JohnBeale Mr Winkle goes to war is a wonderful movie about life during WWII when America was controlled and run by decent God fearing men of decent upright moral character (unlike today).Mr Wilbert Winkle was an honest morally upright patriotic American ! And yes America has changed so much that you who read this don't, or wont, accept that people actually existed that feared God and loved their country enough to do such a thing. They did! Their was a time in America when a man was proud to sacrifice for his country and not expect a handout like today. Their are a few left but not many. The democratic party and our federal judges have gone insane and has lost all sense or reality and Godliness. You can see the result.

Michael_Elliott Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Edward G. Robinson plays Mr. Winkle, an elderly, out of shape man who gets drafted for the war and shocks everyone when he passes everyone's expectations. I really wasn't sure what to expect from this war comedy but it turned out to be a fairly delightful little film. The story is as thin as a sheet of paper but its heart is in the right place and Robinson is great as usual. It was a lot of fun seeing Robinson playing a weak soul and watching him turn into the hero was very believable due to the actor. The supporting cast includes good work from Bob Stanton, Robert Armstrong and Richard Lane. Robert Mitchum has a very small part and I only noticed him during one scene. The war time scenes are rather cheap but look pretty good and the ending is predictable but nice.

arieliondotcom Okay, so it's schmaltzy...and a bit preachy at times. But for what it is, a pro-war propaganda piece, Mr. Winkle Goes to War is a great few hours of warm-hearted (if you can call anything to do with war warm-hearted) sentiment. More importantly, if you value acting at all, it is a wonderful opportunity to see a master, Edward G. Robinson. To see "Little Caesar" in a role (much more like his true-life personna from what I've read) so drastically different yet done with such wonderful simplicity and finesse, is an acting class in itself. After only a few short minutes you are accepting of EGR as the antithesis of what he was in other films as well as the fantasy and far-fetched elements of this one. His supporting actors are on the schmaltzy side (which is a surprise coming from Ruth Warrick). But the fact that Robinson can pull the film off anyway is another credit to his acting.There are also a few interesting things to look for. As someone connected to the military now, I noticed in the induction oath that what is now an oath to protect the US "from all enemies foreign and domestic" was then "from all enemies whatsoever." Apparently Joe McCarthy in the 50s had some effect. Also, it was interesting in the storytelling that one person, a friend of Mr. Winkle's, wants to "kill a jap (with my bear hands" gets to do just that, but immediately shows remorse, and is gunned down. Which, frankly, is to the good since you don't want to think of this bloodthirsty so-and-so as a friend of Mr. Winkle (he gives the excuse that it's because his brother was killed by the Japanese).All in all, it'sa great film and should be seen by anyone. But it's a must-see for any Edward G. Robinson fan. And if you aren't one now, you will be after seeing this and any other of his films.

kyle_furr I'll watch any movie Edward G. Robinson did and i think he's a better actor than James Cagney. This one casts him as a guy who is always being told what to do and in the first scene of the movie he walks up to the manager of the bank and tells him he wants to quit, to everyone's surprise. His wife hates this idea and Robinson wants to run a business just fixing things. He then gets a letter telling him that he is drafted. He doesn't think he will be because he's 44 years old and out of shape. To his surprise and everyone else's, he is drafted. During basic training, they pull him out to have a desk job. Robinson doesn't like it and wants to be put back and be able to work as mechanic. He is sent overseas and is very close to the fighting. I've never really heard much about this movie and i didn't even see Robert Mitchum in this movie.