1h 36min | Comedy | 11 June 1952
Director: Norman Taurog
Stars: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Mona Freeman, Don DeFore, Robert Strauss.
Robert Sidney ... choreographer
Watched online, mediocre print.
5 songs in the Soundtrack: 3 by DM, 1 by DM & JL, 1 by JL & MF (dubbed).
Is this a turning point in the partnership? We get a LOT more JL than DM. JL is frequently onscreen without DM, and the musical numbers are fewer than usual. This is only #7 of 16 films together.
The synopsis leaves out the detail that JL is not willingly pretending to be a soldier. I forget how they convince him to stay. The unit (is it newly formed to be the performers?) gets a new sergeant at the same time as he "joins", so the brass doesn't notice. The antics hinge on the fact that his unit is fully trained, and he has to execute jumps and maneuvers as though he were trained too. We get very little of the soldier whose identity he assumed, and who is hiding in the boiler room (and eating/drinking what?)
Because they're not onscreen together as much as usual, we get less violence from DM to JL, but I still saw some.
Hal Wallis Prod., distr. Paramount, dir. Taurog; 6
