This WWII Technicolor Warner Brothers flag waving extravaganza, directed by talented Michael Curtiz, essentially stitches together two classic war-themed Irving Berlin musical stage productions: "Yip,Yip, Yaptank", which he composed while a WWI soldier at the army base near Yaptank, Long Island, and "This is the Army", a very recent theater show, dealing with WWII, and featuring its title song, among many others.It is perhaps overly long at 2 hrs. The overture is certainly too long, and there are perhaps too many stage numbers featuring large numbers of soldiers or sailors. There are times when the background drama or stage productions sag. But, on the whole, I found this film rather entertaining and inspiring, even 70 years later. It was well attended by contemporary audiences.George Murphy was a great choice as the lead show business-soldier combo star: sort of a stand in for Berlin.He had been and would be a star in a number of musicals during the late '30s and early '40s, having vaudevillian talents plus a fair dose of charisma, certainly more than Reagan's at this time. Often, as in this film, he served as the show director/producer, as well as a sometimes performer.Both he and Reagan would serve a term as president of the Screen Actor's Guild, and he would serve a term as a US senator, with Reagan eventually eclipsing him as a political executive.Many people want to know why Reagan's character was included in the film, as he seems to do little except reject his long term girlfriend's periodic pleas to marry her before he goes overseas. At this time, even variety shows, such as this, were thought to require some minimal element of romance and romantic drama. He also serves to add more continuity to the story, taking the place of his father, George Murphy's character, as a soldier in WWII vs. WWI, even if he doesn't take his place as a vaudevillian performer. His conflict whether to marry his sweetheart then or after his tour of duty must of been a very common concern among the audience. Unlike Murphy's character, who married his sweetheart just before sailing, Reagan's character seemed insensitive to the desire of his girlfriend. She(Joan Leslie) finally has to basically rope and tie him to make him say yes.Although hardly given the build up accorded Kate Smith in her stirring "God Bless America" number, gorgeous Frances Langford, in a striking blue evening dress, sings about a soldier getting a letter from his wife, saying he has a baby boy. While this wasn't hit parade material, no doubt it was a fairly common topic of conversation among soldiers.For a sampling of what she could do with more memorable songs, check out "Broadway Melody of 1936" or "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Robert Shanley also does a great job as the lead singer in the "With My Head in the Clouds", "American Eagles" and finale "This Time" productions. James Burrell lends his fine Irish tenor voice to the lullaby-like "I'm Getting Tired so I Can Sleep" The "We're on Our Way to France" mass army performance in a theater was spectacularly staged, as was the Navy's mass performance, much later in the show. To me, the dancing highlights were the two 'blacks only' numbers. The first was a minstrel show with many in blackface, about half of whom were also in drag, as 'mammies', singing and dancing to "Mandy", which I rank as among the best songs in the film. Although this was staged as part of the WWII portion of the film,Berlin actually composed it for his 1919 Yip,Yip, Yaptank show..It soon became hit at the Ziegfeld follies,starring Eddie Cantor, who later included it in one of his talkie films.It was a soothing soft shoe-type song, with many dancing couples, including Fred Kelly, brother of Gene Kelly: presumably the one in purple trousers. I have never understood why many people in recent times consider moderate blackface performances racist. As a WASP, to me, such a minstrel show is just another form of clowning around.Should I get offended by traditional circus clowns, often in 'white face', acting foolishly? To me, it's the same. The dance performance following this, done by real African Americans, was another highlight, especially the one dressed outrageously in drag, who did a wild dance and got another going with an equally wild dance.Dancers or singers dressed in drag are featured in several productions. Unfortunately, this caused great problems in trying to distribute the film to Latin American countries, where this rather common format in shows put on by servicemen is not considered humorous. Why didn't they use service women? I suspect they thought it would add to the humor. In addition to singing "How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" near the end of the film, Berlin sings "My British Buddy" in an outtake on my DVD. This was included in the film version for the UK. Again, his weak singing voice wasn't the greatest, but he got the message across that he hoped the UK and USA would remain close allies for many decades after this war was won. He got his wish on that one, but the spectacular finale stage production :'This time we will make certain that this time is the last time', expressing the determination that America would not again have to send soldiers to far off lands, proved far too optimistic. The US had become too important, internationally, to again retreat into isolationism. You may find the long documentary "Warner at War" included on my DVD to be of equal interest to this film. This DVD is currently included in a package with the other Warner war-related revues of this era : "Thank Your Lucky Stars" and "Hollywood Canteen"

I acquired this film by chance, and without cost, and I still regret that it occupies any shelf space in my home. This review contains no spoilers because there is nothing to spoil: The film spans two generations of Army men; the first put on a show about marching off to fight the "Great War" and their children put on a show about being in the Army during World War Two.The music is awful, patriotic fluff; the editing makes the film impossible to understand; there is no acting to speak of, no character development; and the appearance of soldiers dressed in black-face is sickening to the point of physical revulsion.Even a Joe Lewis cameo becomes offensive, based on the scene that follows directly.I give this movie a 1 out of 10, only because it is not possible to assign a negative score.

First of all, had you done your research, you would've known that all three branches of the military had (and still have) entertainment divisions whose sole job is to produce shows for the troops. If you looked at the "Crazy Credits" section you would've learned that famed composer Irving Berlin staged the two soldier shows as depicted in the movie.Yes, many of the skits and songs are terribly dated and yes "This is the Army" is largely a propaganda film, but Berlin singing his "Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" was the lament of every draftee.Virtually *every* film made during WWII was done either as propaganda or to bolster the spirits on the homefront.I respectfully suggest watching it again, but instead of looking at it with 2004 cynicism, look at it in the context of the times.

This movie is a classic of World War II movies. It was made as a moral booster during the war, and includes the music of Irving Berlin. One thing to note especially is the song "Someday I'm going to murder the bugler" which is sung by Irving Berlin himself (wearing his own WWI uniform).In order to really appreciate this movie you need to understand the world in which it was made, which was a whole lot different than 2004. There was a world war and everyone was concerned about stopping evil. (as opposed to today, where everyone is concerned about how terrorism, or the fight against it, is going to disrupt their daily life)This movie was made as a way to give people something to feel good about, and show patriotism.