Up in Arms

Up in Arms

“Danny Kaye’s film debut, Up in Arms, is a case study in his (now stale) musical-comedies of the mid-40s. There’s a very basic premise and structure, hypochondriac gets drafted into the army, that merely exists as an excuse to get Kaye to perform various bits of song-and-dance, pull faces, and contort his lithe body into exaggerated shapes. While it's merely serviceable as a film, Kaye is a personality that shines from the screen.   There’s an alternate timeline where his handsome face and athleticism would have brought him great luck as a leading man in screwball comedies romancing the likes of Ginger Rogers, Rosalind Russell, or Carole Lombard. He doesn’t bring a natural comedian sensibility to his parts but that of a musical star who stumbled into being funny. To be more succi” read more