No Time For Sergeants (1958/Warner Bros. DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: B-
The
military comedy was once a major subgenre prior to the Vietnam fallout
and produced some interesting films and TV shows. Mervyn LeRoy (Little Caesar, Mister
Roberts) helmed the original version of No Time Fort Sergeants (1958) and it made likable character actor
Andy Griffith a star. Over a
half-century later, he still is.
Before
the tremendous success of his Andy
Griffith Show (a spin-off from Make Room
For Daddy) or the related (and also inspired by this film) Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (a spin-off series
as well), Griffith
had played the character before on stage and even on a TV special prior to this
hit release. Though some items are
obviously dated, this film version holds up incredibly well, and when you are
not laughing, you’ll be amazed at the talent involved and just how good this
still flows throughout.
Griffith is Pvt. Will Stockdale, a new
arrival who has been drafted; something he does not know until he gets a visit
from a government man informing him he was sent a draft notice. He did not know this or somehow did not
receive it, but he immediately packs up and ships out. There, he drives Sgt. Orville King (Myron
McCormick) up the wall and this leads to a series of misadventures like no one
in any branch of the military has ever seen before.
Griffith is great and you can see why he
became the star he did, lively with more manic energy than he would be known
for later, but a fine comic performance that made him a star and rightly
so. This is like watching a less broadly
silly version of the old Gomer Pyle
series, which may appeal to more than a few people. Other more familiar faces include Murray
Hamilton (Jaws), Nick Adams, an
uncredited but highly recognizable Jamie Farr and the late, great Don Knotts as
an aptitude tester who steals his scenes in an early breakthrough performance
himself. Of course, he and Griffith
would be immortalized together on Andy
Griffith Show, but even this early appearance shows their chemistry.
Ira Levin
(Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, Sliver) and John Lee Mahin (Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison) adapted the
Mac Hyman novel well and wrote a truly funny, smart screenplay. I liked the film more now than when I first
saw it a very long time ago and it certainly deserves this long overdue DVD
release.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 black and white image was shot by Director of
Photography Harold Rosson (The Bad Seed,
The Wizard Of Oz, Duel In The Sun, On The Town, Signing In The
Rain) and it is a fine shoot throughout looking pretty good here. Some shots can be soft and lack detail, but
the source print is clean and does not show its age like so many such films
from the time too. This includes good
detail and depth in the best scenes. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also good and clean for its age, though the
compression of this older Dolby codec is holding some aspects of the sound
behind. There are sadly no extras, not
even a trailer, though an audio commentary would have been a good idea here.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
