SERVICE COMEDIES
A sampling of films made very popular during and after WW2 where the Military is the background or foreground for antics fun and otherwise
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- DirectorFred GuiolStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyViola RichardThe Merry Maiden's tough captain sets his sights on the love-smitten Willie Brisling's charming fiancée and kidnaps her. Now, she is a prisoner of love. Will the adulterous sea captain get away with cheating?
- DirectorLewis R. FosterStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyJames FinlaysonOn shore leave from the Navy, seamen Stanley and Oliver want to treat two attractive single girls to a glass of soda in the park but only have enough change for three sodas.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyPatricia EllisStan, who has remained faithfully at his World War I post for twenty years, finally comes home where his best friend, Ollie, takes him in, thus allowing him to discover the many conveniences of the modern world.
- DirectorEdward SedgwickStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyEdgar KennedyTwo bumblers, failures as businessmen and air raid wardens, stumble across a nest of Nazi saboteurs bent on blowing up the local magnesium plant.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsEddie BrackenBetty HuttonDiana LynnAfter an all-night send-off party for the troops, a small-town girl with an awkward boyfriend wakes up to find herself married and pregnant, but with no memory of her husband's identity.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsEddie BrackenElla RainesRaymond WalburnWoodrow is discharged from the military for hay fever, but fabricates receiving a heroic honorable discharge before returning home.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsBob HopeDorothy LamourLynne OvermanA movie star who can't stand loud noises accidentally joins the Army.
- DirectorBusby BerkeleyStarsJudy GarlandGeorge MurphyGene KellyTwo vaudeville performers fall in love, but find their relationship tested by the arrival of WWI.
- DirectorHal WalkerStarsDean MartinJerry LewisMike KellinAlvin Corwin is low man on the totem pole, and goes from one mishap to another at an army training camp in World War II.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloLee BowmanTwo sidewalk salesman enlist in the army in order to avoid jail, only to find that their drill instructor is the police officer who tried having them imprisoned.
- DirectorArthur LubinRalph CederStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloMartha RayeWhen a barnstorming stunt pilot joins the Air Corps, his two goofball assistants decide to go with him.
- DirectorEdward H. GriffithStarsFred AstaireJoan LeslieRobert BenchleyFred Atwell sneaks away from his famous squadron's personal appearance tour and goes incognito for several days off.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsFred AstaireRita HayworthRobert BenchleyIn order to cover up his philandering ways, a married Broadway producer sets one of his dancers up on a date with a chorus girl for whom he had bought a gift, but the two dancers fall in love for real.
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsMickey RooneyBuddy HackettJackie CooperTwo sailors sneak a talking duck on board their ship. Complications ensue.
- DirectorJohn FordMervyn LeRoyJoshua LoganStarsHenry FondaJames CagneyWilliam PowellIn the waning days of World War II, the cargo officer of a Navy supply ship chafes at its role far from the action in the Pacific's backwater areas, his frustration rising when its captain denies the crew liberty over petty irritations.
- DirectorMitsuyo SeoThis animated film--Japan's first--was a propaganda piece made to show the Japanese public how the Japanese military had achieved such decisive victories in the South Pacific. It tells the story of young Japanese boys from their school days to their joining the army and fighting against Japan's "enemies" and shows how the animals in the jungle--meant to symbolize the residents of the Asian countries the Japanese conquered--welcomed the Japanese army's "liberating" them from their western masters.
- DirectorJoshua LoganStarsRobert Walker Jr.Burl IvesWalter MatthauLife becomes harried after Ensign Pulver's prank. He and the captain are swept overboard during a storm, ending up on a tropical island with a group of shipwrecked nurses, dancing natives, and one very big case of appendicitis.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsGlenn FordStella StevensMelvyn DouglasWhen A Union Army outfit of misfits and rejects is sent to the Western territory, Southern spies try to figure out what they're doing there.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsFrankie AvalonDeborah WalleyCesar RomeroAn astronaut goes into space with a chimpanzee. When they return to Earth after their orbit, it is discovered that the chimp has the brains of the astronaut, and the astronaut has the brains of the chimp. Complications ensue.
- DirectorMarcel VarnelStarsGeorge FormbyPhyllis CalvertGarry MarshShortly after the start of World War II, a ukulele player (George) takes the wrong boat and finds himself in (still uninvaded) Norway. He is mistaken for a fellow British intelligence agent by a woman (Mary), and becomes involved in trying to defeat German agents.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsBette DavisJohn GarfieldThe Andrews SistersTwo soldiers on leave spend three nights at a club offering free of charge food, dancing, and entertainment for servicemen on their way overseas. Club founders Bette Davis and John Garfield give talks on the history of the place.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsCheryl WalkerWilliam TerryJudith AndersonA young soldier arrives in NYC and, before heading overseas to WWII, visits Stage Door Canteen, where famous actresses and entertainers volunteer to entertain soldiers.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsGeorge MurphyJoan LeslieGeorge TobiasA soldier wounded in the War (WWI) becomes a producer and stages a show for the forces.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsJane WithersThe Ritz BrothersLynn BariOut of work vaudevillians join the army in WWI and head for France where they encounter an American girl (Withers) whose father (Schildkraut) is a French officer. Lots of slapstick.
- DirectorPhil KarlsonStarsElyse KnoxAnn GillisSally EilersHenny, talent scout for the Margaret Ames Film Agency in Hollywood, mistakes understudies Judy and Marian for Eileen and Betty, the real stars of a Broadway show and signs them up for movies. Margaret, furious with Henny for the blunder, fires him--temporarily. Another agent, Marty Allen, once married to and still in love with Margaret, signs Betty and Eileen. Henny arrives with Judy and Marian, and the nightclub manager asks Henny to emcee the show. Though he is not sure himself what they can do, Henny introduces the girls and they make a hit in a dramatic sketch. (Simmer down, it's just a Monogram movie, and their nightclub attendees can react anyway director Phil Karlstein/Karlson wants them to.) Big-time movie producer R. J. signs them to a film contract. What does this have to do with the title, "A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine"? Judy joins the WAVES, Marian the WACS and Marty the Marines and all have two weeks before induction, and that is more than long enough to shoot a Monogram musical-within-a-Monogram musical and have a few days to spare.