Up in Arms

Kaye's very scrappy first starring vehicle, in which he plays a hypochondriac drafted in World War II and packed off to the Pacific sector along with the Goldwyn Girls (handy for filling in when inspiration flags). The tiresome patter song with which he had already wowed Broadway ('Malady in 4-F'), and which set the pattern for his frenzied double-talk speciality, is much in evidence. So, as Parker Tyler noted, is the shameless fixation on the camera which made him rather unprepossessing for all his obvious talents. Still, there are moments of genuine splendour in his bizarre satire on screen musicals ('Manic-Depressive Presents').