I Won't Play (1944) User Reviews

What if he ISN'T full of hot air?

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 16 June 2019]

Joe (Dane Clark) is a rather unpopular guy in his unit fighting in the South Pacific. That's because he is a name-dropper...and he claims not only to know some of the biggest stars but claims to have actually helped the likes of George Gershwin and Frank Sinatra to hit it big! He's obviously a blowhard and time and time again, the guys try to trap him in his lies. Imagine their surprise when one of the folks Joe claims to have helped in her career lands at their base! Now, it's time to put up or shut up, Joe!

This is well acted and shows that Warner Brothers could make some nice short films to help the war effort. It hold up nicely over time and is worth seeing.

I Won't Play, Don't Ask Me

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 16 October 2010]

Some of the second line talent of Warner Brothers went into the cast of I Won't Play with the emphasis on the singing and looks of Janis Paige and the acting of Dane Clark. At least I hope that's what Jack Warner had in mind and not the other way around.

The setting is one of those thousands of atolls fought for and taken by the US Marines and they're now on occupation duty temporarily. One of the company nicknamed Fingers played by Dane Clark and he's really getting on everybody's nerves.

He was a piano player before the war and to hear him tell it there wasn't anyone from Bing Crosby to Judy Garland he didn't help with their careers. Especially one new starlet named Kim Carroll. But when an old beat up upright piano is found, all of a sudden he's shy about showing off that talent.

His buddies are giving the braggart quite the treatment until Kim Carroll played by Janis Paige shows up. After that in the words of Hercule Poirot all is revealed.

The highlight of the short is Janis Paige singing Body and Soul. Janis was one beautiful talented lady who never quite made it on the big screen. Her best role was reserved for Broadway when she starred in The Pajama Game. Although Doris Day got her best musical part in the film version, it would have been nice if Paige's performance could have been preserved.

I Won't Play got an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Subject for 1944 and it holds up well today. And while World War II is of the past, the subject matter is eternal. No one really likes a braggart, but it's nice when they have something to brag about.

"He's a lotta hooey".

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 16 October 2010]

Joe Fingers (Dane Clark) appears the typical blow-hard until his military buddies finally call his bluff. With the arrival of singer Kim Karol (Janis Paige) to their island outpost, the viewer still wonders whether Fingers will be outed for the liar we all presume him to be. But lo and behold, not only can he play, but he's Karol's fiancée! To his credit, Fingers doesn't cash in on his celebrity, instead wishing to spare his buddies' feelings while keeping their spirits high.

War time weariness was at a high point in 1944, and this was one more short to help give soldiers and civilians something to look forward to. I was somewhat surprised by the mention of Tarawa, island scene of one of the War's bloodiest encounters (to be followed by Iwo Jima). Paige entertains, albeit wistfully with a rendition of 'Body and Soul', while the soldiers get their kicks by throwing darts at a picture of Emperor Hirohito.

Enjoyable

[stareyes24 · 11 February 2004]

Even though this film was a short-subject film, I totally enjoyed it. I found it touching and funny at the same time. I can see why Janis Page and Dane Clark would become more popular later on in their careers. I highly recommend this short film.

Oscar winning short

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 12 October 2021]

Joe Fingers is a Marine stuck on an outpost in the South Pacific. He loves telling tall tales out of boredom. The men don't always believe him but can't get enough of his stories. Movie star Kim Karol makes a surprise visit and the boys see an opportunity to catch him out on one of his lies.

It's a nice little story. It's a short. It could do more but it's still only a short. I'm not sure that it deserved to get the Oscar. The story and the times probably had a lot to do with the win. It's a fine short and it brought the war home in a non-threatening way.

Might Be Tarawa

[boblipton · 7/10 · 31 July 2023]

Somewhere in the South Pacific, some marines are holding an advance position. There's not much to do but yarn, and Dane Clark is the champion at that. According to him, he fixed Rhapsody in Blue for Gershwin, got Sinatra his first gig and arranged his music for him, and made Janis Paige a star. Also he's a great piano player. The other marines don't know what to make of him until they get a piano.... which he refuses to play. Then they shun him, until Janis Paige, on a USO tour, makes a stop for refueling and puts on a show.

It's Dane Clark being a sleazy sort of guy, which he did a lot in this stage of his career. He was, of course, much more, as he would demonstrate over the next 44 years and more than 150 screen appearances.

Entertaining Award Winning Short Subject

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 30 April 2001]

A Warner Brothers Short Subject.

The biggest liar in the Marine Corps claims to be a musical genius, but his buddies get mighty sore when a piano is delivered to their South Seas island base and the fellow says `I WON'T PLAY.'

Propelled by the wise guy personality of Dane Clark and the loveliness of Janice Paige (who gets to sing `Body and Soul'), here is an enjoyable, lighthearted little film which still should entertain viewers today. This is the type of fast-moving escapist fare that was so valued by weary movie audiences as World War Two dragged into its sixth year.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something like writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. This particular film was the winner of the Academy Award for the Best 2-Reel Live Action Short for 1944.

