Keep Your Powder Dry

Loaded with lovely classic Lana WWII scenarios.

I wonder how many young women went off to join the W.A.C. thinking Sydney Guilaroff would be doing their hair and Irene (I) their uniform wardrobe.

We look at films like this as objects through which we can watch a moment in Hollywood time. Lana is simply delightful.

I watch a film like this just for a glimpse of wartime America through the eyes of jaded and spoiled Hollywood elites who are piping this 'dream' to a still highly naïve wartime America.

Watch for Mercury Theatre's -- also the character of Endora on Bewitched (1964)] -- Agnes Moorehead. I reckon that some would say that this glimpse of Moorehead is as fun as that of Lana Turner.

This is a great little movie with plenty of laughs and tears. Lana Turner is in stunning form as Val, for some reason she really reminds me of Marylin Munroe a lot in this movie. The rest of the cast is great too, especially Laraine Day and Susan Peters. The story is based around the idea of three women from different social circumstances joining the WAC. The combination of Laraine Day with her army family background and Lana Turner as a model, creates for some incredible tension and electric scenes between the two. These two actresses really spark off each other wonderfully and they have some really dynamic exchanges. All the while with Susan Peters trying to play peace maker and remain neutral. A really heartbreaking ending really adds good balance to this movie also. I feel some of the other reviews were a little harsh on this film, treating it rather whimsically, this film has great dialogue and some very whitty exchanges, the likes of which you won't find on celluloid these days. I find it so hard to believe people can pass off a great little gem like this as boring and uninteresting. Anyway at least it has me here to champion it. :)

It seems that the film boards made a concerted effort to boost the image of women as tough and capable leading up to and continuing through World War II. "Keep Your Powder Dry" is an effort to display three women who overcome their disparate backgrounds, their petty differences, and their civilian prejudices to achieve a greater good by contributing to the war effort. A character in the film puts it this way, "...subordinate your personal feelings for the good of the corps."

This is a consistent theme in movies throughout this era. In John Ford's "Pearl Harbor" a German mocks the notion that the weak and decadent American women could take the place of men in industry to free them for service as soldiers. In "Cry Havoc" we witness the courage, trials, and sacrifices of women on Corregidor. Here in "Keep Your Powder Dry" we learn of the candidates' perseverance through the trials of boot camp, motor pool training, and OCS school (though the examples that they show are weak).

It is a little difficult to suspend reality far enough to buy the notion that Lana Turner could become dedicated to life in the WACs, having arrived by way of Park Avenue, but an effort is made by the screenwriter to show her recognition of the shallow and narcissistic lifestyle that she found there. It occurs rather late in the film, however.

Still, for WWII movie buffs, and fans for the movies of the forties, this one is a must see.

-- but Natalie Schafer plays a wealthy, mindless socialite!

If the ending doesn't draw at least a couple tears from your eye, especially these days, then you're heartless. Bah.

If you like this sort of movie (as do I), you will definitely enjoy this particular example of it. Very well done.

My only regret is that they didn't show enough of the training. Having gone through OCS myself, it's such an overwhelming, life-changing experience (though I don't know about the WACs' OCS) that it was a bit of a cheat that we didn't get to see how it changed the girls, only that it did. I suspect the writer was more concerned about the dynamic between the three main characters, rather than the interaction between each of them and the demands of officer candidate school.

Dafydd ab Hugh

Tidy little drama with some comic overtones. Lana, looking lovely in her first turn after giving birth to daughter Cheryl the year before, is a playgirl who the corps teaches the value of hard work and focus. Laraine the army brat who has to learn to lighten up and actually relate to people and Susan Peters, in her last role before the shooting accident that crippled her and more or less ended her career, the spunky young bride who plays peacemaker between them. All three give good performances in what is basically a recruitment poster for the war effort with a little soap mixed in, and a highly enjoyable one at that.

The three girls are basically the whole show but they are supported by some fine performers. Agnes Moorehead is all stiff upper lip in her small role as the commanding officer although she manages to mix in some warmth too. Natalie Schafer is very chic as one of Lana's fair weather friends in civilian life and in a small role as another sycophant is Jess Barker, who at the time was Susan Hayward's husband. The real standout is Lee Patrick as a former showgirl, she's sassy and brassy who adds a light touch to her scenes which is most welcome.