It's hard to imagine that stuff like this was being churned out in the very middle of WW II. IAMP portrays a fantasy land where high school kids wear sack suits and ties around the house, everyone is rich and has plenty of time and leisure for drinking and partying and night-clubbing, and a young shoe store salesman can get involved in organized crime. So the point must have been for the movie to be total escapist fare that took peoples' minds off their troubles. But it also had to be a Morality Play, to assure the viewer that he was watching Important, Meaningful Stuff. Kind of like Adam Sandler movies only with less punching and more nightclub scenes.
And actually, this movie isn't so bad, for what it is. All the actors did their best with the platefuls of corn, cheese, and ham they were handed, and I would guess that everyone gave exactly the performance that the director (and probably the producer and the studio) wanted from them. It wasn't their fault that they had such Goofus-And-Gallant level material to work with. I felt especially bad for "Jimmy" (who was probably in his mid-20s), who had to play a high school graduate who was a painfully earnest,well-meaning kid...but also a total sap. I'm sure he just thought of his paycheck every time he had to sit down with George Lloyd and talk about a 'hamburger with a side of french-fried potatoes'.
"Kitty" (Mary Beth Hughes) seemed familiar - hell, even her bangs-on-steroids hairstyle seemed familiar. Sure enough, IMDb lists the actress as a player in dozens of other films from that era, notably a bunch of westerns. She played the same kind of part here that she probably played in all those other movies - the bland, wholesome, attractive blonde next door. You can see how Jimmy could get hooked on a "glamourous" nightclub entertainer like the one she plays, at least within the parameters of the movie...she stood for everything men thought they wanted back then.
So I can't make too much fun of the movie...it is what it is. But I also can't imagine any modern audience having any reason to sit through this WWII version of an ABC AfterSchool Special 60 years after its release...except to enjoy the MST riffing on the dramatic clichés of the time and Jimmy's complete lack of awareness or self-determination.
And actually, this movie isn't so bad, for what it is. All the actors did their best with the platefuls of corn, cheese, and ham they were handed, and I would guess that everyone gave exactly the performance that the director (and probably the producer and the studio) wanted from them. It wasn't their fault that they had such Goofus-And-Gallant level material to work with. I felt especially bad for "Jimmy" (who was probably in his mid-20s), who had to play a high school graduate who was a painfully earnest,well-meaning kid...but also a total sap. I'm sure he just thought of his paycheck every time he had to sit down with George Lloyd and talk about a 'hamburger with a side of french-fried potatoes'.
"Kitty" (Mary Beth Hughes) seemed familiar - hell, even her bangs-on-steroids hairstyle seemed familiar. Sure enough, IMDb lists the actress as a player in dozens of other films from that era, notably a bunch of westerns. She played the same kind of part here that she probably played in all those other movies - the bland, wholesome, attractive blonde next door. You can see how Jimmy could get hooked on a "glamourous" nightclub entertainer like the one she plays, at least within the parameters of the movie...she stood for everything men thought they wanted back then.
So I can't make too much fun of the movie...it is what it is. But I also can't imagine any modern audience having any reason to sit through this WWII version of an ABC AfterSchool Special 60 years after its release...except to enjoy the MST riffing on the dramatic clichés of the time and Jimmy's complete lack of awareness or self-determination.