Directed by:
Fred GuiolScreenplay:
Warren WilsonCinematography:
Robert PittackComposer:
Edward WardCast:
William Tracy, James Gleason, Noah Beery Jr., Joe Sawyer, Elyse Knox, Douglas Fowley, Frank Faylen, Dick Wessel, Frank Melton, William Gould, Norman Kerry (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
In 1941, producer Hal Roach abandoned production of full-length features in favor of a new concept: The "Streamliner", a four-reel film-halfway between a short subject and a feature-designed for the double-bill market. The first Roach streamliner was the timely service comedy Tanks a Million, previewed in August of 1941 and released by United Artists the following month. Chubby William Tracy starred as Dodo Doubleday, a feckless Army draftee blessed (or cursed) with a photographic memory. Inexplicably promoted to sergeant, Doubleday becomes the bane of topkick Sgt. Ames' (Joe Sawyer) existence. On the verge of being booted out of service because of his constant bumbling, Doubleday redeems himself by curing his commanding officer of a bad case of "mike fright" just before a network radio broadcast. At 50 minutes, Tanks a Million was one of the longer streamliners, and one of the best: it would spawn several William Tracy-Joe Sawyer sequels, including Hay Foot, About Face, Fall In and Yanks Ahoy. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
William Tracy
USA
Best movies:
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Strike Up the Band (1940)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
James Gleason
USA
Best movies:
The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Noah Beery Jr.
USA
Best movies:
Inherit the Wind (1960)
Of Mice and Men (1939)
White Feather (1955)
Joe Sawyer
Canada
Best movies:
The Killing (1956)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Gilda (1946)
Elyse Knox
USA
Best movies:
Arabian Nights (1942)
Follow the Boys (1944)
Douglas Fowley
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Frank Faylen
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Edison, the Man (1940)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Dick Wessel
USA
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Frank Melton
USA
Best movies:
The Power and the Glory (1933)
The Woman in the Window (1944)
The Cat and the Canary (1939)
William Gould
Best movies:
The Talk of the Town (1942)
Texas (1941)
High Sierra (1941)
Norman Kerry
USA
Best movies:
The Unknown (1927)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
Dub Taylor
USA
Best movies:
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Maverick (1994)
Gibson Gowland
UK
Best movies:
Sunrise (1927)
Gaslight (1944)
Behind the Door (1919)
Bert Moorhouse
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Edmund Mortimer
USA
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
It Started with Eve (1941)
Harold Goodwin
USA
Best movies:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
The Cameraman (1928)
Spartacus (1960)
David Newell
USA
Best movies:
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Union Pacific (1939)
Act of Violence (1948)
Eddie Hall
USA
Best movies:
Double Indemnity (1944)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Shall We Dance? (1937)