A delightful comedy that, unfortunately, adheres to 40s Hollywood norms.

Rating: Null/10 (7 December 2004)

This movie was not much of an innovator of the Classical Hollywood narrative, but a great example of the style typical of popular wartime films. This a movie with very little if any emphasis on editing and mise-en-scéne as independent stylistic aids, thus, more of a spectacle in its farcical portrayal of zealously ignorant Nazis. A delight to watch, with a wit that eerily foreshadows the coming of Mel Brooks. So, I'd recommend the Brooks remake as well. To WHOM would I recommend this film you ask? The range of viewers who could sit through this sort of film is probably very narrow among young people. But, say you're a history major who just landed a first date with ... another history major, or say you're an unpaid grad student who enjoys intellectual masturbation, and you're engaged to someone like yourself. This movie is for all of you, on a rainy night, Chinese in hand, in a flat somewhere in midtown. Yeah, delightful, whatever, but too TYPICALLY American AND PERFECT. Somewhat glad I didn't grow up watching stuff like this.