In many ways, this film is a re-working of the Laurel and Hardy film, PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES. That's because like this earlier film, the duo is saddled with an adorable kid and they spend the film ducking the law. To me, this is not a great thing, as I really prefer that comedies not use cute kids. However, this one isn't as cloying as most and she spoke reasonably good French, but why, oh why did they pick a child actress who had no French accent whatsoever--especially when she's playing a French orphan from WWII?! The film begins with Lou trying to smuggle this kid into the country when he and Bud are on their way back to the US on a troop ship. Naturally she is caught, but later in the film the kid escapes and finds her way to Bud and Lou rather easily. Considering it's only New York City, this ease of finding them is understandable (I've heard everybody pretty much knows everybody there). But, to keep the kid, they must stay one step ahead of the police (in particular, their old Sergeant who is now a cop), get good jobs and get married so that they could adopt the kid. It just so happens that a nice WAC on the boat decides to help them and her boyfriend lets them in on a money-making deal with his midget racing car (a small car, not a car driven by a midget).
All this culminates in a long and wacky finale, though I really think this was the low-point of the film. Realism, even by comedy standards, was way out the window and I felt that the whole segment was amazingly dumb. Plus, miraculously, after wrecking everything, the whole film is wrapped up perfectly (and in a very unbelievable fashion). This sort of wrap up reminds me of a Curious George book--the monkey, like Lou, makes a mess of everything but somehow is STILL a hero.
Despite the ending, the film gets very high marks. Part of this is because there is almost no singing at all--only a catchy tune the soldiers sang in the ship. Too often in their earlier films (like BUCK PRIVATES) there were silly production numbers that detracted from the comedy, but not here. Another plus is that although there was a secondary romantic plot, it wasn't a bit part of the film. And, finally, the film was just pretty funny and quite watchable--even with the kid.
I'd say that this is about as good as the original BUCK PRIVATES, though the films are so very different that I'm not sure I'd consider them sequels--the structure, style and content are just too dissimilar.
All this culminates in a long and wacky finale, though I really think this was the low-point of the film. Realism, even by comedy standards, was way out the window and I felt that the whole segment was amazingly dumb. Plus, miraculously, after wrecking everything, the whole film is wrapped up perfectly (and in a very unbelievable fashion). This sort of wrap up reminds me of a Curious George book--the monkey, like Lou, makes a mess of everything but somehow is STILL a hero.
Despite the ending, the film gets very high marks. Part of this is because there is almost no singing at all--only a catchy tune the soldiers sang in the ship. Too often in their earlier films (like BUCK PRIVATES) there were silly production numbers that detracted from the comedy, but not here. Another plus is that although there was a secondary romantic plot, it wasn't a bit part of the film. And, finally, the film was just pretty funny and quite watchable--even with the kid.
I'd say that this is about as good as the original BUCK PRIVATES, though the films are so very different that I'm not sure I'd consider them sequels--the structure, style and content are just too dissimilar.