Well considering that the tank looks like an oversized coffee grinder (or an old fashioned pencil sharpener), and the tank going over a setting that looks like the old west creates quite a few laughs. That sets up this military comedy for a few laughs, with a great cast of fun character players, especially James Gleason who's driving this big hunk of manhole covers glued together and placed on wheels. With World War II on the way, there's no denying that the enemy would point at this contraption and laugh, so the army better hope that this thing has some doodads and whatchamacallits that makes its laughable appearance more formidable. The plot is supposed to surround the tanks replacement for calvary horses, but the story is barely even dealt with.
There were big smiles from me when that delightful old Warner Brothers contract player Ruth Donnelly popped up as a vivacious hostess inviting Preston Foster to a card party with a group of women which includes leading lady Madge Evans, the daughter of the colonel, tough girl and future mother of Arnold the pig, Barbara Pepper, and the embittered Heather Angel. Donnelly isn't just the Auntie Mame of this group of women, but their surrogate mother as well, so her character provides both laughs and poignant tears.
Also present are Neil Hamilton, H. B. Warner and Ralph Morgan, with veteran comic Billy Gilbert quickly out wearing his welcome as a temperamental Spanish cafe owner. The problem with this film is the supposed main plot is fairly even dealt with, and there's a bunch of nonsensical scenes between Foster and the women that don't advance the plot at all. Evans has an annoying phony southern accent that after a while becomes painful to listen to. Somehow, this film managed to get three oscar nominations, but that was during the time when studios would each submit a film for certain technical categories and only one film for studio could be nominated. As much as I enjoyed the ensemble, it ended up being just a bunch of nothing and far too over long for that sort of thing.
There were big smiles from me when that delightful old Warner Brothers contract player Ruth Donnelly popped up as a vivacious hostess inviting Preston Foster to a card party with a group of women which includes leading lady Madge Evans, the daughter of the colonel, tough girl and future mother of Arnold the pig, Barbara Pepper, and the embittered Heather Angel. Donnelly isn't just the Auntie Mame of this group of women, but their surrogate mother as well, so her character provides both laughs and poignant tears.
Also present are Neil Hamilton, H. B. Warner and Ralph Morgan, with veteran comic Billy Gilbert quickly out wearing his welcome as a temperamental Spanish cafe owner. The problem with this film is the supposed main plot is fairly even dealt with, and there's a bunch of nonsensical scenes between Foster and the women that don't advance the plot at all. Evans has an annoying phony southern accent that after a while becomes painful to listen to. Somehow, this film managed to get three oscar nominations, but that was during the time when studios would each submit a film for certain technical categories and only one film for studio could be nominated. As much as I enjoyed the ensemble, it ended up being just a bunch of nothing and far too over long for that sort of thing.