Customer Reviews

War With the Army [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This one was a nice surprise. I had already seen the movie, and had enjoyed it, but didn't know what to expect from this DVD. Face it, Madacy dosen't rank too high with collectors as far as picture quality goes! But here they surprise me with a print thats scratched, but extremely clear. And a bonus of newsreel footage from the year in excellent condition, as well as a blooper reel (not from "Army")? Things are looking up here, and at six bucks and change, some value as well! Fans should seek this one out.

This is a review of the Alpha Video edition of AT WAR WITH THE ARMY (which is listed in the Amazon database as WAR WITH THE ARMY):

From 1949 to 1956, the boisterous team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis starred in 16 feature-length comedies, which vary in quality from undeniably hilarious to absolutely forgettable. AT WAR WITH THE ARMY (1950) falls closer to the latter category. This lackluster effort was their first starring vehicle, released after MY FRIEND IRMA (1949) and MY FRIEND IRMA GOES WEST (1950), in which they had glorified supporting roles.

Though released by Paramount Pictures, AT WAR WITH THE ARMY was an independent production, and a threadbare one at that, which explains why, at times, it looks like Dean and Jerry are appearing in someone's home movie. Based on a stage play-and looking every bit like a dingy, cramped, photographed stage play-this alleged military farce weakens the impact of the nutty duo by continually separating them. The movie springs to life when they're allowed to sing, dance, and do imitations, but these opportunities are few, as the plot sticks rigidly on its course to Dullsville. There are enough good moments to satisfy their devoted fans (Jerry's pretty funny on the occasions where he's allowed to cut loose, and Dean has nice duet with Polly Bergen, "You and Your Beautiful Eyes"), but if you've never seen this pair in action, there are far better M&L comedies awaiting DVD release (LIVING IT UP, SAILOR BEWARE, ARTISTS AND MODELS, and SCARED STIFF, to name a few).

Alpha Video's copy of AT WAR WITH THE ARMY is one of the better editions available, although like the marginally superior Digiview release, it's missing the cast credits after the "End" title. Arguably, the best edition of this film available is the one on Madacy Entertainment's "Hollywood Classics Collection" label. Madacy's print isn't as sharp as the Digiview version, but it does have the end cast credits. Madacy also makes their edition more attractive to consumers by including two 1950s newsreels and outtakes from the Abbott and Costello films IT AIN'T HAY (1943), PARDON MY SARONG (1942), and THE NAUGHTY NINETIES (1945).

I have loved Lewis and Martin since I was a child and now I share the fun with my children. My 5 year old loves the hilarious stunts Lewis does and the soda machine scene must be rewound and played over and over. He has tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. I highly recommend for the family.

What Dean & Jerry fan does not know of this movie?
My intention is to save those of us collectors time and money.

The Good Times Video version appears to have been recorded from a vhs - that was itself recorded from another vhs without Time Base Correction - about 10 times.

Add to that, its 1.33:1. Just last weekend I saw a Letterbox version on AMC...that's the copy I'm looking for.

Yep - that bad. Perhaps it was better than nothing, but now that something has hit the market, do yourself a favor, skip this version.

This (shudder) Madacy released disc is of the 1950 Martin and Lewis vehicle "At War With the Army." It was their first film together as stars, and was a forgettable, mildly enjoyable little comedy. It was adapted (and I use that term loosely) from a stage play, which is kind of obvious considering most of the action takes place in two rooms. It does contain an almost memorable Soda machine gag, along with a truly curious scene of Jerry Lewis dressed as a lady. The most memorable part is probably the shameful song "The Navy Gets the Gravy (But the Army Gets the Beans)", sung by Jerry at his most high pitched.
The DVD picture is pretty typical of Madacy. It's scratchy, with poor contrast, and visible compression artifacts. It is, however, easier to make out than a previous video I had bought from Front Row Entertainment. The discs features include a trivia game, a picture of the original poster, newsreels (not from "At War With the Army"), and bloopers (from an Abbott and Costello movie, not from "At War With the Army.")

Hollywood Classics Collection DVD
1950 Black & White with a running time of 92 min.
Directed by Hal Walker
Starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin and introducing Polly Bergen
The transfer from VHS to DVD was done well. The picture quality and sound are very good.
In this film Martin and Lewis are starting out their career together. Martin plays a Sergeant that has girl troubles and Lewis plays a bumbling Private First Class. They find out that the Army isn't so accommondating to their wants or desires. Martin's singing in this film reminds us of how remarkable and charming he was. The antics Lewis performs shows us his talent of mockery and silliness. The best scenes of this film are when Lewis is dressed as a woman singing a love song to a drunk soldier and Lewis' battle with the soda machine. This film is a good family film but probably wouldn't keep the attention of the younger generations. However, for our generation, it is a nice look back at the beginning career of Martin and Lewis.

