The Marines Are Coming

I had never seen William Haines in a feature film until I saw this, and while many people say that this was far from his best effort, I found it and the Haines persona displayed here to be quite entertaining. This was a Mascot film, and that studio was not known for great films, but it was competently made with an entertaining story about a "renegade" marine who never seems to follow the rules. Esther Ralston appears as the leading lady to good effect. Both she and William Haines were banished from MGM at about the same time. It almost seems like a reunion of tarnished MGM stars to watch these two very talented people at a poverty row studio. Conrad Nagel has the most thankless job as the bland good guy of the piece. Armida adds spice to the film as Willie's erstwhile girlfriend, and she does a musical number competently. A pleasant way to spend 70 minutes. The Alpha DVD of this has it as a double feature with a 1937 Republic feature, Join The Marines.