About Face

TANKS A MILLION was the first of a series of comedy features from Hal Roach Studios. I had very low expectations of TANKS due to the generally poor quality of many of the contemporary Roach products. This is because I had already seen, among other films, TURNABOUT, NAZTY NUISANCE and MISS POLLY (all from Roach) and all were, at best, mediocre films due to very broad comedy and slap-dash characters. Amazingly enough, TANKS was a wonderful comedy with great characters, so I looked forward to seeing ABOUT FACE. Unfortunately, in many ways, ABOUT FACE really has more in common with these other films than TANKS A MILLION.

Although William Tracy and Joe Sawyer once again reprise their roles as sergeants, so much of the original film is missing. James Gleason, a great supporting character in the first two Sgt. Doubleday films, is absent and so is Doubleday's sweetheart. Plus, the balance of the original film is gone. TANKS had a large ensemble cast but in ABOUT FACE, the movie rested squarely on the shoulders of just the two sergeants. And while Doubleday was okay, Sgt. Ames (Sawyer) was so obnoxious, he was no longer funny. And because Ames was such an awful character, you felt irritated at Doubleday's lack of backbone and it made no sense why a basically nice guy like Doubleday would have anything to do with Ames. Any sane person would have ditched Ames a long time before the film ended and the trouble Ames created for Doubleday just became tiresome.

In addition to Ames, there was one smaller character in the film that truly was annoying, and that was the very young lady who kept chasing Doubleday (I think this was Jean Porter). She appeared to only be about 14 years-old (she was actually 17), lisped repeatedly (I think this was supposed to be funny) and her voice was much more annoying and cloying than Olive Oyl's!! She just grated on me and I wanted her to just shut up!

The bottom line is that this film lacked charm and lasting appeal--mostly due to lousy writing and unappealing characters. Considering how good the source material was, this is a major disappointment and is, at best, a time-passer.

PS--Does anyone know WHY Doubleday has dropped rank since the first movie? He's missing one of his stripes (taking him from Sgt. 1st Class to Staff Sgt.).

The other reviewers have been dubious about this movie. I can't understand why. It doesn't have the dorky charm of the series opener, "Tanks a Million," but it's a lot funnier, from the marvelous opening scene in which Sgt. Ames (Joe Sawyer) loses control of a unit he's drilling because they hear not only his commands but also the military-style orders Sgt. Doubleday (William Tracy) is giving his dog as obedience training, to the great scene in which Mrs. Culpepper (Margaret Dumont) systematically tears into Ames as an example of the "semi-moron" type — thereby proving that Dumont could dish it out just as well as she could take it in her seven films with the Marx Brothers — to the finale, admittedly ripped off from Laurel and Hardy's 1928 silent short "Two Tars" (also a Hal Roach production), the sort of slow-paced "tit for tat" gag Leo McCarey developed for Laurel and Hardy at Roach in the late 1920's, this is a laugh-riot start to finish.

To those who noticed and wondered about the change in rank between the movies Tanks a Million and About Face, the actual reason is more than likely a Hollywood flub but there is an actual reason if they had a military adviser. The rank system at the time of Tanks was the 1920 War Dept regulation, which called for seven enlisted grades 1st grade, was Master Sgt. 7th grade Private. the First Sargent was a working title only and was grade 6 three up 2 down with diamond. Doubleday had this rank as he took charge of the Drill Company with Ames being the Second Sargent with only three chevrons, The staff sergeant was a staff position only and did not have active command of troops. With the change of regulations in 1942 the rank structure changed to 1st Sgt. being 3 up 3 down with diamond and moved from grade 2 to grade 1. The staff sergeant became the sergeant in charge of troops below the Tech Sgt. Basically the 1SG was the equal of today's Sgt. Major, The Technical SGT took over the duties of the Staff SGT and that is why Doubleday lost a chevron. The Tech Sgt. would become SGT 1st Class in 1948 and SGT Major would be seen in 1958 with the creation of the current e-grade system.

WILLIAM TRACY and JOE SAWYER share the spotlight again in the third, and one of the weakest entries, in the Sgt. Dodo Doubleday series about the man with the photographic memory who gets into all kinds of scrapes with his army buddies.

This time he crashes a ritzy party sponsored by MARGARET DUMONT (in uniform) but the story doesn't really get into gear until the rowdy date that Sawyer has with VEDA ANN BORG ends up with a free-for-all smashing of cars and car parts while irate car rental owner (CHARLES LANE) looks on adding up the insurance damage.

It's good to see FRANK FAYLEN and WILLIAM DRESSEL back as bartenders this time, but nothing saves the picture from being one of the weaker programmers featuring Tracy in his Doubleday role. JEAN PORTER adds her own brand of flirtatious and dance crazy teen-ager to the proceedings. Forgettable stuff.

About Face (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Another entry in the Doubleday/Aimes series with this one turning out to be one of the better films in the series. This time out Aimes (Joe Sawyer) puts his hatred of Doubleday (William Tracy) to the side when he learns that Doubleday has a hundred bucks in his pocket. Aimes takes the mild mannered Sgt. out for a good time but only trouble follows. This film runs just over 40-minutes and if you've seen any of the other's in the series then you know what to expect here. There's nothing earth shattering or ground breaking in this series but I've found them all rather pleasant entertainment and this one here offers plenty of laughs as well. The climax of the film has the boys getting into a fight with several sailors and they all settle it by destroying each others cars, which makes for some very funny sequences. There's an earlier sequence where Doubleday takes Aimes to a woman's meeting but the dumb Aimes takes it as some sort of party. Tracy is his usual self here but I think the real key of the series is due to Sawyer as the dumb ox who can't stay out of trouble. The two work very well together and makes for a nice entertainment.