earlytalkie Here is a fast (68 minute) WW2 musical comedy that puts the accent on music. Fans of The Andrews Sisters, Harry James and Helen Forrest are amply served generous portions of some of the best music of that period. There is a young group of dancers including Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan that practically define the word exuberance. The songs are mostly well-known and hummable, and the comedy is handled by Shemp Howard and the hysterical Mary Wickes, who looks largely the same here in 1942 as she would look years later in The Lucy Show and later still in Sister Act (1990). The romantic subplot is taken up by Dick Foran and an actress named Jennifer Holt, whom I am not familiar with. Did I call this film a flag waver? Wait until you see the patriotic finale. Films like this were designed to be morale boosters in the troubled times of war. This must have been a popular film in it's day since the print contained on the Mill Creek DVD shows signs of wear, but never you mind. There is a comic named Joe. E. Lewis in the film of whom I am not familiar. I understand he had a rather tragic run-in with some gangsters about ten years prior to filming this. He does one song about the South and then competes with Shemp for Mary Wicke's hand. This is a most pleasant way to spend an hour and just wait till you see those dancers swing and jive at the end.

HarlowMGM PRIVATE BUCKAROOS is the only one of the starring films of that forties phenomenon The Andrews Sisters that is easy to see today since it apparently fell into public domain and is available in a number of budget collections. Despite their star billing, the Andrews gals actually run a somewhat distant fourth in screen time to Dick Foran, Shemp Howard, and Harry James, not coming into the film until about the second reel and then their contributions limited to only four or five song numbers. They are a joy to see though and this perky musical from the early days of WWII completely captures the patriotism and spirit of the era.Running only a few minutes over a hour, this B musical barely has time for a storyline and what's there is slim. Big band singer Dick Foran is upset because he is repeatedly turned down in his attempts to enlists because of having flat feet. He somehow gets "cured" by a doctor and quickly enlist and then in an inexplicable personality change proves to be the spoiled show biz boy while in training, whining about regulations and duties. Hunky blond Foran is quite appealing in most of his other films but in this one his character is obnoxious and frankly the "change" to good joe is as sudden and incredible as the shift in personality once he is enlisted. The music in this modest film is unsurprisingly excellent with the Andrews, Foran, and Harry James & Orchestra but there's so much of it it actually makes the film seem longer. There's some excellent comedy relief from Shemp Howard, Joe E. Lewis, and especially the magnificent Mary Wickes as Shemp's belligerent stringbean of a girlfriend. Miss Wickes is a much loved character actress of course but it's wonderful to see her here in one of her larger early roles and proving to be a splendid knockabout comedienne in the Joan Davis mold. I frankly would have much rather the screenwriters (somebody apparently did write this despite the limited acting scenes) have concentrated on the wacky romantic triangle of Howard, Wickes, and Lewis than a conventional and extremely thin Foran - Jennifer Holt romance that doesn't ring true for a minute. The ending is so sudden one feels almost as if a reel or two is missing from the film but it's very effective in a way in illustrating how quickly things happened in the hectic years of WWII.

zsenorsock This is like a Abbott & Costello movie without Abbott & Costello. It's a service comedy only a year removed from "Buck Privates", and features the Andrews Sisters who co-starred with A&C in "Buck Privates", "In the Navy" and "Hold That Ghost". The male lead is Dick Foran, who co-starred in "In the navy", "Ride 'Em Cowboy" and "Keep 'Em Flying". Mark Wickes had a memorable role with Costello in "Hold That Ghost". Shemp Howard played supporting comic lead in a number of A&C pictures including "Who Done It?", "Africa Screams", "In the Navy", "Ride 'em Cowboy" and more, while Jennifer Holt can be seen in "pardon My Sarong" and Peggy Ryan in "Here Come the Co-eds". All that aside, this is a entertaining and fun film to watch. You just have the feeling somebody cut out all of Bud and Lou's scenes!

Jake This is one of those movies which usually gets dismissed as ephemeral junk (look at the ratings in all those "Movies for TV" type books). But so far this year I have seen it twice, and have enjoyed it immensely both times round. This is certainly not due to the plot, which is your standard guy joins armed forces..guy has attitude problem...guy learns the error of his ways type plot which seemed to be recycled endlessly by Universal at around this time in their Abbott and Costello pictures. Fortunately the plot doesn't intrude too much into this movie, and in fact apart from its patriotic fervor, which is understandable in the context of the time, one of the joys of this picture is that it doesn't take itself in the slightest bit seriously.What this picture does have going for it is a great cast, and a veteran comedy director. While the cast may not be big name stars, for anyone out there familiar with the entertainment world of this period, almost everyone in it has a recognizable persona. It also has some great music, and some really off the wall humour. The opening sequence with Shemp Howard and Mary Wickes is an absolute delight, and the surreal nature of the humour continues throughout (especially the bit with Ernest Treux), even into the musical numbers. The Andrews Sister's "apple tree" effort has to be one of the most bizarre (and entertaining) musical numbers I've ever seen. Finally, watching this picture reminded me of what a personable performer, and of what an under-appreciated singer Dick Foran was. I give it 8 out of 10. No accounting for taste, is there?