Янки Дудл Денди: Песня и танец сквозь две войны

1943 film by Michael Curtiz
the movie
The movie stars George Murphy, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Ronald Reagan and Alan Hale, and features a large ensemble cast including Charles Butterworth, Dolores Costello, Una Merkel, Stanley Ridges, Rosemary de Camp, Ruth Donnelly, Dorothy Peterson, Frances Langford, Gertrude Niesen, Kate Smith, and Joe Louis. The cast of both the film, and the stage play on which it was based, included soldiers of the U. S. Army who were actors and performers in civilian life, including Reagan and Louis.

In World War I, song and dance man Jerry Jones is drafted into the US Army, where he stages a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. It is a rousing success, but one night during the show orders are received to leave immediately for France: instead of the finale, the troops march up the aisles through the audience, out the theater's main entrance and into a convoy of waiting trucks. Among the teary, last minute goodbyes Jones kisses his newlywed bride Ethel farewell. In the trenches of France, several of the soldiers in the production are killed or wounded by shrapnel from a German artillery barrage. Jones is wounded in the leg and must walk with a cane, ending his career as a dancer. Nevertheless, he is resolved to find something useful to do, especially now that he is the father of a son. Sgt. McGee and Pvt. Eddie Dibble, the troop bugler, also survive. Twenty five years later World War II is raging in Europe. Jerry's son Johnny enlists in the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor. He tells his sweetheart Eileen Dibble that they cannot marry until he returns, since he doesn't want to make her a widow. Johnny reluctantly accepts an order to stage another musical, following in his father's footsteps. The show goes on tour throughout the United States and eventually plays Washington, D. C., in front of President Roosevelt. During the show it is announced that this is the last performance: the soldiers in the production have been ordered back to their combat units. Eileen, who has joined the Red Cross auxiliary, appears backstage. During a break in the show she brings a minister and persuades Johnny that they should marry now – which they do, in the alley behind the theater, with their fathers acting as witnesses.

Some location shooting for the film took place at Camp Cooke in central California. The Warner Ranch in Calabasas, California was used for the World War I battle scenes. the only spoken/sung scene that includes African Americans. Louis appears in two other scenes, one in a boxing match, and the second being the stage door canteen number. He did not speak in either scene. George Murphy was not the first actor considered for the role of Jerry. Fred Astaire, Joseph Cotten and Walter Huston were all considered first. George Brent was also offered the role of Major (then Colonel) Davidson, which was played in the film by Stanley Ridges, but Brent refused to work without being paid. Ginger Rogers was considered for the role of Eileen, played in the film by Joan Leslie. Frances Langford sings the song "What Does He Look Like? ", but it was originally offered to Dinah Shore, who turned it down because she felt the lyrics made it more appropriate for a man to sing it. It produced rental revenue of $8,301,000 in the United States and Canada, and $2,144,000 overseas, for a total of $10,445,000. The receipts from This Is the Army place it among the top 40 movies of all time in U. S. box office popularity, which considers both inflation and the size of the population when the movie was released. By the mid 1970s, the movie fell into the public domain, occasionally airing on television to a new generation of viewers. Renewed interest in some of the actors helped some actors that might have been considered down and out, most notably Stump and Stumpy's Jimmy Cross and Harold Cromer.

The film received several Academy Award nominations, including Ray Heindorf for his musical score, Best Art Direction Interior Decoration in a Color Film, and Bes/t Sound Recording. Heindorf was the only winner for the film. The film was also nominated in the category Best Sound (Nathan Levinson), but lost to This Land Is Mine.

Lux Radio Theatre presented a broadcast of the show on February 22, 1943, featuring 200 soldiers and a chorus of professional singers.