This Is the Army (1943) on Netflix
Drafted in 1917, dancer Jerry Jones stages an all-soldier revue, Yip Yip Yaphank. In World War II his son Johnny stages another and delays marrying Eileen Dibble until the war ends.
- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb5.8/101,492 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Jerry Jones, a New York dancer, is drafted in 1917 and asked by his superiors at Camp Upton to stage a morale-boosting revue. Yip Yip Yaphank, performed by soldiers, is a hit. Wounded in France, Jerry walks with a cane. In World War II his son Johnny P. Jones enlists after Pearl Harbor. He tells Eileen Dibble, the bugler Eddie Dibble's daughter, that he will not marry her until he returns. Jerry, Eddie and Maxie Twardofsky visit Camp Upton, where Sergeant McGee still trains soldiers, and the older men plan another all-soldier show. Johnny agrees to stage it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about This Is the Army (1943)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- George Murphy was not the first choice for Jerry Jones in This Is the Army: Fred Astaire, Joseph Cotten and Walter Huston were all considered first. Ginger Rogers was considered for Eileen, played by Joan Leslie, and George Brent turned down Major Davidson because he refused to work without being paid.
- The film's takings were donated to Army Emergency Relief, and its $9,555,586 gross made it the highest-grossing musical of all time until White Christmas overtook it in 1954.
- By the mid-1970s the film had fallen into the public domain and was shown on television again, and renewed interest in its actors revived careers, most notably those of Stump and Stumpy's Jimmy Cross and Harold Cromer.
- Irving Berlin himself performed his song "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" in the film, a scene borrowed from Yip! Yip! Yaphank!.
- Frances Langford sings "What Does He Look Like?" in the film, but the song was first offered to Dinah Shore, who turned it down because she felt the lyrics suited a man better.
