Corporal Kate

Irish Vera Reynolds and Jewish Julia Faye form a poor two-act and head off to a staging area in France, but the soldiers are more entertained by hot doughnuts. There Vera meets Kenneth Thomson, a polo star promoted to Army mule skinner. They begin a romance, but when his society friends show up as Red Cross nurses and RAF pilots, she feels put upon... Until the war intervenes.

With the success of WHAT PRICE GLORY on the stage and THE BIG PARADE on the screen, raucous stories set against the backdrop of the battleground became popular. This example of the genre has not aged well, given the rough-and-ready wooing. The battle sequences are very well done, but they make up the last twenty minutes of this movie, and don't make up for the then-popular handling of the farcical romance. Director Paul Sloane would have a long but minor career as an auteur in film, but his handling was never exceptional enough to make his works truly memorable.

This is a rare picture in that it shows wars effects from the female perspective. Two manicurists enlist in the service to do their part, which turns out to be as entertainers at the front. One falls in love with a playboy/wagon driver but the other one loves the same guy. Some light comedy takes place before the war asserts itself. It is schmaltzy and overdone in the acting department and Vera Reynolds showed no flair for comedy and a little for drama. She was a weak spot in the film, which takes a dark turn towards the end. During the German attack some great explosions took place, very realistic and very close to the actors. It was mildly entertaining but, in truth, some old movies have dubious value save for the fact that they are old. "Corporal Kate" is one such.