NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS

US, 1958, 111 minutes, Black and white.
Andy Griffith, Myron Mc Cormick, Nick Adams, Murray Hamilton, Don Knotts.
Directed by Mervyn Leroy.

No Time for Sergeants is a service comedy. It is based on a play by Ira Levin who was to go on to write Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil, The Stepford Wives, Deathtrap. The film is an early starring vehicle for Andy Griffith who was to continue on the top of film and television making for over 30 years. He is at ease in playing the Georgia hillbilly who is drafted and who, always optimistic and truthful, makes his way in the Air Force and to the Infantry. He receives good support from Myron Mc Cormick as the Sergeant - who is not exactly your typical drill sergeant. There is also support from Nick Adams and Murray Hamilton. The film was directed by Mervyn Le Roy, veteran of many crime thrillers at Warner Bros. in the 30s and lavish MGM dramas in the 40s. The material is quite dated now, but is enjoyable enough, especially in the performance of Andy Griffith who has to be one of the most genially naive characters to appear on film. Service comedies has always been popular ranging from wartime comedies to such sophisticated entertainments as Goldie Hawn's Private Benjamin.

1. Entertaining service comedy? Of the 50s? In hindsight?

2. Black and white photography, production values? The Georgia homes, the military camps? The Nevada bomb sites? Musical Score?

3. The title, the focus on Will Stockdale and Sergeant King? The comic adventures in the forces?

4. The atmosphere of the 50s, the draft, young men going into service and training, the drill and the discipline, authority? Their specialised training? The armed forces and their morale? The background of the wars of the 50s, the atomic tests in Nevada - and the echoes of the Cold War.

5. Andy Griffith as Will Stockdale? On the farm, hillbilly, relationship with his, father? Not getting the letter about the draft? The official coming to take him proving he could read? His pleasant and naive character? Manner of speaking, the hillbilly style and its exaggerations? Handcuffed, in town with the draft, with Irving and his hard attitude? Meeting Ben? Trying to be agreeable, filling in the forms? On the bus, going to camp, the encounter with Sergeant King, taking him literally? Concern about Ben and his wanting to go to the Infantry? Waking the Sergeant up in the middle of the night, cleaning the latrines - and thinking it was a privilege? His thoroughness? Doing the latrines all week, not seeing it as a punishment or humiliation? The inspection? His telling the truth and putting the sergeant at risk? Going to do all the tests, the encounter with the psychiatrist and answering him? The practical and intelligence tests (with Don Knotts)? The eye test? His getting through selection? The desperation of the sergeant, Irving and the sergeant taking him out, the drinking, the brawl, the return and cleaning the latrines? The humiliation of the sergeant? The transfer? With Ben, with the obsolete planes? Going up, no radio officer, flying in the wrong direction, the contact with the general, the bailing out, hitchhiking back and finding they were being awarded medals? Wanting the medal? The ceremony in the middle of the night? His future?

6. Sergeant King, his philosophy of life, wanting the easy life, welcoming of the recruits, the privacy of his room, Irving talking about Stockdale, Will arriving in the middle of the night, the sergeant giving him latrine duty? Promising him the watch? Everything backfiring? The sergeant trying to get Will through the tests? Taking him out drinking, the sergeant worse for wear, in the latrines, caught by the officers? Stripped of his rank, transferred, on the base with General Bush, encountering Ben and Will? Being transferred with them? Comic portrait of the sergeant?

7. Ben, his brothers in the infantry, the friendship with Will, clashes about the bunk? The fights? The friendship, the tests? Their being transferred? In the plane, bailing out, hitchhiking? The final ceremony? Transferred to the infantry?

8. Irving, the James Dean style - taking over, talking about Will to the sergeant, taunting him, the fight, the plan about getting him drunk, the brawl in the bar? The sketch of the other recruits? Basic training?

9. The personnel on the base, those administering the tests, the eccentric psychologist and his questions, Will answering ordinarily, the send-up of the psychologist? The officers? The woman officer? The generals and their poor administration, doing deals about the plane in the danger area, awarding the medals?

10. Memories of the 50s, service comedy - and the tradition of this genre in Hollywood?