Martin and Lewis apparently made this right after My Friend Irma but it’s release was held off after the release of My Friend Irma Goes West (something similar happened with Abbott and Costello’s early film career – Hold That Ghost’s release was delayed so the stars could go do follow ups to Buck Privates). Unlike Irma this puts Martin and Lewis front and centre. It’s the most commercial of comedy genres, the service comedy – our heroes are in the army; Martin is a sergeant desperate or active service, Lewis is an idiot private, and they were a partnership team way back when.
It’s not a very good movie, to be honest. The stars are in alright form but they spend too much time apart; also Martin’s character is meant to dislike Lewis’, (they’re former songwriting partners only Martin doesn’t want to have anything to do with him) – which gives the action an emotionally yukky core.
The story is very weak: it’s about Martin wanting to be transferred to Korea (even if they never seem to mention the word “Korea”), and Lewis wanting to go home to see his wife and their new baby (yes that’s right he plays a married man – and we never see the wife or child), and some officer getting jealous of Martin pursuing his girlfriend (Polly Bergen) (which is fair enough but the officer is meant to be the baddie), and there being confusion about a dumb girl who Martin thinks he’s knocked up (he passes the blame on to Lewis, which is horrible).
There are some decent comedy bits, like Lewis in drag at an officer’s mess, and shenanigans on the army training field. There’s also a bit where Martin and Lewis impersonate Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way. But it's definitely one of the weaker films made by this duo.
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