This Is the Army
This Is the Army is a 1943 American wartime musical comedy film produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from a wartime stage musical with the same name, designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Ezra Stone. The screenplay by Casey Robinson and Claude Binyon was based on the 1942 Broadway musical by Irving Berlin, who also composed the film's 19 songs and broke screen protocol by singing one of them. The movie features a large ensemble cast, including George Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Joan Leslie, Alan Hale Sr. and Rosemary DeCamp, while both the stage play and film included soldiers of the U.S. Army who were actors and performers in civilian life.
Plot
In World War I, song-and-dance man Jerry Jones is drafted into the US Army, where he stages a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. It is a rousing success, but one night during the show orders are received to leave immediately for France: instead of the finale, the troops march up the aisles through the audience, out the theater's main entrance and into a convoy of waiting trucks. Among the teary, last-minute goodbyes Jones kisses his newlywed bride Ethel farewell.
Awards
Cast
- Alan Hale
- Bess Flowers
- Charles Butterworth
- Dan Dailey
- Dolores Costello
- Dorothy Peterson
- Ernest Truex
- Ezra Stone
- Frances Langford
- Frank Coghlan, Jr.
- Gary Merrill
- Gene Nelson
- George Murphy
- George Tobias
- Henry Jones
- Herbert Anderson
- Ilka Grüning
- Irving Bacon
- Irving Berlin
- Jimmy Conlin
- Joan Leslie
- Joe Louis
- Kate Smith
- Pierre Watkin
- Richard Farnsworth
- Richard Irving
- Ronald Reagan
- Rosemary DeCamp
- Ruth Donnelly
- Stanley Ridges
- Tom D'Andrea
- Una Merkel
- Victor Moore
- Warner Anderson
More details
| author | Casey Robinson Claude Binyon |
|---|---|
| award | Academy Award for Best Original Musical Score |
| director | Michael Curtiz |
| editor | George Amy |
| events | Attack on Pearl Harbor World War II |
| genre | comedy western |
| keywords | act break in draft franklin delano roosevelt kill minister newlywed on tour one night pearl harbor president roosevelt red cross religious minister wait wash wound |
| musicBy | Irving Berlin |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Color Academy Award for Best Original Musical Score Academy Award for Best Sound |
| producer | Hal B. Wallis Jack L. Warner |
| publisher | Warner Bros. |
| theme | jukebox musical musical comedy |