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45 4 Saluting Uncle Sam Tyrone power enlisted in the Marine Corps after The Black Swan wrapped. Henry Fonda, who would become O’Hara’s next costar, also signed up. He became an apprentice seaman in downtown Los angeles and then headed off to boot camp in San Diego. When he arrived, though, he was sent back to Hollywood, where he discovered that Darryl F. Zanuck had figured out a way to “squeeze one more movie out of him, by convincing Washington that a potboiler called The Immortal Sergeant would help the mobilization .”1 Fonda doesn’t play the title character; that refers to his commander, Sergeant Kelly (Thomas Mitchell), a whimsical irishman. Fonda plays Colin Spence, a raw recruit who’s in love with Valentine Lee (O’Hara), the beauty he left behind in London. They’ve had a few dates, but he’s unsure of her—or unsure of himself. Before joining the army, Spence is so timid he doesn’t even complain when a waiter ruins a dinner reservation. He worries about losing Valentine to their mutual friend Tom Benedict, played by reginald gardiner. (The day Henry Fonda loses Maureen O’Hara to someone like reginald gardiner, it’s time to eat one’s hat—or one’s war helmet.) Spence is part of a regiment crossing the Libyan desert. They’re a jolly bunch, but after an enemy plane crashes into one of their jeeps, panic sets in. They begin to run short of food, petrol, and men. every time something goes wrong, though, Kelly looks on the bright side (immortal, maybe; optimistic , definitely). He grooms Spence to take over for him, should tragedy strike. When it does—a bullet rips into the sergeant’s groin—he feels like a liability to the other soldiers, so he shoots himself, leaving Spence to carry on. But Spence had earlier confessed to Kelly, “i can carry out orders but i can’t give them.” Kelly disagreed; he saw something in the “wartime educated amateur” that made him believe Spence had what it took to lead 46 Maureen O’Hara the men to safety. Kelly’s confidence is rewarded. Spence gets his men out of the desert and receives a hero’s medal for his troubles. He also gets the girl. Being a hero has its perks, we see. The moral of the film is that war has made a man of him (hardly an original conceit). We now know that, having succeeded in leading his troops across a war zone with only a pineapple for sustenance, Spence will have no trouble at all dealing with an incompetent waiter. Valentine can look forward to many meals with her soft-spoken sergeant in the poshest of restaurants. The production values are satisfactory, but there’s little we haven’t seen many times before. The film revives Fonda’s milquetoast image, but he looks rather ridiculous when, on the verge of delirium, he starts talking to himself. The flashbacks to his interlude with O’Hara don’t work either, mainly because there are too many of them. Fonda was one of the few minimalist actors O’Hara starred with—that is, he conveyed moods through his expressions rather than dialogue. Working with someone like this (in contrast to the broad brushstrokes of, say, a Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) brought out the best in her. She told many interviewers over the years that Fonda was heaven to share a film with. When his eyes teared up in emotional scenes, so did hers. He made it easy for her to generate emotion without fabrication. He was so convincing to play opposite, she even forgave him for sitting on the steps of his trailer every day, “working like a dog” on his mathematics and other skills he would need in the navy. His last line dutifully delivered, Fonda entered the service much later than intended. He went to the pacific the following year and became an air combat intelligence officer. He didn’t see any action but served with distinction. He was elevated to the rank of lieutenant before his discharge. O’Hara wondered where her next film would come from. Hollywood’s output between 1942 and 1945 decreased from 533 films to 377. Because of wartime shortages, directors couldn’t afford to reshoot scenes, except in rare instances, so everyone had to be line perfect. a price ceiling was also placed on the construction of sets. rubber and steel were in short supply, so...

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