There's Something About a Soldier

In the 1920s and early 30s, William Haines made a ton of very formulaic films. In each, he was a very successful and naturally gifted guy...but he also had a huge ego and looked out only for himself. Eventually, he'd end up doing something to disgrace himself and ultimately he'd do something very selfless to show that down deep he really is a stand-up sort of fellow. Well, despite "There's Something About a Soldier" not starring Haines and begin made a decade later, it's essentially the same sort of picture.

The very talented fat-head in this one is Walter 'Wally' Williams (Tom Tryon). He's cocky, brash and only cares about himself. But through the course of the film he learns to be more and more selfless and decent. However, try as he might to help one of his fellow officer candidate school students, Frank (Bruce Bennett*), hates his guts...and he doesn't realize how much Wally has done to try to help him. Ultimately, Wally ends up getting thrown out of the school all while trying to help Frank.

Overall, this is formulaic but very well done. Using second-tier stars, the picture does a good job telling the story as well as instilling the patriotic spirit in the audience.

*Bruce Bennett was never a huge star but his past is interesting. His real name was Herman Brix and he was a silver medalist in the 1928 Olympics! He parlayed this into playing Tarzan and a variety of other roles. But when his career stalled, he changed his name to Bennett and ultimately appeared in about 150 productions!