At War with the Army (1950)

Director:

Hal Walker

Writers:

James B. Allardice (play)
Fred F. Finklehoffe (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 December 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance | War

Tagline:

THE FUNNIEST PICTURE EVER! (re-release print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Alvin Corwin is low man on the totem pole, and goes from one mishap to another at an army training camp in World War II. |

Plot Keywords:

Cross Dressing | Army Life | Based On Play

Cast

Dean Martin	...	1st Sgt. Vic Puccinelli
Jerry Lewis	...	Pfc. Alvin Korwin
Mike Kellin	...	Sgt. McVey
Jimmie Dundee	...	Eddie
Dick Stabile	...	Pvt. Pokey
Tommy Farrell	...	Cpl. Clark
Frank Hyers	...	Cpl. Shaughnessy
Danny Dayton	...	Supply Sgt. Miller (as Dan Dayton)
William Mendrek	...	Capt. Ernest Caldwell
Kenneth Forbes	...	Lt. Davenport
Paul Livermore	...	Pvt. Jack Edwards
Ty Perry	...	Lt. Terray
Jean Ruth	...	Millie
Angela Greene	...	Mrs. Deborah Caldwell
Polly Bergen	...	Helen Palmer

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

Company:

Fred F. Finklehoffe Productions

Trivia:

Debut of Mike Kellin.

Goofs:

Continuity: For the first half of the opening song, "Beans", Alvin has a bandage on his finger (left hand, middle finger). Halfway through the song, the bandage disappears.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952)

Soundtrack:

Beans

Martin and Lewis become movie stars

A decade earlier, Abbott and Costello became movie stars with a pair of World War II military films, "Buck Privates" and "In the Navy." Here Martin and Lewis march in their bootsteps during the Korean War. The plotted and scripted comedy framework for this film may not be anything special, but the Martin and Lewis set pieces remain great. With hindsight, you can see the grounds for the pair's breakup this early in their career. Martin is charming when he's allowed to sing or do a solo bit, but his character is an unsympathetic bully to Lewis' hapless fumbler -- Bud Abbott at his most brutal to poor Costello.

The glimpses of bits of their stage and radio act, however, are funny -- their byplay before a band; their imitation of Bing Crosby (Martin, of course) and Barry Fitzgerald (Lewis)in "Going My Way"; Lewis in blonde drag (with a hairy chest showing over the v-neck of his dress) singing a husky-voiced torch song to Mike Kellin, and Martin's underplayed double-take and mumbled, "No, couldn't be," as he passes by them.

One special highlight is Polly Bergen in an early brief part as Martin's girlfriend. (The movie's credits read "introducing Polly Bergen," but IMDb lists two previous roles for her, one just a voice part.) This is Bergen before she had an absolutely perfect face with an absolutely perfect nose, but still, as Martin sings "You and Your Beautiful Eyes" to her, she is given a lengthy, star-making closeup in which she smiles and becomes luminous, and her future career is assured.