This is the Army [1943] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

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A celebrated US wartime morale booster from 1943.......2005-04-23

As a dazzling WWII morale booster of a film dripping with patriotism and featuring then-Lt. Ronald Reagan (the very epitome of American greatness), an Irving Berlin score (Berlin also personally performs the song Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning), and a rousing rendition of God Bless America by Kate Smith, it's hard for me to give this movie less than five stars - yet I can only go so far as four stars. There are two main reasons: first, there is the big song and dance featuring performers in black face (although such a production is understandable for the time), but second - and most importantly - there is just an insufferable number of men in drag scattered among far too many production numbers. In war time, seeing a bunch of soldiers parading around on stage in women's clothing does not exactly inspire me with a great deal of confidence in our boys' chances "over there." I know it was all for a good cause, namely the war relief effort, but there are just far too many cross-dressing shenanigans for my liking. The film certainly does have its moments, however, really getting my patriotic blood flowing on several occasions.

Ronald Reagan is not really the star of this film, although he does have a major role. The most prominent player is George Murphy in the role of Jerry Jones, a singer/dancer who was drafted into World War I, put on a rousing show to inspire the troops before suffering a leg injury in combat, and then, some twenty-five years later, produced another morale-boosting show for the new generation of soldiers heading off to war. The first part of the film is all about Yip! Yip! Yaphank!, Irving Berlin's inspiring World War I show, but obviously, the focus of the film is Berlin's World War II show, This is the Army, which featured 300+ soldiers performing comedy bits, some magic, lots of song and dance, and a heaping helping of good old tomfoolery. It's remarkably tame, appealing to Americans' patriotism rather than trying to foster hatred for the enemy. It also features a number by some of the soldiers from Yip! Yip! Yaphank!, which plays very well to the emotions of attentive viewers, especially veterans of the Great War and the mothers who lost husbands back then and now face losing sons to another war. A lot of the show numbers are quite good, especially those featuring songs by the full company of performers, but I thought things started to drag a little bit toward the half-way point. Worst of all, I started to wonder if we would ever get another number performed without the ghastly sight of men in women's clothing. One production of soldiers in drag I can see - two, I can accept, but one such number after another really started getting on my last nerve. When I think of the brave soldiers of WWII, the men of America's Greatest Generation, I do not want images of these fighting men wearing lace and curls cropping into my mind.

There is not a great deal in the way of plot in this film, but that is only to be expected. Jerry Jones' story is a surprisingly rich one, and Reagan's character's resistance to getting married on the eve of going to war plays out nicely in terms of addressing the emotional sacrifices those left at home have to make in the war effort, but everything else basically revolves around the big show. I don't doubt that the film was a great morale booster; the final number is inspiring, but the sight of the 1917 soldiers ending their show by marching through the theatre audience directly to their convoys in route to France is the moment I'll remember most about This is the Army.

Irving Berlin sends Ronald Reagan off to fight World War II.......2004-06-15

On the 4th of July in 1942, "This Is the Army" opened on Broadway with book, lyrics and music by Irving Berlin, who persuaded the War Department to let him have 300 service men to do the musical and raise $10 million for Army Relief. The 1943 movie version, directed by Michael Curtiz ("Casablanca") for Warner Brothers, starred a pair of future California politicians, (Senator) George Murphy and (Governor) Ronald Reagan, as the father and son of Jerry and Johnny Jones.

Reagan had just entered the military and was assigned to making "This Is the Army" and then military training films. Scenarists Casey Robinson and Claude Binjoy came up with a story lined that worked in material from Berlin's 1917 soldier show "Yip, Yip, Yiphank." Set during World War I, Murphy plays a Broadway song and dance man who is drafted and put in charge of an army show. After the final performance the cast marches off to war, where Jerry Jones receives a leg wound. Then we jump to the start of World War II, Jerry is now a Broadway producer and son Johnny is his assistant.

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