At War with the Army

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At War with the Army
Atwarwiththearmy.jpg
1958 theatrical reissue poster
Directed by Hal Walker
Screenplay by Fred Finklehoffe
Based onAt War With the Army
1949 play
by James Allardice
Produced byFred Finklehoffe
Starring Dean Martin
Jerry Lewis
Mike Kellin
Jimmy Dundee
Polly Bergen
CinematographyStuart Thompson
Edited by Paul Weatherwax
Music by Joseph J. Lilley
Production
companies
Fred F. Finklehoffe Productions
Screen Associates Inc.
York Pictures Corporation
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • December 31, 1950 (1950-12-31)(San Francisco)
  • January 24, 1951 (1951-01-24)(New York) [1]
  • February 1, 1951 (1951-02-01)(Los Angeles) [2]
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budgetless than $500,000 [3] or $420,000 [4]
Box office$3.3 million (US rentals) [5]
1,464,218 admissions (France) [6]
The full film

At War with the Army is a 1950 American musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker and released by Paramount Pictures. It stars the comedy team of Martin and Lewis and introduces Polly Bergen. Filmed from July through August 1949, the film premiered in San Francisco on New Year's Eve 1950 before opening nationwide on January 17, 1951. It was rereleased in 1958 by OMAT Pictures.

Contents

Plot

In a United States Army base in Kentucky at the end of 1944 during World War II, [7] First Sergeant Vic Puccinelli and Private First Class Alvin Korwin, who were partners in a nightclub song-and-dance act, enlist.

Puccinelli wants to be transferred from his dull job to active duty overseas, but he is refused transfer and is to be promoted to the rank of warrant officer. Korwin wants a pass to see his wife and new baby. In addition, they have to rehearse for the base talent show and avoid the wrath of Alvin's platoon sergeant McVey. They sing songs and perform an impression of Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald by recreating a scene from Going My Way (1944) for the talent show.

Cast

Production

The film is based on a three-act farcical play by James B. Allardice that ran for 151 performances at the Booth Theatre on Broadway from March 8, 1949 to July 16, 1949. [8] The film rights were sold in June 1949 for $50,000 to producer Fred F. Finklehoffe, who wrote the screenplay. Finklehoffe originally intended to produce the film in New York with exteriors to be shot at a local military base. [9] However, it was filmed at Corriganville Movie Ranch from July to August 1949. [10] [11]

Dean Martin's character of Vic Puccinelli was named Robert Johnson in the stage production, in which it was played by Gary Merrill. Two characters from the play were combined to create Jerry Lewis's character. [12]

Following the release At War with the Army in 1951, Martin and Lewis became embroiled in a legal battle with Screen Associates, Inc., for whom they had agreed to create seven films through the duo's own company, York Productions. Screen Associates sued York Productions and producer Hal Wallis for breach of contract, arguing that Martin and Lewis refused to make the remaining six films after the release of At War with the Army and that they had violated an agreement to alternate between productions for Wallis and Screen Associates when they appeared in two consecutive films ( That's My Boy and The Stooge ) for Wallis. Screen Associates sought an injunction preventing Martin and Lewis from starring in another planned Wallis production, At Sea with the Navy (later released as Sailor Beware), as well as $10 million in total damages. [13]

Songs

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler wrote: "The comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who are starred in this service gambol, work harder than any buck private avoiding a top kick. However, their efforts, except for the masterful mugging of Mr. Lewis, do nothing to put a kick into this consignment of corn." [1]

Reviewer Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote:

It takes place, if I may be permitted a slight exaggeration, almost entirely in the offices of an army barracks. These in turn exist in a kind of timeless vacuum through which men in uniform drift rather than advance; a fuzzily photographed vacuum that is neither day nor night, and that puts the same confining strictures upon the audience as it does upon the men. ... Jerry Lewis is the funny member of the duo, in his usual moronic way. It is a little embarrassing to have to laugh at him because our sympathy is with him, so we are relieved whenever he shows flashes of intelligence. He is the sad sack to whom everything happens. Dean Martin plays a sergeant with not much more intelligence and something of a mean streak besides. He acts as if he thinks he is faintly superior not only to Lewis but also to most other people, including the audience. We do not care one way or the other what happens to him, but nothing much does. [2]

This film's copyright was registered to York Pictures Corp. and Screen Associates, Inc. on January 23, 1951 (LP 679), and was renewed on December 7, 1979 (RE43009). [14] However, the film has since lapsed into the public domain as the copyright holders failed to renew their copyright in the 28th year of publication pursuant to the Copyright Act of 1909.

Home media

As the film is in the public domain, many DVD releases have appeared from a variety of companies offering prints of varying quality. In July 2014, Film Chest released a restored version in high definition. [15]

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Weiler, A. H. (1951-01-25). "Martin and Lewis in the Army". The New York Times . p. 21.
  2. 1 2 Scheuer, Philip K. (1951-02-02). "Comedy Pair Gold-Brick in 'At War With Army'". Los Angeles Times . p. 6, Part II.
  3. "Boy Meets Girl in Monroe, N.Y., Starting Tomorrow - Home From Italy by A.H. WEILER". The New York Times . October 15, 1950. p. X5.
  4. "{ar Advance Coin Gives Texas Oilmen Their Coin". Variety. 6 December 1950. p. 3.
  5. "Top 20 Films of 1950 by Domestic Revenue". boxofficereport.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-15.
  6. Jerry Lewis films French box office information at Box Office Story
  7. The Broadway League. "At War With the Army | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information". IBDB. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  8. The Broadway League. "At War With the Army | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information". IBDb.com. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  9. Calta, Louis (1949-06-25). "Allardice Comedy Bought for Movie". The New York Times . p. 9.
  10. "At War with the Army (1950) - Filming & production - IMDb". IMDb .
  11. p. 396 Schneider, Jerry L. Corriganville: The Definitive True History of the Ray "Crash" Corrigan Movie Ranch Corriganville Press May 15, 2014
  12. pp. 67-68 Erickson, Hal Military Comedy Films: A Critical Survey and Filmography of Hollywood Releases Since 1918 McFarland 30 August 2012
  13. "Film Comedy Pair Sued for $10,000,000". Los Angeles Times . 1951-08-04. p. 5, Part II.
  14. Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1950 - 1959), p. 20
  15. "Amazon.com: At War with the Army (Film Chest Restored Version): Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Polly Bergen, Mike Killen, Hal Walker: Movies & TV". Amazon. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2017-08-30.