Rubber-faced comic Joe E. Brown was one of Warner Bros.' top stars when he made this wartime comedy with music. He stars as a World War I era stage star trapped into enlisting to escape a breach of promise suit. At first overseas duty seems a chore, particularly when he discovers his former valet (Eric Blore) is now his drill sergeant. But things pick up when he embarks on a romance with French barmaid Yvonne (Joan Blondell). Brown had three leading ladies in this film, Blondell, Beverly Roberts, as a general's daughter who encourages him to enlist, and Wini Shaw, as the actress who thinks they're engaged. But his real co-star turns out to be Blore, the British comedian usually typed as obsequious valets. His transition to tough sergeant is one of the film's highlights. Warner's had bought the rights to the hit stage musical -- in which Willaim Frawley had played the valet and Lili Damita the barmaid -- years earlier. They only kept one song from the original and then only added two more by resident songsmiths Harry Warren and Al Dubin. Instead of music, the focus was on comedy, with future producer Jerry Wald and Julius J. Epstein providing the witty script.

By Frank Miller