Keep Your Powder Dry (1945)

Touches You

People are voting emotionally.

best movie i've ever seen.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Less than two months remained of World War II fighting in Europe when this movie came out. And, the end of the war was in sight when MGM began making "Keep Your Power Dry." With the likelihood that war action movies would be made after the war, Hollywood probably thought it needed to get a tribute out to the WACs before they might soon be forgotten. The plot for this film is OK and probably necessary to keep interest in the story. Other movies had been made early in the war about Army basic camp, the Navy and numerous specialty training. So, how different and interesting could it be for women? The public wasn't likely to sit through another full film about military training with the end of the war in sight. But, a film with something more for a plot might be of interest. Thus, we have two feuding females around whom this story is built. And, it's quite good. Even with that, though, there isn't a whole lot to the film by way of training. The contest between Lana Turner's Valerie Parks and Laraine Day's Leigh Rand provides the energy that keeps the film afloat. It's not spectacular but it is a nice tribute to the Women's Army Corps, with a look at training women for officers as well. The seven stars I give it are for the good performances of a fine cast, the quality of the production, and the historical value of the subjects and the locations. It was filmed at two real locations. One was a basic training camp for WACs during WW II at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. It was located just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee, inside the Georgia border. The town of Fort Ogelthorpe occupies most of the fort grounds today. During World War I, some 4,000 German Prisoners of War were housed there. Fort Des Moines in Iowa also has very little left of its original facilities. The city now maintains some of the buildings for public events and use. It is a registered National Historic Landmark. It was the site of the officer training school for WACs starting in 1942. Before that it had been the officer training school for African Americans. The first class graduated there in 1917.The film is peppered with funny lines here and there. Here are a couple samples. Check out the Quotes section on this IMDb movie Web page for more samples of funny dialog.Valerie Parks, looking at herself in a full-length mirror in the morning, "Oh, they're making terrible mirrors these days." WAC Sergeant, "Good going, Parks. You know your planes." Parks, "I know my pilots."

Lana Turner gets the idea to enlist as a WAC in order to inherit some money, because the trust stipulates that she gets nothing in the event that she has been throwing her life away on mindless pursuits and would most likely squander the money.Laraine Day, daughter of an officer, also becomes a WAC and almost immediately takes an instant dislike to Lana and her fast ways and her too easy life.Susan Peters, whose husband has gone off to serve, decides what's good for him is good enough for her, too. So she gives her all for WAC life and winds up being the referee between Lana and Laraine's fights.What makes up for an otherwise ordinary picture about WACs is their very earnest and capable acting. The viewer doesn't usually see Laraine Day as a heavy. But she is chillingly believable as a cold, by-the-books WAC, and Lana is great as a spoiled brat who grows up. Susan Peters, who would later be involved in a tragic accident that would leave her paralyzed, is especially good as the simple girl who only wants her man and to be happy. Its satisfying ending and overall pleasantness with a job well done makes me lean towards a 7, but on the whole it tends to feel like a grade B movie.(A little irony for those interested: It has been said by Laraine Day that roles once offered to her began going to Lana. They had been in "Calling Dr. Kildare" together where Laraine was Nurse Mary Lamont, the female lead, and Lana was a supporting player. But, Lana's star would rise pretty quickly so that by now, in this movie, Lana was the big name is this film over Laraine.)Costarring June Lockhart, Lee Patrick, Agnes Moorehead, and Natalie Schafer ("Mrs. Howell" from "Gilligan's Island") as Lana's society friend who's afraid of having her own cushy life disturbed, "Keep Your Powder Dry" may not offer anything new, but it does show the stars giving their all as women who serve their country.

The unlikely prospect of anyone who looks like Lana Turner giving up her comfy civilian life to wear an army uniform is the hardest thing to swallow about this service film about three women from different walks of life who learn to become army buddies. Turner, of course, is given the glamour treatment and must have made hundreds of girls think they would look terrific in khaki.Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable enough item sparked by some very competent performances by the mostly female cast. It's the feminine prototype of countless serviceman films produced during the war years of World War II, given non-serious treatment with a story centering on three new WAC recruits. Laraine Day plays an army brat, a girl who constantly flaunts her superiority over the other recruits and for most of the film engages in a tug of war with Turner. While Turner was given the full glamour treatment, Laraine Day succeeded in playing her unsympathetic role to the hilt, for the first time showing a harder edge to her screen personality. The film is enjoyable fluff, with good work by Susan Peters and Agnes Moorehead.My article on Laraine Day appears in the Spring 2001 issue of FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE--and one on Lana Turner is due for publication at a later date.

Loaded with lovely classic Lana WWII scenarios.I wonder how many young women went off to join the W.A.C. thinking Sydney Guilaroff would be doing their hair and Irene (I) their uniform wardrobe.We look at films like this as objects through which we can watch a moment in Hollywood time. Lana is simply delightful.I watch a film like this just for a glimpse of wartime America through the eyes of jaded and spoiled Hollywood elites who are piping this 'dream' to a still highly naïve wartime America.Watch for Mercury Theatre's -- also the character of Endora on Bewitched (1964)] -- Agnes Moorehead. I reckon that some would say that this glimpse of Moorehead is as fun as that of Lana Turner.