When Willie Comes Marching Home
When Willie Comes Marching Home is a 1950 World War II comedy film directed by John Ford and starring Dan Dailey and Corinne Calvet. It is based on the 1945 short story "When Leo Comes Marching Home" by Sy Gomberg. The film won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.
Plot
William "Bill" Kluggs is the first in his hometown of Punxatawney, West Virginia, to enlist in the Army Air Forces after the attack on Pearl Harbor, making his father Herman, mother Gertrude and girlfriend Marge Fettles proud. The whole town sees him off. Willie tries to become a pilot but washes out, although he proves to be so proficient at aerial gunnery that, rather than being sent to Europe to fight, he is made an instructor and assigned to a base near his hometown. After two years in the same place, he is branded a coward by the townsfolk, even though he continually requests a transfer into combat.
Awards
Cast
- Alan Hale, Jr.
- Alberto Morin
- Ann Codee
- Charles Halton
- Charles Trowbridge
- Colleen Townsend
- Corinne Calvet
- Dan Dailey
- Evelyn Varden
- Franklyn Farnum
- Fred Graham
- George Magrill
- Hank Mann
- Hank Worden
- Harlan Warde
- Harry Lauter
- Harry Tenbrook
- J. Farrell MacDonald
- Jack Pennick
- James Flavin
- Jimmy Lydon
- John Mitchum
- Ken Lynch
- Kenneth Tobey
- Larry Keating
- Lloyd Corrigan
- Louis Mercier
- Luis Alberni
- Mae Marsh
- Paul Harvey
- Paul Picerni
- Peter J. Ortiz
- Robin Hughes
- Vera Miles
- Whit Bissell
- William Demarest
- Wilton Graff
More details
| author | Richard Sale |
|---|---|
| award | Golden Leopard |
| contentLocation | France |
| director | John Ford |
| editor | James B. Clark |
| events | World War II |
| genre | comedy |
| keywords | aerial gunner aerial gunnery air force army air force army air forces attack on pearl harbor b-17 flying fortress brand capture flying fortress freight train french resistance german rocket london military hospital motion sickness pearl harbor president of the united states psychopathic psychopathy torpedo boat united states army air forces v-2 rocket wash west virginia |
| musicBy | Alfred Newman |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Story |
| producer | Fred Kohlmar |
| productionCompany | 20th Century Fox |
| publisher | 20th Century Fox |