Pack Up Your Troubles

I like the movies of Jane Withers, the Shirley Temple of the B movies. However, in this one, she is paired with the Ritz Brothers. As usual, Al, Harry and Jimmy pall very quickly in this World War I story about how American Jane Withers, who has been living in the war zone, goes to rescue her father the spy, who is trapped in Germany.

It sounds improbable. Yet if it weren't for the comedy interludes of the Ritz brothers, you wouldn't have time to notice. Director Bruce Humberstone, who never got out of the Bs, directs at speed and the second unit work is very good; Miss Withers is quite believable as a terrified girl while sneaking through the lines under fire. Lots of other talent is on display, including Fritz Leiber as a one-legged French cobbler, Stanley Fields doing his Wallace Beery imitation, Joseph Schlidkraut as Jane's father, and a very pretty Lynn Bari, who smiles charmingly as she does a cleaned-up can-can. Miss Withers' solo song has music by Jules Styne.

All in all, superior example of the entertainment that one of the big studios' B department could do. If it weren't for the Ritz Brothers, it would be excellent.