Just picked up this great old movie from our local Mall-Wart for the princely sum of $1. If I'd paid much more than that, I can tell you, I would have been greatly upset. Nay, PISSED!

Why, you ask? Certainly not for the music, the comedy, or the great performances, but because of the quality of the print! Bad edits, garbled sound in a couple of places, you name it, it was there!

Anybody know of a GOOD print of this classic? I looked on Amazon, but there are several listed, all with the same reviews...

Someday I'm going to murder the bugler... :lol:

Trust me, there is NO good print of THIS IS THE ARMY. The movie has a rather interesting ownership history. I can't remember the specifics at the moment but it was a Warner Brothers production and I believe the actual rights to the film ended up with the U.S. Army. From there, it slipped into the public domain.

This is an important film for many reasons. The man who plays Ronald Reagan's father is George Murphy who went on to become a U.S. Senator and Reagan's mentor. Had Reagan and Murphy not met, there would have been no President Reagan.

And where else can you actually see Irving Berlin sing an Irving Berlin song?

You also see Alan Hale SENIOR, the father of the skipper from Gilligan's Island.

Even though the film is in the public domain, there remains hope that the original film elements might be in the possession of Warner Brothers. Unfortunately, there would be some real obstacles to a proper restoration. I'm especially concerned about the minstrel show number featuring the song MANDY. It's done in blackface. That might well cause night sweats for a big studio like Warner Brothers.