The Adventures of a Rookie

The Adventures of a Rookie (1943)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

RKO's attempted cash-in on Abbott and Costello's BUCK PRIVATES was the first film to feature the comic team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney. In the film they meet at an Army boot camp and soon they get mixed up in all sorts of trouble. Along for the ride is another soldier (Richard Martin) who keeps getting caught up in their hijacks. THE ADVENTURES OF A ROOKIE will probably drive many viewers to a depressed state and I think a lot of it is going to depend on how well you handle Brown and Carney. The duo made seven films together and they weren't successful when originally released and it seems they haven't gained too many fans in the decades that followed. I've actually enjoyed a couple of their horror spoofs (ZOMBIES ON Broadway, GENIUS AT WORK) but it's hard to find anything good to say about this film. At just 64-minutes the film seems to drag on for hours and I really did get the feeling a couple times that it was never going to end. The biggest problem is that there's no screenplay to think of. It's as if RKO was just wanting any comic team in any Army movie so that they could jump on the success of BUCK PRIVATES. The military jokes are all lame and most of the situations simply aren't funny. There's a running gag of a joke about two cars going to Chicago that is old on the first telling and yet it just keeps coming up. Brown and Carney are clearly still not overly used to working with one another as their timing is off and there's just not a good mix going on. THE ADVENTURES OF A ROOKIE is one of the worst examples of a military comedy out there.

Following fine supporting roles in "Step Lively", RKO decided to push Wally Brown and Alan Carney as their answer to Abbott and Costello. Brown and Carney were a comedy team created by RKO. Their success together is pure luck. Brown was to be the "Abbott" character, with Carney as "Costello". But Brown and Carney have personalities of their own. Wally Brown is an unsuccessful con man who can sing a little. Carney, who uses the catch phrase "You don't like me", is a rubber faced impressionist. Brown is high energy, while Carney is lethargic. However, Brown does not try to take advantage of Carney. They are on the same side doing battle with the rest of the world. "Adventures of a Rookie" and its sequal "Rookies in Burma" are "Buck Privates" rip offs. RKO was not the only studio trying to cash in on the success of "Buck Privates". Fox attempted to do this by redefining Laurel and Hardy in "Great Guns" and Warners put together the unlikely team of Phil Silvers and Jimmy Durante for "You're in the Army Now". I can't blame the studios. "Buck Privates" was a huge hit. Why not cash in on that? The "Rookies" pictures are only for die hard comedy fans who wish to see another turn on Abbott and Costello.

As other reviewers have noted, "The Adventures of a Rookie" is RKO Studio's attempt to create their own Abbott & Costello-like comedy. There were two problems with this....Wally Brown and Alan Carney. The duo simply weren't very funny...and it didn't help that the writers were apparently sleepwalking through the scriptwriting process. There were barely any laughs in the picture...and sticking so close to the plot of "Buck Privates" (Abbott & Costello's first major hit movie) was just lazy.

Jerry (Brown) and the cretinous Wally (Carney) are drafted into the army. While Jerry is dim, he's at least human. As for Wally, he makes Lou Costello look like a Rhodes scholar by comparison. Through the course of the film they drive their sergeant crazy as well as befriend a nice guy and thereby ruin his life.

The bottom line is that the film is watchable but not much more. It lacks pretty much everything you want in a wartime comedy....and it's obvious why Brown & Carney are pretty much forgotten today.

Jerry Miles (Wally Brown) is a nightclub performer. Mike Strager (Alan Carney) is a clueless working stiff. Bob Prescott (Richard Martin) comes from family wealth. The three guys from disparate backgrounds get drafted and become good military buddies. They get invited to a dinner in a girls boarding house. The whole house is placed under quarantine after one person gets scarlet fever.

Wally Brown and Alan Carney are trying to be Abbott and Costello. They are even trying different versions of Who's on 1st with Alan not understanding what Wally is saying. I really like Alan. There is a small chance that this could have been turned into a sex comedy at the boarding house, but there's no way this era would allow that. I would probably change wet blanket Bob to make him more agreeable. Nevertheless, I'm surprised at the low ratings. This is a borderline comedy at worst.

With Universal's "Buck Privates" (1941) raking in the dough, RKO drafts funny straight man Wally Brown (as Jerry Miles), handsome heir Richard Martin (as Bob Prescott), and rotund truck driver Alan Carney (as Mike Strager) to do Abbott & Costello one better. The attraction of pretty Margaret Landry (as Peggy Linden) to Mr. Martin lead the trio to a social at her home. When Ms. Landry's maid comes down with scarlet fever, the men are happily quarantined in her all-girl boarding house. So that his men lose no training time, drill sergeant Erford Gage (as Burke) follows his recruits there. Later, the trio of draftees must escape from a hospital and rejoin their camp.

**** The Adventures of a Rookie (8/43) Leslie Goodwins ~ Wally Brown, Allan Carney, Richard Martin, Erford Gage