Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalHispanic Heritage MonthIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Up in Arms

  • 1944
  • Approved
  • 1h 45m
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
Dana Andrews, Danny Kaye, Constance Dowling, Dinah Shore, and The Goldwyn Girls in Up in Arms (1944)
Screwball ComedyComedyMusical

Hypochondriac Danny Weems gets drafted into the army and makes life miserable for his fellow GIs. He's also lovesick when it comes to pretty Mary Morgan, unaware that she's in love with his ... Read allHypochondriac Danny Weems gets drafted into the army and makes life miserable for his fellow GIs. He's also lovesick when it comes to pretty Mary Morgan, unaware that she's in love with his best friend Joe.Hypochondriac Danny Weems gets drafted into the army and makes life miserable for his fellow GIs. He's also lovesick when it comes to pretty Mary Morgan, unaware that she's in love with his best friend Joe.

  • Director
    • Elliott Nugent
  • Writers
    • Don Hartman
    • Allen Boretz
    • Robert Pirosh
  • Stars
    • Danny Kaye
    • Dana Andrews
    • Dinah Shore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.1/10
    1.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Elliott Nugent
    • Writers
      • Don Hartman
      • Allen Boretz
      • Robert Pirosh
    • Stars
      • Danny Kaye
      • Dana Andrews
      • Dinah Shore
    • 18User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 2 Oscars
      • 2 wins & 2 nominations total

    Photos14

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 7
    View Poster

    Top cast99+

    Edit
    Danny Kaye
    Danny Kaye
    • Danny Weems
    Dana Andrews
    Dana Andrews
    • Joe Nelson
    Dinah Shore
    Dinah Shore
    • Virginia Merrill
    Constance Dowling
    Constance Dowling
    • Mary Morgan
    The Goldwyn Girls
    • Dancing Ensemble
    Knox Manning
    Knox Manning
    • Narrator
    • (voice)
    Louis Calhern
    Louis Calhern
    • Colonel Ashley
    George Mathews
    George Mathews
    • Blackie Snodgrass
    Benny Baker
    Benny Baker
    • Butterball
    Elisha Cook Jr.
    Elisha Cook Jr.
    • Info Jones
    Lyle Talbot
    Lyle Talbot
    • Sgt. Gelsey
    Walter Catlett
    Walter Catlett
    • Major Brock
    George Meeker
    George Meeker
    • Ashley's Aide
    Tom Keene
    Tom Keene
    • Ashley's Aide
    • (as Richard Powers)
    Margaret Dumont
    Margaret Dumont
    • Mrs. Willoughby
    Donald Dickson
    Donald Dickson
    • Singer at Dock
    Charles Arnt
    Charles Arnt
    • Mr. Higginbotham
    Charles Halton
    Charles Halton
    • Dr. Roger Freyheisen
    • Director
      • Elliott Nugent
    • Writers
      • Don Hartman
      • Allen Boretz
      • Robert Pirosh
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews18

    6.11.2K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    6MissMellieY

    Not Danny's Best

    This is not Danny Kaye's best effort. That would be The Court Jester, as far as I am concerned. This movie was badly written. It wasn't horribly acted but the actors weren't given anything much to work with. Danny deserved better and so did Dinah Shore. She should have been a much bigger movie star than she was. She was very talented and had excellent screen presence. Too bad this movie is one of her few movies.

    At the end of the day, don't waste your time. If you want to see GOOD Danny Kaye movies, find The Court Jester, The Inspector General, White Christmas...or his dramas The Five Pennies or Skokie. He was a brilliant comedian AND dramatic actor. Don't use this movie as an example of his best work.
    8patriciafruge

    worth the watch !

    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 !!
    8kent-wicker

    Not Only Funny -- But Psychedelic FreakyWeird: Way Ahead of Its Time

    I just saw this for the first time. I'm an old Danny Kaye fan -- grew up with Court Jester & other DK films; always appreciated his particular genius.

