Patriotic Dissonance: The Soundtrack of Hail the Conquering Hero

Abstract

Hail the Conquering Hero is the culmination of the great comedies Preston Sturges wrote and directed for Paramount in the period from 1940 to 1944. This article examines the soundtrack in the first part of the film, and considers how Sturges' deliberate arrangement of sound as well as diegetic and non-diegetic music enhances and amplifies the ambiguities of Sturges' comedy.