23 1/2 Hours' Leave

I viewed an incomplete print of '23-1/2 Hours' Leave' that had a couple of reels missing. The first reel was intact (though slightly deteriorated), so I can report that the opening credits render the '1/2' in the title as a case fraction.

Douglas MacLean plays an army sergeant, attracted to pretty Peggy, the daughter of his C.O. Peggy is training to be a field nurse. There's some bad slapstick comedy, quite a bit of it involving a very unattractive dog who's apparently meant to be cute. There's a very implausible scene in the barracks, in which Sergeant MacLean and all the enlisted men are stripped down to their skivvies. They're all of them wearing spotless white shorts and singlets that appear to have been freshly ironed. Also, they're all wearing shoes (not army boots). How do they expect to get their trousers on over their shoes?

Maybe this film would make sense if I'd viewed a complete print. As it stands, it's not funny and I couldn't follow the plot line. Wade Boteler is briefly amusing in a mess-hall sequence. From what I saw, the cleverest (and funniest) thing about '23-1/2 Hours' Leave' is its title.