Up in Arms

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 !!

I have no idea why the rating for this film is so low! This was the first Kaye film I saw and, now after having seen most of his others it's still my favorite.

I had this preconception about Danny Kaye that he just made some early, cheesy musicals. Well, that is kinda true... but he is such an amazing, funny performer! One of my new favorites. Who woulda thunk it.

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.

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.

Other reviewers have noted that "Up in Arms" was the first major movie that launched Danny Kaye's star. It certainly is a foretaste of the versatile Kaye's many talents. It includes a couple tongue-twister sequences, a couple of other language impersonations, and just a little song and dance. But, none of these are at the accomplished level Kaye would reach and show in films that followed. What he is good at in this career opener, he is fantastic at in films such as "The Inspector General" of 1949, "On the Riviera" of 1951, "Knock on Wood" of 1954, and "The Court Jester" of 1955.

Venues to showcase talents like Kaye don't have to have great plots. Films such as this are good and enjoyable just for the entertainment of the star or stars. But, when films also have interesting stories, they often click better and enhance the viewing enjoyment. At least I find that so in Kaye films. With much better scripts in those later movies, he moved more naturally and smoothly into his tongue twisters, impersonations, or song and dance numbers.

"Up in Arms" doesn't have a very solid plot. So, it seemed to me a number of times that the producers forced the next Kaye sequence on us. Like an old-fashioned entertainment break between scenes in an otherwise not-too-good stage show. Those few who praise this film as among Kaye's best had best watch again those films I named above. His impersonations, tongue twisters, and song and dance advanced remarkably in just a few years as he perfected his talents in each of these fields. Still, it is his comic performance alone that earns this movie seven stars in my book. Dinah Shore's singing supported the film some, but otherwise I think the cast was lackluster. Dana Andrews had more than a dozen movies under his belt, and would rise to become a leading man and male co-star in many films of the late 1940s and 1950s. But, he did not fit in comedies or musicals. He's clearly out of place here.

One other thing that struck me, with the rich Technicolor for such an early film, was the makeup worn by the ladies. In the musical scene with everyone boarding a ship, all the WAC nurses line up along the ship railing. As the camera pans their pretty faces, their heavy use of makeup really stands out. That may have been a sign of the times, and I appreciate the lesser use of pancake makeup in modern days. Our sharp lenses and cameras can give us very close shots that show the natural beauty of the human face. I think the pancake would be obvious and not very enticing.

Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Danny Weems, "Say, what's the matter with that horse of yours? He keeps breathing in all the time - never breathes out?" The Milkman, "Well, I'll tell you, Bub. But I don't want it to get around. He isn't really a horse. He's a vacuum cleaner."

Danny, "You know, if I don't get a rest petty soon, I'm gonna have to have an operation." Joe Nelson, "They can't operate on you, Junior. With all those pills inside of you, you'd roll off the table."

Sgt. Gelsey, looking at some of the 100 plus nurses sunbathing and sitting in their special deck area aboard the ship, "We never had anything like this in the last war." Info Jones, Sergeant, we don't have anything like it in this war either."

Navy nurse (Goldwyn Girl, June Lang, uncredited), "Gosh, how can a guy who looks like a canary turn out to be a wolf?"