Very disappointing...

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Absolutely Fantastic

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

In his last screen role, WIlliam Haines gave it a shot, but this movie is too clearly an B movie recapitulation of earlier movies, half TELL IT TO THE MARINES and half Quirt & Flagg. Loose cannon Marine lieutenant Haines is assigned to by-0the-book Captain Conrad Nagel, steals Esther Ralston from his superior while dodging firebrand girlfriend Armida, and gets in enough trouble that he's forced to resign just before the company is shipped out on a filibuster to a generic banana republic. But old war horses can't hear "Semper Fidelis" without charging into the battle, so he enlists as a private to get into the fight.There are lots of good bits in this movie and lots of fine performances by old pros, but Haines sounds phony in his longer speeches, and Armida acts like a cut-rate Lupe Velez. Even so, there are enough good points in this movie to keep it interesting through the end. Most of what prevents it from being outstanding is the sense that it was over-edited to keep it to 70 minutes, second-feature length.Perhaps had there been enough grace notes added to more than suggest older, more successful movies, Haines might have cared to continue making movies. Still, he had his successful decorating business to fall back on and given the Hays Office, his homosexual relationship with Jimmy Shields -- sometimes called "the most successful marriage in Hollywood -- must have made it seem like too much of a bother.

The life of William Haines has been shrouded in controversy, but thanks to Turner Classic Movies, his career as a fun- loving poster boy for the late Roaring 20's and the early sound era has received a lot of attention. His dismissal from MGM for refusal to change his life style is plot enough for a movie od its own. In retaliation, he went over to the lowly Mascot Studios for this comedy adventure which may not be a classic but isn't a disaster, either.Once again playing a fun loving rogue, he is a prankster and womanizer who makes the life of his best friend miserable by stealing the girl he loves and causing all sorts of trouble for him in the marines as well. Haines isn't exactly the type of guy you can depend on in a jam, so he does make for a good hero. However, it is difficult not to be amused by his antics. Conrad Nagel is the straight laced best friend, even willing to be best man at Haines' wedding to his ex love (Esther Ralston) while the hot tempered Armidda goes in and out of her accent as a Kupe Velrz style Latin spitfire. Edgar Kennedy offers some laughs as Haines' other companion. It's all a mixed bag, not totally without entertainment but something easy to take yet easy to forget.

William Haines stars with fellow silent stars, Conrad Nagel and Esther Ralston, in this rehash of several of Haines' big hits from the 1920s.He plays a brash Marine officer, a rival with Nagel for the hand of Ralston, who sails through life with a smart comment for everybody. But after he goes too far and is drummed out of the corps, he signs up as an enlisted man, goes through boot camp, and returns to plague Nagel and Ralston until the guys get trapped in a "banana republic" uprising and Haines come through.The Haines formula from the 20s usually cast him as a smart-aleck in a military or sports setting, but the basic plot was the same: in the end Haines "grows up" and learns a big lesson as he wins the girl.After Haines bailed from MGM where he ranked as a major star for about 5 or 6 years, he returned for a couple of cheapie films at Mascot. Neither one was a hit and Haines disappeared from the screen.Production values here are about what you'd expect from Mascot. The story is unbelievable, but Haines is still a master comic and breezes through the proceedings. Nagel is stalwart, Ralston is pretty. Along for the ride are Edgar Kennedy, Hale Hamilton, and the very annoying Armida.The Haines legacy will always cast him as a gay icon, the man who quit MGM rather than give in to L.B. Mayer, and a major star of his time in films with the likes of Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford, Marie Dressler, Eleanor Boardman, Anita Page, Jack Pickford, Ben Lyon, and Madge Evans.Haines' final film is worth a look.

Odd mix of action and comedy never completely works. The plot has a Marine Lieutenant assigned to a base in San Diego. he is pursued by a Latin singer who is love with him. Our hero also ends up wooing the fiancé of his former rival and winning her. He ends up disgraced when a fracas in a gambling den goes wrong and resigns his commission and starts over as a private. Eventually sent to South America he ends up fighting a bandit who seeks t kill the marine contingent sent to stop him.First half comedy gives way to second half action and the two halves don't quite come together. The cast is game and manages to sell it as best they can but the shifting gears from one genre to another never quite works. What doesn't help the proceedings is the fact that the film is trapped in the weird warp between silent and sound films that many independent films got caught in where some of the actors seem overly made up, the sound track is free of a musical score and some of the performances are a bit over done. Its not a bad film, its just not a great one.