Keep Your Powder Dry (1945)

Director:

Edward Buzzell

Writers:

Mary C. McCall Jr. (screenplay) and
George Bruce (screenplay)

Release Date:

April 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Gals IN UNIFORM...IN ACTION...IN LOVE! They're strictly G.I.

Plot:

A disparate group of women try to adjust to their new lives after enlisting in the Womens Army Corps. |

Plot Keywords:

Women's Army Corps | Rental Lease | Transformation | Military Discipline | Trust Fund

Cast

Lana Turner	...	Valerie 'Val' Parks
Laraine Day	...	Leigh 'Napoleon' Rand
Susan Peters	...	Ann 'Annie' Darrison
Agnes Moorehead	...	Lt. Col. Spottiswoode
Bill Johnson	...	Capt. Bill Barclay
Natalie Schafer	...	Harriet Corwin
Lee Patrick	...	Gladys Hopkins
Jess Barker	...	Junior Vanderheusen
June Lockhart	...	Sarah Swanson
Marta Linden	...	Capt. Sanders
Tim Murdock	...	Capt. Joseph Mannering
Henry O'Neill	...	Maj. Gen. Lee Rand
Mary Lord	...	WAC Mary
Sondra Rodgers	...	WAC Hodgekiss
Marjorie Davies	...	WAC Polhemus

Also Known As:

There Were Three of Us (USA) (working title)
Women in Uniform (USA) (working title)
Womens Army (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #10596) | Sweden:Btl | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Des Moines, Iowa, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Turner wrote in her 1982 biography that during pre-production she received a studio memo of reprimand about missing many of her wardrobe appointments - even though it was Irene who was not showing up. When the actress went to studio head Louis B. Mayer to defend herself, she was told that the memo was a face-saving device for Irene, who was an alcoholic but so valuable to MGM that the studio was willing to bear with her problems and delays.

Quotes:

Lt. Col. Spottiswoode: I'm sorry for you Rand, you've worked so hard to learn so many things so badly.

Soundtrack:

Taps

And not only that --

-- but Natalie Schafer plays a wealthy, mindless socialite!

If the ending doesn't draw at least a couple tears from your eye, especially these days, then you're heartless. Bah.

If you like this sort of movie (as do I), you will definitely enjoy this particular example of it. Very well done.

My only regret is that they didn't show enough of the training. Having gone through OCS myself, it's such an overwhelming, life-changing experience (though I don't know about the WACs' OCS) that it was a bit of a cheat that we didn't get to see how it changed the girls, only that it did. I suspect the writer was more concerned about the dynamic between the three main characters, rather than the interaction between each of them and the demands of officer candidate school.

Dafydd ab Hugh