Buck Privates (1941)

Buck Privates
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Written by Arthur T. Horman and John Grant
1941/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Slicker Smith: Throw your chest out! Go on! Throw your chest out!

Herbie Brown: I’m not through with it yet![/box]

I saw this to see The Andrews Sisters do their thing and they certainly did not disappoint! This is basically a film to promote patriotism and the first Peace Time Draft initiated in October 1940. The story, such as it is,  has Slicker Smith (Bud Abbott) and Herbie Brown (Lou Costello) mistakenly join the Army to the continual dismay of everybody at their boot camp.  There is a subplot about a couple of other draftees and their love triangle with one of the camp hostesses.  There is also much singing and dancing, particularly by The Andrews Sisters.  Shemp Howard plays a cook in one of Costello’s numbers.

This almost makes one want to run out and join up without waiting to be drafted.  The camp certainly looks like a kind of lark complete with lovely camp hostesses.  I wonder did they really exist?  Sounds kind of nasty but was completely innocent.  The girls serve coffee and flirt with the boys.

The Andrews Sisters sing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, “Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four”. “You’re a Lucky Fellow Mr. Smith”, and “(I’ll Be with You) In Apple Blossom Time”. One can see why they were such a hit in the era.  The movie went forward to gross over $4 million on a shoestring budget, providing the formula for many other Abbott and Costello movies to come.

Hugh Prince and Don Raye received an Academy Award nomination for their song “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B” and Charles Previn was nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Motion Picture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qafnJ6mRbgk

The Andrews Sisters sing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B”