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''Keep Your Powder Dry'' is a 1945 American
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Edward Buzzell Edward Buzzell (November 13, 1895 – January 11, 1985) was an American film actor and director whose credits include ''Child of Manhattan (film), Child of Manhattan'' (1933); ''Honolulu (1939 film), Honolulu'' (1939); the Marx Brothers fil ...
and starring
Lana Turner Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized per ...
,
Susan Peters Susan Peters (born Suzanne Carnahan; July 3, 1921 – October 23, 1952) was an American actress who appeared in over twenty films over the course of her decade-long career. Though she began her career in uncredited and ingénue roles, she would ...
, and
Laraine Day Laraine Day (born La Raine Johnson, October 13, 1920 – November 10, 2007) was an American actress, radio and television commentator, and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contract star. As a leading lady, she was paired opposite major film sta ...
. Its plot follows three women who join the
Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an Auxiliaries, auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the U ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The screenplay was written by George Bruce and
Mary C. McCall, Jr. Mary C. McCall Jr. (April 4, 1904 – April 3, 1986) was an American writer best known for her screenwriting. She was a charter member and the first woman president of the Writers Guild of America (then known as the Screen Writers Guild), servin ...
Filmed in Florida and Iowa in late 1944, ''Keep Your Powder Dry'' premiered in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
on March 6, 1945. It went on to become a financial success for its studio,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
, earning $2.7 million against its $1.3 million budget.


Plot

Socialite Valerie "Val" Parks is informed that she is not eligible to claim her
trust fund A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the "settl ...
until she can demonstrate responsibility. In response, she decides to join the
Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an Auxiliaries, auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the U ...
(WAC) to show she is a mature young woman. En route to the training camp in
Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
, she meets Ann Darrison, a housewife who chose to enlist in the WAC after her husband is deployed overseas; and Leigh Rand, the daughter of a military family. Val and Leigh, assigned to the same barracks, immediately clash, with Leigh acting bossily toward the servile Val. Ann attempts to remediate the tensions between Val and Leigh. During training, Val challenges Leigh's assumptions about her by working intensely and excelling in her courses. Upon completing basic training, Val, Ann, and Leigh are assigned to a Motor Transport school within the WAC. Val and Leigh eventually warm to each other, and together attempt to help the self-conscious Ann boost her confidence. Ultimately, all three women are accepted into the Officer's Candidate School. Bill Barclay, a peer of Ann's husband, visits the base and has Ann record herself speaking on a disc so he can bring it back to her husband overseas. At the base, Bill becomes enamored of Val, which results in jealousy from Leigh, who also finds Bill attractive. Leigh thwarts a potential date between the two by arranging Val to be assigned to duty, which angers Val. Some time later, Val receives a telegram from her attorney inviting her to meet him at a hotel, but upon arriving finds her friend Harriet, and a drunken Junior Vanderhausen, both people from her socialite circle. Harriet, who is living on Val's income, convinces Val to sign a lease for a home in
Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...
. Angered by the two's dismissive attitude toward her endeavors in the WAC, Val criticizes them before Junior spills his drink on her uniform. Afraid of returning to the barracks reeking of alcohol, Val asks Leigh, who is also staying in the hotel on a weekend pass, to return to the barracks and occupy her bed so she is not absent from nightly inspection. Leigh agrees, and returns to the hotel in the morning to bring Val a clean uniform. In the hotel elevator, Leigh encounters Junior, who tells her Val only joined the military to claim her inheritance. Disgusted by what she perceives as Val's insincerity, Leigh embarks on a smear campaign against Val after she is appointed platoon commander. Two days prior to the graduation, Val finally stands up to Leigh, slapping her in the face. The women's commanding officer, Lt. Colonel Spottiswoode, subsequently informs Leigh that half of the platoon has ranked her unfit to fulfill her leadership position as she lacks empathy. Shortly after, Spottiswoode reluctantly informs Ann that her husband has been killed in combat. Ann and Leigh console one another, and Leigh admits to Ann that she has always been jealous of Val's beauty and commitment. Ann and Leigh visit Val at the hotel, and they reconcile. Leigh and Val implore Spottiswoode for permission to remain in the WAC as enlistees despite their recent transgressions. Convinced that both women are truly remorseful, Spottiswoode relents and allows them to graduate from the Officer's Candidate School alongside Ann.


Cast


Analysis

Film scholar Yvonne Tasker notes that, while many war films of the mid-20th century are concerned with demonstrating women's capability in the military, ''Keep Your Powder Dry'' instead is "more preoccupied with picturing women's service as not only respectable but healthy and moral. Thus the film condenses its acknowledgment of skeptical men to a single sequence in which the recruits fix an incredulous general's new car."


Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began August 28, 1944, and completed in November 1944. It was reported in August 1944 that cinematographer Richard Rosson shot backgrounds for the film at the
Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an Auxiliaries, auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the U ...
training centers in
Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...
and Fort Oglethorpe. Sgt. Art Moore of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Photographic Unit instructed 50 dancing girls for drill scenes featured in the film.


Release


Box office

The film premiered in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
on March 6, 1945. It subsequently premiered in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on March 10, 1945. It later opened regionally in such cities as
Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...
on April 6. According to MGM records the film earned $1,892,000 in the US and Canada and $801,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $464,000.


Critical response

Kate Cameron of the ''
New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'' awarded the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, though she felt it was ineffective at promoting the Women's Army Corps, noting that it "makes no attempt to show in what way the girls serve their country after leaving training camp, nor does it suggest how important they may become in the matter of relieving soldiers for active duty at the front." E. B. Radcliffe of ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, alth ...
'' noted that "the producer has done right by the corps in the standard of pulchritude he has chosen to represent it," but criticized its believability, noting that "two of the principal character are far-fetched and right out of soap opera." The ''
San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...
''s Hortense Morton noted it as "a strictly feminine film," adding that, "while the story gets major treatment, the background of women in the Army, with its discipline, barracks life, and human elements, is shown with good purpose. The background is authentic." The Albany Times-Union reviewer described the film as "a kind of modern-day 'Three Musketeers'....As a documentary film of the WAC training at these two simulated posts, it is one of the most searching and informative pieces of publicity yet to reach the screen.Van Olinda, Edgar S. "Reviewing the Films." Albany (NY) Times-Union, 7 June 1945.


References


Sources

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External links

* * * * {{Edward Buzzell 1945 films American war drama films American black-and-white films 1940s war drama films 1940s English-language films Films shot in Florida Films shot in Iowa Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films World War II films made in wartime 1945 drama films Films directed by Edward Buzzell