Orders Is Orders (1934)

A brash American movie producer arrives at an army base in England wanting to shoot a movie and use the soldiers as extras. The base commander doesn't want any part of it, but the producer ... See full summary »

Director:

Walter Forde

Writers:

Leslie Arliss, Anthony Armstrong (play),

Stars:

Charlotte Greenwood, James Gleason, Cyril Maude

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlotte Greenwood	...	Wanda Sinclair
James Gleason	...	Ed Waggermeyer
Cyril Maude	...	Col. Bellamy
Finlay Currie	...	Dave
Percy Parsons	...	Zingbaum
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Brigadier
Donald Calthrop	...	Pavey
Ian Hunter	...	Capt. Harper
Jane Carr	...	Patricia Bellamy
Ray Milland	...	Dashwood
Edwin Lawrence	...	Quartermaster
Eliot Makeham	...	Pvt. Slee
Hay Plumb	...	Pvt. Goffin
Wally Patch	...	Regimental Sergeant Major
Jane Cornell	...	Starlet

Storyline

A brash American movie producer arrives at an army base in England wanting to shoot a movie and use the soldiers as extras. The base commander doesn't want any part of it, but the producer and his secretary cook up a scheme to trick the officer into letting him use the base and its men. Their plan succeeds, but things don't turn out quite the way they were expecting.

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Plot Keywords:

army | army base | farce | based on play

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 May 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Il diavolo in caserma

Filming Locations:

Gainsborough Studios, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gaumont British Picture Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (British Acoustic)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Remade as Orders Are Orders (1954)

User Reviews

About turn! Look lively with it!

A glance at the cast list of 'Orders Is Orders' would indicate that this is a very funny movie. Charlotte Greenwood (one of my favourites) and veteran comic actor James Gleason are aboard. Even more intriguingly, this movie was made in England with a primarily British cast. The thought of Brooklyn-accented Gleason doing his "Toidy-Toid Street" dialogue on screen among so many proper Englishmen -- headed by Sir Cedric Hardwicke, no less -- seems to promise hilarity. So it pains me to report that this movie isn't nearly as funny as it could have been with this cast and this material.

SLIGHT SPOILERS. Gleason plays Ed Waggermeyer, a brash pushy American movie director. He shows up in England, at a Royal Army base run by a blimpish colonel played by the unfunny Cyril Maude. Waggermeyer wants to shoot a movie, using the army base as a film set and the soldiers of the regiment as extras. (I found this part very plausible, but surely Waggermeyer's business office would have arranged things in advance.) The colonel tells Waggermeyer to go play soldiers somewhere else.

This is one of the movies where the male bigshot has a female secretary who actually gets the work done, being smarter and more efficient than her boss. (I've encountered this in real life, but I've seen it in so many movies it seems a cliché.) The colonel fancies himself at billiards, so Waggermeyer's secretary Wanda (Charlotte Greenwood) challenges him to a game. The funniest scene in this movie occurs here, as long lean lanky Greenwood does some of her trademark physical comedy, draping her legs all over the billiard table to hilarious effect. When the colonel loses the match, he has to pay off by letting Waggermeyer's film crew shoot in his barracks, with the soldiers recruited as movie extras.

From here on, the humour gets too obvious. The colonel is a blowhard, so of course -- once the movie starts shooting -- he gets star-struck and fancies himself an actor, demanding a speaking role in the movie. Of course, he's incompetent and keeps blowing takes. And of course, at the worst possible moment, the brigadier general shows up. This gentleman is played by Cedric Hardwicke, and I have to give Sir Cedric some credit. Comedy is always more effective if one character is an authority figure who projects genuine menace: a good example of this is Chaplin's 'The Great Dictator', with Henry Daniell playing his role in deadly earnest as the ruthlessly efficient Nazi officer. In 'Orders Is Orders', Hardwicke plays his role straight, portraying a brigadier general who (unlike Maude's colonel) is a genuine authority figure, and who will brook no violation of military discipline. Hardwicke manages to anchor this misguided movie, but not quite well enough to save it.

The interplay between Gleason and the Britishers is too contrived to be funny. We're expected to laugh at the contrast between them, but it's too exaggerated. Gleason's character, a Brooklyn mug, persists in speaking in elaborate American slang, which the colonel (in full "jolly good, eh wot?" mode) is too thick to understand. Waggermeyer is meant to be smart enough to figure out that his slang is incomprehensible, but he carries on using it anyway. Quite a few other things in this comedy are just a bit too contrived to work. It's nice to see Ian Hunter and Ray Milland (a genuine cavalryman) in small roles; I wonder if this movie was a factor in their transfer to Hollywood. In the 1960s, I briefly worked with Finlay Currie: he recalled working in this movie, and told me that it was a very unpleasant experience. At least Charlotte Greenwood doesn't disappoint. I'll rate 'Orders Is Orders' 4 points out of 10.