    I only saw the second half of this film -- but it just blew me away. Of course, it already features the trademark Danny Kaye combination of showmanship, clowning, doe-eyed sincerity, patter-songs and absolutely beautiful vocal control that others mention here. And that is truly impressive. Also impressive in this film is the playing with gender, which is something DK could always get away with, but here comes out as particularly hyper and intense.

    But what really shocked me was how ahead of its time this film was. Made during WWII, and absolutely full of patriotism and wartime idealism, all somehow mixed together with the idealism of romance and home and family, this was clearly a 1944 deal, with fake-looking classic Hollywood sound stage warships and sea scenes. But it looks much more like something out of 1955 or, God help us, 1966.

    They don't really hide from that sound-set fakeness, esp. in the truly weird dream sequences, and the whole thing ends up looking more like Bob Fosse than the WWII propaganda film it's also trying to be. These sequences feature sets and costumes in co-ordinated "hot" pastels, a bartender-cum-minister-cum-scat singer, and I kid you not a bright sky blue goat. This segues into a scene with intense women in skimpy black clothing (think Robt Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video from the 1980s meets a 1890's bordello), some of whom are mounted/pinned/crucifed on trees/crosses/black wings set on poles.

    In front of this, Danny Kaye in a devilish red suit does some of the most pure and outrageous absurdities I have EVER seen him do -- phasing in and out like the young Robin Williams on cocaine, switching into and out of a pastiche of popular song styles, slang, scat and African-American impersonation as if he were a black guy pretending to be a white guy pretending to be a black guy pretending to be a black guy. (In most of this, he is echoed capably -- but not brilliantly -- by Dinah Shore.) He is manic and brilliant and so very American and post-modern.

    He is also incredibly young, and looks quite a bit like some manic, visionary rock star of today. (He resembles a bit the young Sting or Billy Idol.) And esp. in those fantasy scenes, the intensity combined with the costuming and showmanship made me realize that DK can be seen in that line of intense musical innovators/showmen that includes Prince and probably Jack White of the White Stripes.
    8dunkiin

    Dated but Still Delightful

    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.
    10cjprentiss

    A hilarious, supremely entertaining film

    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.

    More like this

    Wonder Man
    6.8
    Wonder Man
    The Kid from Brooklyn
    6.5
    The Kid from Brooklyn
    A Song Is Born
    6.9
    A Song Is Born
    Knock on Wood
    6.7
    Knock on Wood
    The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
    6.9
    The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
    On the Double
    6.4
    On the Double
    The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
    7.0
    The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
    Merry Andrew
    6.6
    Merry Andrew
    Fourteen Hours
    7.1
    Fourteen Hours
    The Inspector General
    6.7
    The Inspector General
    Tomorrow Is Forever
    7.3
    Tomorrow Is Forever
    It Happened Tomorrow
    7.0
    It Happened Tomorrow

    Related interests

    Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal in What's Up, Doc? (1972)
    Screwball Comedy
    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
    Musical

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      An animation sequence supervised by Walt Disney based upon Roald Dahl's short story "The Gremlins" was deleted before the film's release. Producer Samuel Goldwyn and star Danny Kaye hoped to reunite with Disney for Hans Christian Andersen (1952) in 1951, but the effort to have live-action and animated sequences was eventually abandoned. A brief bit of the "Gremlins" sequence appears in Victory Through Air Power (1943).
    • Quotes

      Goldwyn Girl: Gosh, how can a guy who looks like a canary turn out to be a wolf?

    • Connections
      Edited into Moments in Music (1950)
    • Soundtracks
      Now I Know
      Music by Harold Arlen

      Lyrics by Ted Koehler

      Sung by Dinah Shore (uncredited)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ17

    • How long is Up in Arms?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 27, 1944 (Brazil)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • With Flying Colors
    • Filming locations
      • Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production companies
      • The Samuel Goldwyn Company
      • Avalon Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 45m(105 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.