I Won't Play

Somewhere in the South Pacific, some marines are holding an advance position. There's not much to do but yarn, and Dane Clark is the champion at that. According to him, he fixed Rhapsody in Blue for Gershwin, got Sinatra his first gig and arranged his music for him, and made Janis Paige a star. Also he's a great piano player. The other marines don't know what to make of him until they get a piano.... which he refuses to play. Then they shun him, until Janis Paige, on a USO tour, makes a stop for refueling and puts on a show.

It's Dane Clark being a sleazy sort of guy, which he did a lot in this stage of his career. He was, of course, much more, as he would demonstrate over the next 44 years and more than 150 screen appearances.

The two most noteworthy things about "I Won't Play" are: It won an Academy Award as the best two-reel short film of 1944; and it was directed by silent-era leading man Crane Wilbur. The plot of this run-of-the-mill short is inconsequential, the dialogue lacks spark, while the acting is no better and no worse than that found in most war-themed Hollywood movies of the 1940s (in other words, it's awful). Admittedly, there are moments when "I Won't Play" is funny -- Janis Paige's totally artificial look and line delivery are precious -- but one laughs AT the picture, not with it.

Joe Fingers is a Marine stuck on an outpost in the South Pacific. He loves telling tall tales out of boredom. The men don't always believe him but can't get enough of his stories. Movie star Kim Karol makes a surprise visit and the boys see an opportunity to catch him out on one of his lies.

It's a nice little story. It's a short. It could do more but it's still only a short. I'm not sure that it deserved to get the Oscar. The story and the times probably had a lot to do with the win. It's a fine short and it brought the war home in a non-threatening way.

Cute little World War II propaganda short. Dane Clark and Janis Paige had remarkable onscreen chemistry and it shows here and in Hollywood Canteen. Ms. Paige was not only gorgeous, but she was a talented singer and actress.

Some of the second line talent of Warner Brothers went into the cast of I Won't Play with the emphasis on the singing and looks of Janis Paige and the acting of Dane Clark. At least I hope that's what Jack Warner had in mind and not the other way around.

The setting is one of those thousands of atolls fought for and taken by the US Marines and they're now on occupation duty temporarily. One of the company nicknamed Fingers played by Dane Clark and he's really getting on everybody's nerves.

He was a piano player before the war and to hear him tell it there wasn't anyone from Bing Crosby to Judy Garland he didn't help with their careers. Especially one new starlet named Kim Carroll. But when an old beat up upright piano is found, all of a sudden he's shy about showing off that talent.

His buddies are giving the braggart quite the treatment until Kim Carroll played by Janis Paige shows up. After that in the words of Hercule Poirot all is revealed.

The highlight of the short is Janis Paige singing Body and Soul. Janis was one beautiful talented lady who never quite made it on the big screen. Her best role was reserved for Broadway when she starred in The Pajama Game. Although Doris Day got her best musical part in the film version, it would have been nice if Paige's performance could have been preserved.

I Won't Play got an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Subject for 1944 and it holds up well today. And while World War II is of the past, the subject matter is eternal. No one really likes a braggart, but it's nice when they have something to brag about.