I was very disappointed with this....I realize it is a 1950 film, however, the sound and picture were off much if not all of the film. Additionally, it wasn't listed as a DVD-R, but is. Wish it had been a better quality production with sound and picture in sync as I really wanted it for my collection.

At War With the Army was the first starring role for the team of Martin and Lewis. They had yet to build that perfect chemistry together and most of their best scenes in the film are separate from each other. But still you could see where the duo would eventually go on to huge things in many future films.

Martin plays bully Sgt. Puccinelli who is always picking (often nastily) on poor, private Alvin Korwen (Lewis). They were buddies from back home but now Puccinelli just bosses Alvin around. There's not much plot to speak of. The action mainly takes base at an Army training base, and more specifically in the orderly room. It's mostly an excuse for Jerry to do some of his trademark slapstick and for Dean to sing which is all ridiculously out of place but still fun to watch. Polly Bergen is along in her first role as Martin's girlfriend, Helen.

The Film was directed by Hal Walker who had worked on severl of the Hope & Crosby road pictures so he had some experience in dealing with a similiar comedy team, although certainly one that was much more polished than Martin and Lewis were in 1950. Overall it was a light, but entertaining comedy. Much like seeing the pair do their nightclub routine but framed by this army setting.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed in this movie but considering it was a first it wasn't a bad attempt. We did get a few laughs, but not as many as I had hoped for.

All three of my children are die-hard old comedy movie buffs and this one only held the attention of the oldest (14-year-old). The other two drifted off to more interesting activities.

I'll definately watch it again but it'll never rank in my top favorites I'm sorry to say.

This is required viewing since it is Martin and Lewis' first movie. As a comedy, it's not that great. It's not very funny, there's a lot of time wasted on generic dialog, and Dean's character isn't likeable since he mostly shouts, bullies, womanizes, and lies throughout. The movie is based on a play and it seems that some portions that may have played well in a live setting don't work on the screen. I can't be too sure since I don't know what is new to this movie and didn't appear in the play, or what did work in 1950 but doesn't work in 2005.

I got a good nostalgic feeling watching the movie. It gave me a feeling of sitting in a playhouse in 1940 with that era of audience and laughing at silly running gags like the half open door. Now that the bar has been raised so many times with comedy superstars like Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, and Jerry Lewis himself, it's fun to watch material from a simpler time.

Dean comes across well. His singing is great, he dances, and does an excellent impersonation of Bing Crosby. This is a good showcase of his talent.

Jerry also comes across well, as expected, with all of his trademarks. Bumbling clowning, funny faces, pouting, mime. His singing was better than I expected. He switches off between various singing voices like his zany voice, mock romantic, sarcastic, etc. He can hit the high notes and he sounds good.

The plot is pretty good. The various subplots involving Jerry, his wife and baby, his former friendship with Dean, Dean's two girlfriends and his military career, Dean's romantic rival, and the captain and his wife make for a somewhat complex plot. The movie builds up to the climax where all of the misunderstandings (and intentional subterfuges by Dean's character) come together with seven actors onscreen at the same time fighting each other to work things out. We're lucky that all seven made it into the TV frame!

I was touched by the ending in the same way that I remember always being touched by Martin and Lewis' movies: as though they are really good friends and that's heartwarming.

I was surprised to see so much polish on Martin and Lewis for their first movie, but you have to remember that they had been doing a live act before this, so that explains it.

I can imagine that a lot of the physical comedy gags, like running in and out of doors, throwing things around the room, jumping in another's arms, running around the room turning off lights, fighting with the drink machine, etc, would have worked in a play where the actors are actually doing that stuff live right in front of you. That would have added a lot of action to this play, where plays can sometimes be boring. On screen it doesn't work for me. It seems silly but nothing more.

Martin and Lewis' act is something like the Smothers Brothers' act. Martin scolds Lewis and Lewis gets meek and pouts.

I think most of the value in this movie comes from the performance pieces. The feature songs, dances, impersonations, and large comedy bits like the drink machine scene and Jerry as a woman are good stuff. I'm sorry to say that the rest of the material, which is probably the original play, doesn't quite cut it.
Larry Brown