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Memorable, crazy movie

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Lana Turner gets the idea to enlist as a WAC in order to inherit some money, because the trust stipulates that she gets nothing in the event that she has been throwing her life away on mindless pursuits and would most likely squander the money.Laraine Day, daughter of an officer, also becomes a WAC and almost immediately takes an instant dislike to Lana and her fast ways and her too easy life.Susan Peters, whose husband has gone off to serve, decides what's good for him is good enough for her, too. So she gives her all for WAC life and winds up being the referee between Lana and Laraine's fights.What makes up for an otherwise ordinary picture about WACs is their very earnest and capable acting. The viewer doesn't usually see Laraine Day as a heavy. But she is chillingly believable as a cold, by-the-books WAC, and Lana is great as a spoiled brat who grows up. Susan Peters, who would later be involved in a tragic accident that would leave her paralyzed, is especially good as the simple girl who only wants her man and to be happy. Its satisfying ending and overall pleasantness with a job well done makes me lean towards a 7, but on the whole it tends to feel like a grade B movie.(A little irony for those interested: It has been said by Laraine Day that roles once offered to her began going to Lana. They had been in "Calling Dr. Kildare" together where Laraine was Nurse Mary Lamont, the female lead, and Lana was a supporting player. But, Lana's star would rise pretty quickly so that by now, in this movie, Lana was the big name is this film over Laraine.)Costarring June Lockhart, Lee Patrick, Agnes Moorehead, and Natalie Schafer ("Mrs. Howell" from "Gilligan's Island") as Lana's society friend who's afraid of having her own cushy life disturbed, "Keep Your Powder Dry" may not offer anything new, but it does show the stars giving their all as women who serve their country.

I recently saw this on TCM and had never seen it before. Director Edward Buzzell had a career in 30's and 40's films that were mostly actress driven romantic comedies before he made the leap to television in the early 50's. He also directed a couple of Marx Brothers movies. Here he is in his element directing three talented actress. Lana Turner is Val Parks, a playgirl heiress who is being forced to join the Women's Army Corp by her family before she can get her hands on any more of the family fortune. Larraine Day is Napoleon Rand, an army brat who knows the military rules book by heart and becomes a WAC to carry on a family tradition. Susan Peters is Annie Darrison, the wife of an army officer fighting in WWII. Parks and Rand instantly develop a dislike for each other and Darrison becomes the mediator as all three are assigned as mechanics in the same unit. What makes for believable on-screen tension between the Turner and Day characters is that they couldn't stand each other in real life. Day had billing over Turner in the only other film they appeared in, 1939's Calling Dr. Kildare when Turner was an upcoming starlet. By the time filming started on this movie in August of 1944 Turner was an established star and had billing above Day. Day was icy to Turner in 1939 and Turner returned the cold shoulder in 1944. Susan Peters is one of Hollywood's tragic figures. She lost her father in an accident as a young girl and never got over it. Her acting career got off to a rocky start and was dropped by Warner Brothers but MGM saw something promising and she had earned an Academy Award nomination for Random Harvest. A miscarriage kept her off the screen just when her career was at it's brightest and she returned to the screen for this film but less than two months after filming she was shot in a hunting accident and paralyzed from the waist down. She made an attempt in limited roles to keep acting on screen, stage and television but depression led to her divorcing her husband and becoming recluse and anorexia nervosa led to her death at age 31. The Cedric Gibbins MGM art direction team on this film features 8 time Oscar winner Edwin Willis as set director. Proliffic cinematographer Ray June is the films photographer but the soft focus closeups are so overboard they are almost laughable. Some corny, silly dialog and situations but actually it isn't too bad of a movie. A female version of a WWII buddy movie. Agnes Moorehead, Natalie Schafer and June Lockhart in supporting roles. It's worth a look and I would give it a 6.5 out of 10.

It seems that the film boards made a concerted effort to boost the image of women as tough and capable leading up to and continuing through World War II. "Keep Your Powder Dry" is an effort to display three women who overcome their disparate backgrounds, their petty differences, and their civilian prejudices to achieve a greater good by contributing to the war effort. A character in the film puts it this way, "...subordinate your personal feelings for the good of the corps."This is a consistent theme in movies throughout this era. In John Ford's "Pearl Harbor" a German mocks the notion that the weak and decadent American women could take the place of men in industry to free them for service as soldiers. In "Cry Havoc" we witness the courage, trials, and sacrifices of women on Corregidor. Here in "Keep Your Powder Dry" we learn of the candidates' perseverance through the trials of boot camp, motor pool training, and OCS school (though the examples that they show are weak).It is a little difficult to suspend reality far enough to buy the notion that Lana Turner could become dedicated to life in the WACs, having arrived by way of Park Avenue, but an effort is made by the screenwriter to show her recognition of the shallow and narcissistic lifestyle that she found there. It occurs rather late in the film, however.Still, for WWII movie buffs, and fans for the movies of the forties, this one is a must see.

-- 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