Other reviewers have noted that "Up in Arms" was the first major movie that launched Danny Kaye's star. It certainly is a foretaste of the versatile Kaye's many talents. It includes a couple tongue-twister sequences, a couple of other language impersonations, and just a little song and dance. But, none of these are at the accomplished level Kaye would reach and show in films that followed. What he is good at in this career opener, he is fantastic at in films such as "The Inspector General" of 1949, "On the Riviera" of 1951, "Knock on Wood" of 1954, and "The Court Jester" of 1955.
Venues to showcase talents like Kaye don't have to have great plots. Films such as this are good and enjoyable just for the entertainment of the star or stars. But, when films also have interesting stories, they often click better and enhance the viewing enjoyment. At least I find that so in Kaye films. With much better scripts in those later movies, he moved more naturally and smoothly into his tongue twisters, impersonations, or song and dance numbers.
"Up in Arms" doesn't have a very solid plot. So, it seemed to me a number of times that the producers forced the next Kaye sequence on us. Like an old-fashioned entertainment break between scenes in an otherwise not-too-good stage show. Those few who praise this film as among Kaye's best had best watch again those films I named above. His impersonations, tongue twisters, and song and dance advanced remarkably in just a few years as he perfected his talents in each of these fields. Still, it is his comic performance alone that earns this movie seven stars in my book. Dinah Shore's singing supported the film some, but otherwise I think the cast was lackluster. Dana Andrews had more than a dozen movies under his belt, and would rise to become a leading man and male co-star in many films of the late 1940s and 1950s. But, he did not fit in comedies or musicals. He's clearly out of place here.
One other thing that struck me, with the rich Technicolor for such an early film, was the makeup worn by the ladies. In the musical scene with everyone boarding a ship, all the WAC nurses line up along the ship railing. As the camera pans their pretty faces, their heavy use of makeup really stands out. That may have been a sign of the times, and I appreciate the lesser use of pancake makeup in modern days. Our sharp lenses and cameras can give us very close shots that show the natural beauty of the human face. I think the pancake would be obvious and not very enticing.
Here are some favorite lines from this film.
Danny Weems, "Say, what's the matter with that horse of yours? He keeps breathing in all the time - never breathes out?" The Milkman, "Well, I'll tell you, Bub. But I don't want it to get around. He isn't really a horse. He's a vacuum cleaner."
Danny, "You know, if I don't get a rest petty soon, I'm gonna have to have an operation." Joe Nelson, "They can't operate on you, Junior. With all those pills inside of you, you'd roll off the table."
Sgt. Gelsey, looking at some of the 100 plus nurses sunbathing and sitting in their special deck area aboard the ship, "We never had anything like this in the last war." Info Jones, Sergeant, we don't have anything like it in this war either."
Navy nurse (Goldwyn Girl, June Lang, uncredited), "Gosh, how can a guy who looks like a canary turn out to be a wolf?"
