the character Emmy, who is 14 years old; the potential of the film's portraying Trudy as being drunk; and reducing anything to do with Trudy's pregnancy. In short, they wanted the filmmakers to be "extremely careful in handling a subject of this kind because of the delicate nature of the high point of the story", and back off from reiterating the basic facts of the story once they were presented. In December 1942, they also warned about making any comparisons between Trudy's situation and the virgin birth of Jesus. There were so many objections from the censors that Sturges began production with only ten approved script pages

The War Department also had concerns: they wanted to make sure that the film's portrayal of the departing soldiers "should result in giving the audience the feeling that these boys are normal, thoroughly fit American soldiers who have had an evening of clean fun."

Sturges' intent was to "show what happens to young girls who disregard their parents' advice and who confuse patriotism with promiscuity", and had included in his script a sermon for the pastor to give, expressing Sturges' opinions, but the scene was cut by the studio because the pastor was depicted in too comic a manner.

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek was in production from 21 October to 23 December 1942, with additional scenes shot on 25 February 1943. Outdoor scenes were shot at the Paramount Ranch in Agoura, California.

The film had its New York City premiere 5 January 1944 and went into general release on 19 January. To promote the film, Paramount showed a 20 minute preview on television on 21 March 1944, with stills from the film, narration by Eddie Bracken, and an interview with Diana Lynn. Paramount was concerned enough about the ending of the film being given away that their press kits included a request to reviewers not to reveal the ending. (Sturges had apparently also withheld the ending from the Hays Office.)

The film was released on DVD and VHS on 6 September 2005.