Preston Sturges', a fine director/writer whose career was too short, prime period (1940-1944) made for one of the best and most consistent golden years/prime periods for any director in my view. One where five or more very good to masterpieces in a row were made close to each other, and even the films of his not made during this period were more than watchable.

His top two films for me are 'The Lady Eve' and especially 'Sullivan's Travels', while also loving 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek' and 'Unfaithfully Yours' and liking very much 'Christmas in July', 'The Palm Beach Story' and 'The Great McGinty'. Also put 'Hail the Conquering Hero' up there with his best, for me it's top five Sturges and as far as comedies set amidst war go it's one of the shining examples of how to make it enormously entertaining while not trivialising or juxtaposing with the subject or setting. Had heard so many great things about it before watching, and 'Hail the Conquering Hero' deserves every single bit of its praise. A film that is still uproariously funny, beautifully performed and surprisingly daring for back then (the edge remarkably hasn't been lost either).

There is so much to recommend, all of the strengths apparent in of Sturges' films. It's beautifully filmed and Sturges as ever directs adroitly with just the right touch of light sophistication, resisting any tendency of too much of a heavy hand (amazing considering the serious backdrop/setting for 'Hail the Conquering Hero'), while with enough punch to stop it from veering into fluff. The story is lively and compelling, never too cluttered or simplistic. That is amazing considering that 'Hail the Conquering Hero' is a film where the antics become increasingly complicated as they quickly mount up, yet Sturges manages them so flexibly and nimbly. The film never stops being full of energy, hilarious and still manages to be accessible even though the setting is a serious one.

A big star of 'Hail the Conquering Hero' is the script, which is typical Sturges. In that it is razor sharp, witty, slyly cynical and sophisticated. Full of wonderfully clever moments, blistering comedy and content that one is amazed at how it managed to get into the film in the first place.

Furthermore, the cast carry this all off beautifully and brilliantly. Eddie Bracken is spirited without ever being annoying, while Ella Raines sparkles in charm as his love interest. Their interplay is terrific.

William Demarest's hard-boiled sergeant and Raymond Walburn's pompous mayor are also particularly delightful support.

Overall, fabulous film and more than well worth hailing. 10/10 Bethany Cox

In a wonderful series of films between 1940 and 1948 Preston Sturgis rewrote the idea of film satire in Hollywood, taking apart political and business sacred cows, and showing a remarkably realistic view of sex in America despite the continued use of the so-called Hays Office and the moral code.

HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO is one of the best of these films. It deals with the issue of heroism and it's political value in wartime. Woodrow Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) is a 4-F who has been working in California in a plant because he could not get drafted. But his family and neighbors expect him to be in the army. His father was a war hero in World War I (he was named Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith after President Woodrow Wilson, General John Pershing, and the Marquis of Lafayette - supposedly Pershing's staff Major, Charles Stanton, made the statement "Lafayette we are here" when our troops arrived to help the French in 1918 - so that Woodrow was born about 1918). Bracken has lied in letters to his mother that he is a marine and a hero. He tells this to a small group of Marines, led by William Demerest (and including one named Bugsie, played by former boxer Freddie Steele) who decide to accompany him back to his home on their furlough. They go with him, and back up his lies, so that Bracken finds himself the town's leading hero - and a potential piece of political timber.

The town is run by two men, Al Briggs (the quiet but intelligent town boss) and Raymond Walburn, the richest man in town who is the mayor as well: Everett Noble. Walburn is always blustering, but he basically knows what's what. However it is Briggs who asks the right questions. When the reform party nominates Woodrow for Mayor, Briggs asks, "I wonder if he really is a hero?" And he starts making inquiries.

They have an unwitting ally: Woodrow himself. He finds the expansion of his lies too much pressure on him, and he questions it's value. But he can't buck his mother, his girlfriend (Ella Raines), nor Demerest, Steele, and the other Marines. They've learned that Woodrow is the only hope for the town's future because it's currently somewhat shoddy and corrupt in it's goals and actions. They can't let Woodrow confess.

What makes a hero? In HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, set in the middle of WORLD WAR II, it turns out that heroism is not only found on a military front or battlefield, but can be found on the home front as well. It can take many forms, and sometimes it is at great personal humiliation and hurt. Bracken never had a better role (except for his other starring role for Sturgis in THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK), and demonstrate the growth of his moral stature quite well. Demerest, Walburn, Raines, Briggs all do well (Demerest in an oddly different role - he's a soldier, not a wise guy), and Freddy Steele's "Bugsie" is a wonderful portrait of a slightly mentally ill soldier with a mother fixation. Steele had a a career in movies in the 1940s, mostly in bit roles. This was his best performance.

Yet another perfect film from Preston Sturges, Hail the Conquering Hero is perhaps his most touching film, too. If you've seen Miracle at Morgan's Creek, then you have to see this one, and vice versa. They are sister films: Bracken plays a young sap who couldn't fight in WWII because of health reasons. Where Miracle was mostly about Bracken's quest to win a girl who's dumbstruck at the sight of a man in uniform, Hail deals itself an even better hand. Bracken's in a tight situation. The struggles are both comic and poignant. 10/10