Up in Arms (1944)

Awesome Movie

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

For his debut film Danny Kaye was given an impressive production for a typical service comedy, a little more than most got during wartime years. Sam Goldwyn was a man who never did anything by halves and Kaye's stardom was assured. Kaye's so funny that you might not notice that the plot was taken and used the following year by MGM for Anchors Aweigh.If you can wrap yourself around the concept that Dana Andrews would want to pal around with hypochondriac Danny Kaye than you'll find this a very funny film. As with so many others the Selective Service didn't find any one of Kaye's thousand or so ailments reason enough to keep him out of World War II.A couple of nurses played by Dinah Shore and Constance Dowling are in the cast. Kaye is absolutely bug eyed over Dowling, but it's Andrews that she likes. In the meantime Dinah Shore who has a couple of good songs to sing can't get Kaye to notice her.Up In Arms got two Oscar nominations for Best Musical Scoring and for Dinah Shore's song Now I Know. Personally I've always liked Tess's Torch Song which you can hear her perform in this film. But the real treat are Kaye's patter numbers done by Max Liebman and Mrs. Danny Kaye Sylvia Fine. The Melody in 4-F is a classic and loved by all of Danny Kaye's fans.This was the start of a great comic career and an impressive start at that.

This is about as corny as they come. Everybody's so -- NICE. Danny Kaye is a shy elevator operator. Dinah Shore is a nurse who loves him. Constance Dowling is the girl Danny Kaye thinks he loves, but when she meets Danny's roommate, Dana Andrews, they fall for one another. (During a scene involving a horse-drawn milk wagon -- those were the days.) They all wind up in the Army and are sent to the Pacific. Danny accidentally becomes a hero. He winds up with Dinah, and Constance winds up with Dana. Everybody lives happily ever after.The whole thing was shot in an MGM studio and looks entirely phony.I love it. I used to watch it repeatedly with my kid when he was about ten. We had practically all the dialog memorized. The hypochondriacal Kaye is taking a passenger in his elevator, down from a doctor's office to the lobby. The guy tells Kaye he's feeling just fine now and clears his throat a bit. "What's that clicking in your throat?" asks Kaye, backing away. By the time they reach the lobby the poor guy staggers out, his face pale, his hands clutched to his chest.Well, no need to go on about this. It's a salubrious mixture of romance and comedy, with Kaye having to imitate a Scotsman and so forth, acquiring the reputation of a real lady's man and the nickname "The Purple Flash." His ridiculous song is in my opinion the funniest he's done on screen. We glean from the gibberish that he's been drafted and is trying to get out of it by offering all kinds of excuses to the draft board. In one of them -- I guess I can mention this, since it seemed to have slipped by the censors -- he's offering medical reasons why he should be exempt. Weeping piteously, still sputtering nonsense, he makes a pumping motion with his fist then points to his head and twirls his finger. At the end he falls off the stage into the band.Just two more things, I swear, then I'll quit. Dinah Shore gets to sing and record a really lovely gelatinous 1940s ballad. What a marvelous voice she had, so on pitch, feminine, and full of feeling. The name of the song is "Now I Know." The lyricist should be drummed out of his professional society. Here -- as in the other one or two songs -- the lyrics are about as bad as they come. ("Ten million Yankees are standing PAT and the world knows THAT isn't hay!") At any rate, Kaye takes the record and a forbidden record player on board the troopship, where he is harassed by most of the other soldiers, big tough specimens too. During one confrontation with them, the record starts playing and Kaye has to lip-synch the words while the others stare at him goggle-eyed. Finally, the stylus gets caught in a groove and Dinah Shore's voice repeats itself -- "Now I know....Now I know.....Now I know...." One of the soldiers, a suspicious and particularly feral brute, Blackie, slowly traces the music to its source, uncovers the record player and says in his working-class New York accent, "Now we BOTE know," and flings Kaye against the bulkhead.It's an engaging movie, well worth catching if it's on, and suitable for family viewing. (Never mind that gesture during Kaye's gibberish song. I'm sure the practice flourishes but the causal meme has faded.)

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.

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 !!