Retrospective 2014

When Willie Comes Marching Home

John Ford
USA 1950
82 min
V'14

A rare comedy from director John Ford, this story about a WWII soldier trying to gain some respect is based on the published war memoirs of Sy Gomberg. Bill Kluggs is the first man in his small West Virginia town to enlist, and his father Herman and the locals give him a big sendoff. But Bill returns from boot camp, assigned to be a gunnery instructor at a new air base in his hometown. When a bomber pilot falls ill, however, Kluggs replaces him on a secret mission. He falls asleep on the plane and bails out over the French countryside. Found by Resistance fighters, Kluggs accompanies them on a dangerous mission to take pictures of a German V-2 base. To get him out of the country, the Resistance fighters then stage a mock wedding. Returning home after only a few nights away, Kluggs is attacked by his own father, who mistakes him for a spy. The townsfolk suspect that he deserted the service and heap more scorn on him.

Credits
  • Dan Dailey
  • Colleen Townsend
  • William Demarest
  • Jimmy Lydon
  • Evelyn Varden
  • Lloyd Corrigan
  • John Mitchum
  • Paul Picerni
  • Luis Alberni
  • Michael Alvarez
  • Corinne Calvet - Yvonne
  • Richard Sale
  • Leo Tover
  • Eugene Grossman
  • Roger Heman Sr.
  • James B. Clark
  • Alfred Newman
  • Lyle R. Wheeler
  • Chester Gore
  • William Jack Travilla
  • «When Leo Comes Marching Home» von Sy Gomberg
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
35 mm
bw
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