User Reviews

Notable for handsome Technicolor, lovely young Eleanor Parker, and a large cast of future servicemen...many of whom probably never returned from the coming conflict. Stalwart character lead and sterling villain John Litel is top billed. William T. Orr has central role of spoiled, bratty intern upset to have his medical career interrupted by his being drafted into the Army Medical Corps. The action hinges on his reformation do to a history lesson about many contributions made to Medical science by Doctors serving in the field. The film is very smooth and solid (and the print shown on TCM is pristine). Some attempt is made to give the script some comedy and action....and the propaganda/ documentary elements are kept to a minimum 'til the last few moments. All in all a tidy curio of America (and Hollywood) putting on a brave face at a very dark hour.

This Warner short is a tribute to the Army Medical Corps with JOHN LITEL as an Army Major, WILLIAM T. ORR as a wise-cracking student with his eye on the nurses, and ELEANOR PARKER, third billed as a student nurse.

It's kind of dull, stuck as it is with a sappy story that has Parker resisting Orr's advances throughout the story until he's hurt in an accident while on duty and suddenly they kiss and make up.

The training sequences are moderately interesting but not enough to sustain the twenty-minute length of this short subject. Parker gives no particular indication of what a good actress she could be with a good script, nor does Orr distinguish himself in the thinly written role of the playboy type. Just one of the many Warner shorts that Gordon Hollingshead produced during WWII at the studio.

The ending has Litel giving Orr a pep talk on how valuable army medics are and suddenly our hero is ready to take things seriously and consider staying with the Medical Corps for a career.

This Warner Bros. short highlights the contributions of the Army Medical Corps to the war effort, with a sappy, silly story about a pretty nurse (a beautiful 19-year-old Eleanor Parker) having to fend off the advances of an arrogant, cocky intern both before and after they joined the Army Medical Corps. Meant as a morale-booster to the folks on the home front, it gives a pretty good account of the training that army medical personnel undergo, interspersed with footage of field maneuvers involving tanks, artillery pieces, etc. Overall the short isn't all that bad, and the Technicolor photography is spectacular, but the wraparound story is boring and unnecessary, with Parker giving it her all in a sketchily written role and future Warners executive William T. Orr excruciatingly irritating and overbearing as the horny intern. His annoying habit of grabbing Parker at every opportunity and yanking her back to him makes him come across as more of a potential rapist than a potential boyfriend. Veteran Warners character actor John Litel does his usual fine job as a wise doctor who resolves everything in the end. The narration by Knox Manning is bombastic and pours on the patriotic jingoism, but that's to be expected in a propaganda short like this one. Worth a look to see just how ravishing Technicolor was back then, and to get a glimpse of the workings of a military base in the early 1940s.

Doctor John Litel joins the Army to head a major facility. Nurse Eleanor Parker -- in her screen debut -- joins because she's smitten with the old goat. And intern William T. Orr is drafted.

This World War II propaganda film doesn't please either my eye or my ear. There's far too much green in the print, between the khaki uniforms and fields and forests. The make-up the performers wear is often erratically applied, and the lighting is weird. Warner Brothers' Technicolor work was among the best, and they took great pride in their Technicolor shorts. This does not live up to that high standard.

As for the ear, well, narrator Knox Manning is given lines that his usual stentorian delivery elevates to the point where I thought he might have an aneurysm.

Soldiers in White (1942)

** (out of 4)

Fair short about a man (William T. Orr) who isn't too happy when he's drafted for WW2 only to be placed in the Army Medical Corps. Once there he doesn't take anything serious other than trying to track down a date with a nurse (Eleanor Parker) but soon something is going to change his mind. This Technicolor short from Warner is pretty boring as it's two-reels could have and should have been cut down to one. What really killed any of the entertainment for me was that I couldn't stand the lead character. Yes, he's suppose to be a jerk and a smart aleck but not once did I feel anything for him other than just finding him very annoying. I also didn't care too much for the nurse who is obviously here for a love interest. The two featured no chemistry and their childish bickering got old very quickly. There's no doubt that, once again, this short was made to give a message and that message is a good one but we didn't need all the childish stuff to get to the end speech. The one major plus is that we get to see Fort Sam Houston is glorious Technicolor and it's this beautiful color that makes this film worth seeing.

The big reason for film fans to watch this film is for film buffs to see Eleanor Parker in her first movie, though it's a short. At first, I found it difficult to recognize her, as the studio obviously gave her a major makeover before she went on to her next film, "The Very Thought of You". Her hair color was brown and her make-up and overall look is different in "Soldiers in White".

Apart from a chance to see Parker, the film itself is only fair...even as a propaganda film. This is because the character of Pvt. Allison seems awfully broad and his transformation to a patriot seemed silly and hard to believe. Not a bad film....just not among the better films of its type.

I just saw this on TCM and I enjoyed watching the short film.