I Won't Play

I Won't Play (1944)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oscar winning short about an Army blabbermouth (Dane Clark) who keeps telling the men in his squad that he helped form and influence several Hollywood stars. None of them believe him when they receive a new piano that he refuses to play but a Hollywood actress (Janis Paige) shows up to change their minds about their friend. This is an extremely well directed short by Crane Wilbur that features good work from both Clark and Paige. Paige also gets to show off her singing voice with a wonderful version of Body and Soul.

Some of the second line talent of Warner Brothers went into the cast of I Won't Play with the emphasis on the singing and looks of Janis Paige and the acting of Dane Clark. At least I hope that's what Jack Warner had in mind and not the other way around.

The setting is one of those thousands of atolls fought for and taken by the US Marines and they're now on occupation duty temporarily. One of the company nicknamed Fingers played by Dane Clark and he's really getting on everybody's nerves.

He was a piano player before the war and to hear him tell it there wasn't anyone from Bing Crosby to Judy Garland he didn't help with their careers. Especially one new starlet named Kim Carroll. But when an old beat up upright piano is found, all of a sudden he's shy about showing off that talent.

His buddies are giving the braggart quite the treatment until Kim Carroll played by Janis Paige shows up. After that in the words of Hercule Poirot all is revealed.

The highlight of the short is Janis Paige singing Body and Soul. Janis was one beautiful talented lady who never quite made it on the big screen. Her best role was reserved for Broadway when she starred in The Pajama Game. Although Doris Day got her best musical part in the film version, it would have been nice if Paige's performance could have been preserved.

I Won't Play got an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Subject for 1944 and it holds up well today. And while World War II is of the past, the subject matter is eternal. No one really likes a braggart, but it's nice when they have something to brag about.

Johnny Green's piano introduction sets the scene well for this light-hearted wartime story of "Fingers". Dane Clark plays this character who chats with his colleagues, filling their heads with stories of his celebrity friends and his piano playing with George Gershwin. The arrival of a piano that's "missing half of it's teeth" puts him on the spot and he, well suffice to say that his pals stop listening to his yarns and wait with anticipation for some real talent to come visit them on their remote South Sea island. The arrival of his purported super-star friend "Kim" (Janis Paige) really puts "Fingers" on the spot before someone gets the last laugh! Clark is good here. His smile and his charisma work well throughout this brief, feel-good, film and yes, Paige can sing a bit too. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, eh? There's some "Rhapsody in Blue" - too. What's not to like?

Cute little World War II propaganda short. Dane Clark and Janis Paige had remarkable onscreen chemistry and it shows here and in Hollywood Canteen. Ms. Paige was not only gorgeous, but she was a talented singer and actress.

The two most noteworthy things about "I Won't Play" are: It won an Academy Award as the best two-reel short film of 1944; and it was directed by silent-era leading man Crane Wilbur. The plot of this run-of-the-mill short is inconsequential, the dialogue lacks spark, while the acting is no better and no worse than that found in most war-themed Hollywood movies of the 1940s (in other words, it's awful). Admittedly, there are moments when "I Won't Play" is funny -- Janis Paige's totally artificial look and line delivery are precious -- but one laughs AT the picture, not with it.