bkoganbing Characters that were introduced by Hal Roach in Tanks A Million come back here and the film is an exercise in oneupsmanship. William Tracy is back again as new recruit Dodo Doubleday who is the tormentor of old sergeant Joe Sawyer and his friend Noah Beery, Jr. Doubleday is blessed with a photographic memory and two right feet, bad for the military because you start on your left and that confuses Tracy.I can understand Sawyer's frustration. He's a career soldier who earned his rank and because the brass was so impressed with Tracy memorizing the army's book of rules and regulations they make him a sergeant. Of course that couldn't happen in real life, but it's still funny.In this film Tracy having memorized the book can assemble and disassemble a weapon sight unseen on the first try. Actually firing the weapon is another matter.The key to these films is no matter what Sawyer does to trip up Tracy it always redounds to Tracy's advantage. Sawyer does a marvelous slow burn, he could have understudied Edgar Kennedy. Especially with Tracy becoming Colonel James Gleason's fairhaired boy. Gleason is no mean scene stealer himself. Funniest of all is the entire sequence at Gleason's house where all three sergeants come calling on his daughter Elyse Knox. Can't describe it, you have to see how Tracy keeps Sawyer and Beery at bay.Very funny film from the laugh master Hal Roach.

mark.waltz William Tracy is Dodo, the assistant to Army Officer James Gleason, a lovable old coot who wants to create closer ties between officers and the enlisted men. Sawyer's two rivals (Joe Sawyer and Noah Beery Jr.) try to outwit them in their efforts to get closer to Gleason's daughter (Elyse Knox) who is enamored of Sawyer's innocence. But don't underestimate Tracy. He's got the luck of the angels on his side and in just 45 minutes, continues to outwit his rivals and prove he's more than just a lucky guy who keeps getting a good break through no effort of his own.There's a lot of funny stuff here in one of Hal Roach's extremely long shorts (or extremely short features, depending on how you look at it), enough slapstick to fill one of Roach's earlier Laurel and Hardy gems, leaving little room for the viewer to catch their breath after continuously laughing. A very funny dinner party scene has Tracy keeping Sawyer and Beery in check by utilizing his dog as a gun guard which threatens to sink the two men's revolvers in a conveniently placed well just the day before an army shooting contest. This leads to the two vowing revenge and a very funny conclusion that may bring tears of hysterics to your eyes.

jasonleesmith6 SGT Doubleday is smart, and the favorite of his commanding officer. He remembers everything he reads, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the military. The only trouble is, he is unable to shoot a gun. Meanwhile, the base's two loud-mouths and sharp-shooting experts have it in for Doubleday because they think he's a know-it-all. Somehow the commander becomes convinced that Doubleday is an expert marksman. Will Doubleday be able to learn how to shoot a gun in time to compete in the sharpshooting competition and win the love of the commander's daughter? Don't ask me, the movie ends suddenly with almost no sub-plots getting resolved. No real explanation of the title, "Hay Foot" is offered either. Doing a search on the internet didn't reveal much, except that it may have been a kind of slang for a rookie recruit. Since this was the second film in the SGT Doubleday series, this doesn't make much sense though.Nevertheless, it was a pretty entertaining film.

Michael_Elliott Hay Foot (1942) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Third film in Hal Roach's steamliner Doubleday series has Sgt. Doubleday (William Tracy) once again getting on the nerves of the brutish Sgt. Ames (Joe Sawyer). The adventure here is that a Colonel (James Gleason) thinks that Doubleday is an expert sharp shooter when in fact he's terrified of guns. If you've see any of the other films in the series then you should know what to expect. Whether you enjoy this series or not will depend on how much you can put up with the two leads but I personally find them mildly entertaining. Sure, they're not Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy but they don't have to be. Both Tracy and Sawyer are good in their roles, which they seemed born to play. THe real scene stealer here is James Gleason who delivers a fine performance as the Colonel and the father of a girl who Doubleday and Ames are after. The comedy is hit and mis throughout the film but there are enough small laughs to keep the film moving throughout its 47-minute running time.