Service with the Colors

A few familiar faces from the big and small screen will be recognized by the viewer of Service With The Colors. This short subject from Warner Brothers is about service in the peacetime army which in 1940 everyone knew was going to become a wartime army any day now.

People enlist for all kinds of reasons in the army during time of peace and one of those enlisting is William T. Orr. Watching this one has to remember this was the Depression and jobs just weren't to be had. I could relate to that because in my family my one surviving uncle now 96 wanted to enlist in the Navy, but was implored with tears by my grandmother not to do it. So he sat around and couldn't get a job until World War II started. Who knows if he had enlisted, he might have been killed at Pearl Harbor. As it was he survived the Battle Of The Bulge.

In any event Orr had the same idea as my uncle. Three hot meals a day and a place to sleep. The film is about how those notions get radically changed by Colonel Henry O'Neill and Sergeant Robert Armstrong among others.

And among others you'll recognize William Lundigan and Herbert Anderson as fellow enlistees. All in all a decent short film which if expanded could have been a good feature.

This short, nominated for an Academy Award, is not a stellar piece of work. The script is average, acting too obvious in spots and there is at least one character who irritates so glaringly that it's clear that the audience is supposed to dislike him. Still, this is somewhat interesting, given that its production values technically are first-rate. Hardly exceptional, but worth watching at least once. Turner Classic Movies runs this as filler and almost invariably airs it during their "31 Days of Oscar" every March. Not too bad.

Up until about 1940, American sentiment was that we should stay out of WWII...which had broken out in 1939. Most folks in this country simply didn't care who won the war and many saw it as just a continuation of WWI. However, by 1940, this neutrality was being chipped away at....and the public's sympathy began to favor the Allies. At the same time, President Roosevelt wanted to intervene but didn't have the public's support to enter the war directly, so the Lend-Lease program was started...to lease American ships to the Brits. And, Congress approved a peacetime draft because it appeared likely the US would eventually get involved in the war.

So how did Hollywood respond to all this? They began making pro-war films--or at least pro-US military films. In addition to this film, "Service With The Colors", they also began featuring Nazis as evil characters in a few films as well as made a string of comedies featuring the funniest men of the day in bootcamp...such as Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello and Bob Hope...among others.

"Service With The Colors" is a color short featuring a group of Hollywood actors playing bootcamp inductees and their drill sergeants (Robert Armstrong and William Lundigan). It follows them during the time they spend at the Presidio army base in San Francisco. Among the recruits is a brash (and unrealistic) recruit (William Orr) who has a rotten attitude who seems destined to spend his time in the service in the brig.

The transformation in this rotten soldier really isn't convincing....and it's also pretty vague. Too bad. Otherwise, an effective and well made short.

Service with the Colors (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-nominated, Technicolor short has four men joining the Army at the same time and we see their struggles as they try to make it. The film mainly centers on one who joined just to fight in a war but he isn't getting his way because there's no war to fight. He ends up battling with one of his sergeants (Robert Armstong) who though it all still sees something in him. This is a pretty good little film that manages to get a good message off even though Pearl Harbor would happen not too long after this was released. The film features some very strong performances by King Kong famed Armstrong as well as William Lundigan, Henry O'Neill, William T. Orr and Herbert Anderson. The direction by Eason isn't over the top and he has no trouble at telling the story and even packing a lot of stuff into the 20-minute running time. I think Armstong's character comes off a lot nicer than he probably would have in real life but that's a minor issue.

Various men join the US Army. They are sent to the Presidio in San Francisco. One has a chip on his shoulder. The Sergeant patiently counsels him. Everyone would end up in a spiffy uniform on the parade grounds.

This is propaganda before Pearl Harbor. Of course, that would change everything. This short struggles to give a good reason for joining other than the most basic patriotic sentiment. The training is not harsh enough. Maybe they are trying to soft-peddle the intensity. This may not be great recruitment, but it's probably not going to hurt. It actually got nominated for an Academy Award.