When Willie Comes Marching Home

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When Willy Comes Marching Home
from the film's trailer
Directed by	John Ford
Written by	Sy Gomberg (story) Richard Sale
Starring	Dan Dailey Corinne Calvet Colleen Townsend William Demarest
Release date(s)	February 1950
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

When Willie Comes Marching Home is a 1950 World War II comedy film directed by John Ford and starring Dan Dailey and Corinne Calvet.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Main cast and characters 3 Other cast members 4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

William "Bill" Kluggs (Dan Dailey) is the first in his hometown to enlist in the army after the attack on Pearl Harbor, making his father Herman (William Demarest), mother Gertrude (Evelyn Varden) and girlfriend Marge Fettles (Colleen Townsend) proud. The whole town sees him off. However, after basic training, he proves to be such a good marksman that, rather than being sent to Europe to fight, he is made an instructor and assigned to a base near his town. After two years in the same place, he is branded a coward by the townsfolk, even though he continually requests a transfer into combat.

He finally gets his chance when a gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber gets sick and Bill is allowed to take his place. The plane takes off for England, but owing to fog, is unable to land and runs low on fuel. The crew is ordered to bail out, but Bill is asleep and doesn't parachute out of the plane until it is over German-occupied France.

He is captured immediately by the local French Resistance unit, led by the beautiful Yvonne (Corinne Calvet). While there, he sees a secret German rocket launch, which is filmed by the French. He and the film are picked up by a British torpedo boat and taken to England. There, he passes the vital information and his eyewitness confirmation on to important generals, first in London and then in Washington, D.C. Exhausted, he is sent to a hospital to recuperate, with strict orders not to reveal what he has done. When the hospital attendants believe he is crazy and try to put him in a straitjacket, Willie escapes and heads home on a freight train.

Back home, his parents and girlfriend don't believe his story either, until some army officers arrive to take him to Washington to receive an award from the President of the United States.

[edit] Main cast and characters

	Dan Dailey as William "Bill" Kluggs
	Corinne Calvet as Yvonne
	Colleen Townsend as Marge Fettles
	William Demarest as Herman Kluggs

[edit] Other cast members

Jimmy Lydon as Charles "Charlie" Fettles
Lloyd Corrigan as Major Adams
Evelyn Varden as Mrs. Gertrude Kluggs

Mae Marsh, formerly a successful silent-era actress appears in an unbilled role. Alan Hale Jr. and Vera Miles also appear in unbilled roles, early in their respective careers.

[edit] External links

• When Willie Comes Marching Home at the TCM Movie Database

v • d • e The films of John Ford 1910s The Tornado • The Fighting Gringo • The Trail of Hate • The Scrapper • Cheyenne's Pal • The Soul Herder • Straight Shooting • The Secret Man • A Marked Man • Bucking Broadway • The Phantom Riders • Wild Women • Thieves' Gold • The Scarlet Drop • Hell Bent • A Woman's Fool • The Craving (with Francis Ford) • Three Mounted Men • Roped • The Fighting Brothers • A Fight for Love • Rustlers • Bare Fists • Gun Law • By Indian Post • The Gun Packer • Riders of Vengeance • The Last Outlaw • The Outcasts of Poker Flat • Ace of the Saddle • Rider of the Law • A Gun Fightin' Gentleman • Marked Men 1920s The Prince of Avenue A • The Girl in Number 29 • Hitchin' Posts • Just Pals • The Big Punch • The Freeze-Out • The Wallop • Desperate Trails • Action • Sure Fire • Jackie • Little Miss Smiles • Silver Wings (with Edwin Carewe) • The Village Blacksmith • The Face on the Bar-Room Floor • Three Jumps Ahead • Cameo Kirby • North of Hudson Bay • Hoodman Blind • Hearts of Oak • Lightnin' • Kentucky Pride • Thank You • The Fighting Heart • The Shamrock Handicap • 3 Bad Men • Upstream • Four Sons • Napoleon's Barber • Strong Boy • The Black Watch 1930s Men Without Women • Born Reckless • Up the River • Seas Beneath • The Brat • Arrowsmith • Airmail • Pilgrimage • Doctor Bull • The Lost Patrol • The World Moves On • Judge Priest • The Whole Town's Talking • The Informer • Steamboat Round the Bend • The Prisoner of Shark Island • Mary of Scotland • The Plough and the Stars • Wee Willie Winkie • The Hurricane • Four Men and a Prayer • Submarine Patrol • Stagecoach • Young Mr. Lincoln • Drums Along the Mohawk 1940s The Grapes of Wrath • The Long Voyage Home • Tobacco Road • How Green Was My Valley • They Were Expendable • My Darling Clementine • The Fugitive • Fort Apache • 3 Godfathers • Pinky • She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1950s When Willie Comes Marching Home • Wagon Master • Rio Grande • The Quiet Man • What Price Glory? • The Sun Shines Bright • Mogambo • The Long Gray Line • Mister Roberts (with Mervyn LeRoy) • The Searchers • The Wings of Eagles • The Rising of the Moon • Gideon's Day The Last Hurrah • The Horse Soldiers 1960s Sergeant Rutledge • Two Rode Together • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance • How the West Was Won (with Henry Hathaway and George Marshall) • Donovan's Reef • Cheyenne Autumn • 7 Women Television "Fireside Theatre" (1949) • The Bamboo Cross (1955) • "Screen Directors Playhouse" (1955) • "Wagon Train" (1957-1965) Productions The Iron Horse (1924) • The Blue Eagle (1926) • Mother Machree (1928) • Hangman's House (1928) • Riley the Cop (1928) • Salute (1929) • Flesh (1932) • The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) • Young Cassidy (1965) Documentaries Torpedo Squadron • Sex Hygiene (1942) • The Battle of Midway (1942) • December 7th (1943) • We Sail at Midnight (1943) • This Is Korea! (1951) • Korea (1959) • Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend (1976)