This Is the Army | |
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Original film poster
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Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
Produced by |
Hal B. Wallis Jack L. Warner |
Written by |
Irving Berlin Casey Robinson Claude Binyon |
Starring |
George Murphy Joan Leslie Ronald Reagan George Tobias Alan Hale, Sr. Kate Smith Victor Moore Irving Berlin |
Music by |
Ray Heindorf Max Steiner |
Cinematography |
Bert Glennon Sol Polito |
Edited by | George Amy |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
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Running time
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121 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $8.5 million (est. US/ Canada rentals) |
This Is the Army | |
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Movie Soundtrack album (1970's bootleg issue)
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Music | Irving Berlin |
Lyrics | Irving Berlin and Carmen Miranda |
Basis | Irving Berlin's play Yip! Yip! Yaphank |
Productions | 1942 Broadway 1943-1945 traveling show |
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.
In World War I song-and-dance man Jerry Jones (George Murphy) 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 (Rosemary DeCamp) farewell.
In the trenches of France, several of the soldiers in the production are killed or wounded by shrapnel from a German artillery barrage. Jones is wounded in the leg and must walk with a cane, ending his career as a dancer. Nevertheless, he is resolved to find something useful to do, especially now that he is the father of a son. Sgt. McGee (Alan Hale, Sr.) and Pvt. Eddie Dibble (Charles Butterworth), the troop bugler, also survive.