Product: At War With the Army [VHS] (1950)
Rating: 4.0
Dean & Jerry test the waters
"At War With The Army", Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis' first starring feature (after 2 plum supporting roles in "My Friend Irma" and the sequel "My Friend Irma Goes West"), is clearly an excuse to see if this new comedy duo can carry a picture. And why not start them off in a service comedy? Look what "Buck Privates" did for Abbott & Costello!AWWTA is based on a stage play, and really looks it. With the exception of a few outdoor scenes, most of the film is very "stagebound" as the characters occupy a handful of set pieces, and Martin & Lewis are obliged to share their screen time with a wide assortment of characters. Strangely enough, Martin & Lewis do not seem to be intentionally paired as a team here, since their characters only cavort in a few scenes together. One of the "convincers" that they are a team is the "Service Show" scene, obviously a holdover from their nightclub act. The problem is that their 2 characters are mostly at odds with each other, since one is Sargeant (Martin) while the other is a lowly Private (Lewis). Dean sings his songs as smoothly as he does in future movies, while Jerry sings a cute, funny novelty number that "The Navy Gets the Gravy While the Army Gets the Beans", and does a curious turn in drag singing a French accent, and mugging it up.The film has a sort of "B-movie" feel to it, mostly because it was produced by someone else, and not Hal Wallis, who would give such polish & style to their following films. The DVD interpretation here is scratchy, dark & blurred in spots, but still viewable.Although not their best by any means, AWWTA was a big hit when it first debuted, and was an indication that the best from Martin & Lewis was still to come.