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See Here, Private Hargrove was a lucky picture for both the subject and the actor who played the title role. The film is based on the events chronicled by drafted journalist Marion Hargrove who after his service in the army had a long career writing for the big screen. As for the man who played him Robert Walker this became his first starring role after getting good notices in featured parts in Bataan and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Watching this film now it's easy to see how he clicked with wartime audiences as the eager young recruit who becomes the bane of the existence of Sergeant Chill Wills.Keenan Wynn also got some of his first exposure in a role as Walker's best buddy and ace conman. Given Walker's journalistic background that gives Wynn the idea that they can get some light jobs in public relations and have a relatively easy war. This despite the fact that both are part of trained artillery battery.The film is pleasant viewing and Walker is as eager and likable as he was most of the time on the screen. Only late in his short tragic career was he allowed to go to the dark side in films like Vengeance Valley and Strangers On A Train. Wynn also plays a part he mostly played for his first decade. He later greatly expanded his range also to include a dark persona.Donna Reed is here also as the girl next door which she certainly played a lot of in the Forties. In later wars I think that people would have considered Walker and Wynn to be lucky stiffs to have wangled what they had. Certainly they would have thought them nuts to do what they do.See Here Private Hargrove is a World War II era film that would not and could not play for later generations. Still it's pleasant viewing seeing some of the cast in their salad days.

More than 5,000,000 men entered the armed services in World War II and movies like See Here, Private Hargroves was an attempt to assure the folks back home and incoming draftees that Army life could be swell. You may have to scrub a few garbage cans but you will make buddies that will last a lifetime and get a chance to meet and fall in love with a beauty like Donna Reed. Even a screw-up like Hargrove eventually becomes a member of the best gunnery team in the battery and earn the respect of the drill instructors that once tormented him. One character even tells Hargrove that he will remember his Army service as the best times of his life.

The running gag of scrubbing garbage cans (kp) as punishment may resonate with some of us old enough, but it's a slender thread on which to hang an entire comedy. Besides, it's a thing of the past, what with the new volunteer army that doesn't sign-up to clean garbage cans. Trouble is that Hargrove (Walker) can't stay off kp since he's a perennial screw-up, and though the episodes are well-timed, they do wear pretty thin. The movie's based on the real-life Hargrove's experiences in Army Basic Training. As Hargrove, Walker is relentlessly upbeat and energetic, reminding me of a young Jack Lemmon, while the movie itself showcases his talents more than anything else.As a service comedy, the film is much tamer than the uproarious service comedies of the 50's (e.g. Mr. Roberts {1955}; Operation Mad Ball {1957}). But then, audiences of the 50's could relax and enjoy a lighter side of WWII since they didn't have to face a shooting war on the outside. I expect that accounts for this film's milder approach, which bases its humor on character instead of uproarious situations. After all, training for war might have a lighter side, but it should not be made to look too funny, even for escapist-seeking wartime audiences (1944).Anyway, I agree that as a comedy, the movie is pretty thin gruel, especially after six decades. Still, the main characters are lively and likable, while Walker is quite good at being youthfully naïve, which may be just enough for a slow evening.

Nobody else seems to have made any comments on this movie, probably because, although it is often referred to in print, it's not often shown on TV. And for good reason. It's based on an autobiographical novel by Marion Hargrove. It dates badly. It was probably nothing more than a light-hearted look at basic training when it was released. But the gags have been done so often, and so much better, that it no longer strikes an audience as funny. "In our battery the portions are so small that instead of hollering come and get it, they holler come and find it." That's one of the better lines. It has a good cast, all right. Not just Robert Walker at his non-neurotic best but Keenan Wynne, Chill Wills, and other familiar types. But it's simply not a very good comedy. If you want funny and basic training, even Laurel and Hardy, or even Abbot and Costello, are funnier on the subject. And if you want a reasonably good, structured comedy on the subject, go to "No Time For Sargeants." A few seconds of Andy Griffeth looking wonderingly out the barracks window and listening to Taps and saying, "Somebody brung his trumpet," packs more laughs than this entire movie.