In the months before Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, millions of Americans were to enter the armed forces through enlistment or the draft. Hollywood did its part to reassure new servicemen and their families that life in the Army was not so bad when nitwits and misfits like Jimmy Durante and Phil Silvers could thrive in uniform.
Pushing 50, Durante seemed a little old to be an Army recruit but his forever sunny disposition between trips to the guardhouse and lines like "I'm a victim of circumstances" makes it somewhat forgivable.
I was amazed by the regimental commander who kept insisting that cavalry horses were more than a match for tanks even after the Nazi Panzers proved otherwise in France and Poland. How could someone this dense keep a combat command in 1941? Of course, Durante and Silvers prove the superiority of the tank to him, not by its firepower or mobility, but by the fact it can tow a house better than a team of horses.
Pushing 50, Durante seemed a little old to be an Army recruit but his forever sunny disposition between trips to the guardhouse and lines like "I'm a victim of circumstances" makes it somewhat forgivable.
I was amazed by the regimental commander who kept insisting that cavalry horses were more than a match for tanks even after the Nazi Panzers proved otherwise in France and Poland. How could someone this dense keep a combat command in 1941? Of course, Durante and Silvers prove the superiority of the tank to him, not by its firepower or mobility, but by the fact it can tow a house better than a team of horses.
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