I Won't Play

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 7 February 2024]

Johnny Green's piano introduction sets the scene well for this light-hearted wartime story of "Fingers". Dane Clark plays this character who chats with his colleagues, filling their heads with stories of his celebrity friends and his piano playing with George Gershwin. The arrival of a piano that's "missing half of it's teeth" puts him on the spot and he, well suffice to say that his pals stop listening to his yarns and wait with anticipation for some real talent to come visit them on their remote South Sea island. The arrival of his purported super-star friend "Kim" (Janis Paige) really puts "Fingers" on the spot before someone gets the last laugh! Clark is good here. His smile and his charisma work well throughout this brief, feel-good, film and yes, Paige can sing a bit too. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, eh? There's some "Rhapsody in Blue" - too. What's not to like?

Phinger The Phony

[prezkot · 8/10 · 22 March 2003]

Dane Clark is Joe Fingers, a Marine who passes his days by bragging to his camp buddies about his popularity in the music scene. But when they find him backing down from a piano, the guys treat him like an outcast. However, when Janis Page's Kim Karol stops in the trenches to sing, Joe Fingers is put on the spot.

********SPOILER ALERT***************** Joe Fingers really CAN play the piano, and really DID carve Kim Karol into what she was in 1944. **************************************

This won the 1944 Oscar for best Short (2-Reelers). It was pretty well written despite it's obscureness.

Is he a liar or. . .? Who cares?

[brausahol · 3/10 · 1 August 2003]

The two most noteworthy things about "I Won't Play" are: It won an Academy Award as the best two-reel short film of 1944; and it was directed by silent-era leading man Crane Wilbur. The plot of this run-of-the-mill short is inconsequential, the dialogue lacks spark, while the acting is no better and no worse than that found in most war-themed Hollywood movies of the 1940s (in other words, it's awful). Admittedly, there are moments when "I Won't Play" is funny -- Janis Paige's totally artificial look and line delivery are precious -- but one laughs AT the picture, not with it.

Chemistry Baby! Chemistry!

[angelsunchained · 10/10 · 15 June 2019]

Cute little World War II propaganda short. Dane Clark and Janis Paige had remarkable onscreen chemistry and it shows here and in Hollywood Canteen. Ms. Paige was not only gorgeous, but she was a talented singer and actress.

Not enough for 19 minutes

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 27 February 2016]

"I Won't Play" is an Academy Award winning 18-minute short film from the later days of World War II, so this little black-and-white film here is already over 70 years old. It is basically a story about a man on an island who keeps telling spectacular stories about himself to the other guys and nobody can be sure if they are true or made-up. Neither can the audience. However, there are 2 core moments that basically make the film. First would be the piano, second would be the singer (actress still alive the day I write this). Sadly, I never really cared or wondered if he is truthful or lying and that's why the film did not do too much for me. Maybe it would have been better to make it more essential at a runtime of 10 minutes. So yeah, overall not recommended and this film clearly proves that movies were very different back in the day and appreciation was as well with this little movie winning Gordon Hollingshead his second of many Oscars.

Very Good Short

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

I Won't Play (1944)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Oscar winning short about an Army blabbermouth (Dane Clark) who keeps telling the men in his squad that he helped form and influence several Hollywood stars. None of them believe him when they receive a new piano that he refuses to play but a Hollywood actress (Janis Paige) shows up to change their minds about their friend. This is an extremely well directed short by Crane Wilbur that features good work from both Clark and Paige. Paige also gets to show off her singing voice with a wonderful version of Body and Soul.

This demonstrates how underfed U.S. boys actually were amidst the Great Depression . . .

[cricket30 · 8/10 · 26 March 2013]

. . . especially the character of Florida, the U.S. Marine and implicit Tarawa campaign vet who is the platoon member shown mostly shirtless, and is played by a scrawny if not skeletal actor named William "Billy" Benedict. Obviously, if the casting people for this Oscar-winning nearly 18-minute long short thought that Mr. Benedict was not representative of a significant portion of the WWII-era crop of Marines, they would not have risked the wrath of the military censors who reviewed ANY film of that day (and no doubt scrutinized war-related offerings such as this with fine-toothed combs!) by casting Billy as they did. However, I have seen MANY promos for the Marines of today as in-theater ads prior to current movies playing (most of which show hordes of troops in their dress blues standing in single file from coast to coast near all the nation's monuments and national parks) and NONE of these Marines seem to share a BMI with Mr. Benedict. I have heard many WWII draftees entered boot camp in an emaciated condition from the Great Depression. In contrast, today's military publicly states it is worried there will soon be too few people in America under the age of 40 available to meet the minimum physical requirements for even the Army or Navy, with the percentage of rotund couch potatoes among today's youth climbs toward 90!