This is the Army (2000, DVD)

During World War II many Hollywood films were made to keep-up morale on the home front. Some of these films were very patriotic and only lightly touched on the realities of the war that was raging overseas; they seem odd or overly sentimental by today's standards. This is the Army, a musical made in 1943, is one of those films which served a purpose at the time but now may be hard to put into context. This is the Army, directed by Michael Curtiz (who also directed Casablanca), is based on a Broadway musical by Irving Berlin and includes nineteen musical numbers that he composed. The cast is...

When I see what history the school system isn't teaching my daughter I froth at the mouth. Pearl Harbor is a blockbuster movie, but it isn't a history lesson. The most deadly war of the 20th Century is fodder for films like Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, but doesn't carry the weight of reality because it's overlooked in History Class. Even Viet Nam is seen as something doubtful, or as a National mistake. What's forgotten in all this is the thousands of American young men who left their families, put their lives and their dreams on hold, and donned the uniforms of our Armed...