Up in Arms

The first Danny Kaye vehicle, this film still has the power to make me laugh. The action revolves around a hypochondriac named Danny Weems who is hopelessly in love with a beautiful nurse named Mary (played by the lovely Constance Dowling) at the hospital he works as a doorman at, while completely unaware of the attentions of her multi-talented best friend and fellow nurse, Virginia (played by the talented Dinah Shore, a singer known to those alive in the '70s as the host of "Dinah! & Friends"). Meanwhile, Danny introduces his handsome roommate Joe to Virginia, but Joe and Mary end up hitting it off, though Danny is completely oblivious to it all.

This movie was contemporary with World War II, of course, and the real action begins when Danny is drafted by the U.S. Army despite the multiple ailments he believes he has. Joe joins up along with him, and -- of course -- the two nurses join up as well. And the movie goes along from there.

As with Kaye's other well-known movies, "Up In Arms" is a virtual showcase of his comedic talents when they were still very fresh and seemingly spontaneous. The musical numbers are particularly enjoyable.

This is a film one needs to see if one needs a good, clean laugh. I saw this movie as a kid a decade ago when I was home from school and sick, and Danny Kaye kept me laughing throughout the whole thing -- it definitely made me forget my troubles.

The only downside to this film is the stereotypical characterisation of the Japanese soldiers seen near the end, but the viewer must remember when this film was made, and that wartime propaganda like this was common. In comparison to others from that era, the comedy is fairly tame.

My rating for this movie is 10 out of 10. They truly don't make them like this any more.

this is an old movie and looks really great now in color, looks like they remastered it? i read a comment about the movie and the fellow really did not like the film, said unless you were a Danny Kaye fan it was bad. NOT SO !! and that fellow had the gals reversed. Danny was in love with Mary and Virginia wanted him. poor friend Joe, he was stuck there somewhere in the middle. this is just one of those funny old movies that take place when the war was the biggest deal ever. this is one of those feel good movies that proves what good friends some people have in their time of need, whatever their need is. the film is worth a watch if you like old films that are funny, plus Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore both sing. take a chance, we really enjoyed it !!

This recently showed on Turner Classic Movies and I was lucky enough to catch most of it. The film is old and features some cartoonesque lampooning of racial stereotypes (especially the Japanese, but hey it was made in 1944 - do the math), but nothing as offensive as incidental references made in the modern media. Danny Kaye's antics had me in stitches and the ladies are still lovely despite the age of the material - the song-and-dance silly humor is unlike anything you'll find in Hollywood these days but was quite fitting at the time. Overall it was highly entertaining and I would not mind watching it again either alone or with company.

One of the funniest movies of all-time. Danny Kaye's first film. Catapulted him from a virtual unknown to an international super-star. Two songs co-authored by his wife, Sylvia Fine, did the trick for him: "The Lobby Number" and "Melody In 4-F." These two songs put Danny's virtuoso tongue-twisting genius on full display. Danny Kaye plays a hypochondriac who is drafted into the Army in World War II and ends up single-handedly capturing a platoon of Japanese soldiers in the South Pacific while winning the heart of beautiful songstress Dinah Shore. Now, 60 years later, the film remains thoroughly enjoyable, and no other entertainer has emerged who can equal Danny Kaye's extraordinary comedic talents. If I had to make a list of the 10 funniest films ever made, "Up In Arms" would surely be on that list.

For his debut film Danny Kaye was given an impressive production for a typical service comedy, a little more than most got during wartime years. Sam Goldwyn was a man who never did anything by halves and Kaye's stardom was assured. Kaye's so funny that you might not notice that the plot was taken and used the following year by MGM for Anchors Aweigh.

If you can wrap yourself around the concept that Dana Andrews would want to pal around with hypochondriac Danny Kaye than you'll find this a very funny film. As with so many others the Selective Service didn't find any one of Kaye's thousand or so ailments reason enough to keep him out of World War II.

A couple of nurses played by Dinah Shore and Constance Dowling are in the cast. Kaye is absolutely bug eyed over Dowling, but it's Andrews that she likes. In the meantime Dinah Shore who has a couple of good songs to sing can't get Kaye to notice her.

Up In Arms got two Oscar nominations for Best Musical Scoring and for Dinah Shore's song Now I Know. Personally I've always liked Tess's Torch Song which you can hear her perform in this film. But the real treat are Kaye's patter numbers done by Max Liebman and Mrs. Danny Kaye Sylvia Fine. The Melody in 4-F is a classic and loved by all of Danny Kaye's fans.

This was the start of a great comic career and an impressive start at that.