KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Justin Easton There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 3 August 1944 by Columbia Pictures Corp. New York opening at Loew's Criterion: 2 August 1944. U.S. release: 3 August 1944. Australian release: 15 February 1945. 7,315 feet. 80 minutes.U.K. release title: ARMS AND THE WOMAN.SYNOPSIS: Wife objects to her husband cutting a gate in his backyard fence so that he can reach his shop on the other side. She insists that he walk around the whole block.NOTES: Robert Mitchum is in this movie as one of Winkle's instructors I believe, but you'll certainly have to be mighty quick to catch him. I've seen the movie at least three times and I've never spotted him.VIEWER'S GUIDE: With a nagging wife constantly browbeating her meek little good-Joe hubby, the kids will think they're right at home with this one. Suitable for all.COMMENT: It's odd to find a luminary like Edward G. Robinson starring in a B-grader - especially in a B-grader like this one. It's the sort of movie that gives old black-and-white films a bad name. Despite its very middling entertainment value, it does have remarkable staying power. It enjoyed a successful theatrical release (in Australia it was in continuous circulation until the mid-1950s, when almost all Columbia's other wartime product had disappeared) and has been frequently broadcast on Oz TV - as recently as April, 2001. Perhaps its homely theme, its little guy rejecting books and making good with his hands, is what appeals to many audiences. Certainly Wilbert Winkle is a character with which many people can identify - and he is portrayed with ease, skill and sympathy by Edward G. Robinson.But everything else about Mr Winkle Goes To War is second-rate. The cornball script not only runs a predictable course, but that course has quite a few unbelievable holes, and the running takes far too long. True, the central idea is promising, but it's resolved in a typically small-budget way with the producer making a virtue out of the necessity of bypassing the expensive "Welcome Home" parade. Yes, the action climax and the training scenes are reasonably lively, but all the trivial domestic guff between Robinson and his insipid partner Ruth Warrick, and all that sentimental tosh with Ted Donaldson's helpful orphan could stand considerable trimming. The dialogue is often slow and tedious and most of the players have a hard time with it, particularly Robert Armstrong, though Lane registers okay as the sergeant.Technically, Mr Winkle is equally undistinguished. Green's direction has occasional spurts of energy, but is mostly slow and mercilessly routine. The music score is strictly Mickey Mouse, aggressively underlining every "comic" and "dramatic" development. Even the photography is so flat and unattractive that for just this once we wouldn't object to "color enhancement". At least that would give the whole movie a much-needed lift from the "B" doldrums.

Michael O'Keefe This is a war drama with some humor. Edward G. Robinson plays Wilbert Winkle, a somewhat nerdy, mild-mannered banker that decides to quit his job and open his own handyman fix-it shop. His overbearing wife Amy (Ruth Warrick) is very displeased and orders him to move into his shop in the garage. Nag, nag, nag and Wilbert is surprised and actually thrilled when he gets notice of being drafted for military duty during WWll; to put on that uniform and fight the Japanese. Who could ever image wimpy Mr. Winkle returning a war hero? Other players: Richard Lane, Ted Donaldson, Robert Armstrong, Bob Haymes, William Forrest, Warren Ashe and Hugh Beaumont.

arieliondotcom Okay, so it's schmaltzy...and a bit preachy at times. But for what it is, a pro-war propaganda piece, Mr. Winkle Goes to War is a great few hours of warm-hearted (if you can call anything to do with war warm-hearted) sentiment. More importantly, if you value acting at all, it is a wonderful opportunity to see a master, Edward G. Robinson. To see "Little Caesar" in a role (much more like his true-life personna from what I've read) so drastically different yet done with such wonderful simplicity and finesse, is an acting class in itself. After only a few short minutes you are accepting of EGR as the antithesis of what he was in other films as well as the fantasy and far-fetched elements of this one. His supporting actors are on the schmaltzy side (which is a surprise coming from Ruth Warrick). But the fact that Robinson can pull the film off anyway is another credit to his acting.There are also a few interesting things to look for. As someone connected to the military now, I noticed in the induction oath that what is now an oath to protect the US "from all enemies foreign and domestic" was then "from all enemies whatsoever." Apparently Joe McCarthy in the 50s had some effect. Also, it was interesting in the storytelling that one person, a friend of Mr. Winkle's, wants to "kill a jap (with my bear hands" gets to do just that, but immediately shows remorse, and is gunned down. Which, frankly, is to the good since you don't want to think of this bloodthirsty so-and-so as a friend of Mr. Winkle (he gives the excuse that it's because his brother was killed by the Japanese).All in all, it'sa great film and should be seen by anyone. But it's a must-see for any Edward G. Robinson fan. And if you aren't one now, you will be after seeing this and any other of his films.

kyle_furr I'll watch any movie Edward G. Robinson did and i think he's a better actor than James Cagney. This one casts him as a guy who is always being told what to do and in the first scene of the movie he walks up to the manager of the bank and tells him he wants to quit, to everyone's surprise. His wife hates this idea and Robinson wants to run a business just fixing things. He then gets a letter telling him that he is drafted. He doesn't think he will be because he's 44 years old and out of shape. To his surprise and everyone else's, he is drafted. During basic training, they pull him out to have a desk job. Robinson doesn't like it and wants to be put back and be able to work as mechanic. He is sent overseas and is very close to the fighting. I've never really heard much about this movie and i didn't even see Robert Mitchum in this movie.