A Wave, a WAC and a Marine
A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine | |
---|---|
Directed by | Phil Karlson |
Screenplay by | Hal Fimberg |
Produced by | Edward Sherman Sebastian Cristillo (executive producer) |
Starring | Elyse Knox Anne Gillis Sally Eilers Richard Lane Marjorie Woodworth Ramsay Ames Henny Youngman |
Cinematography | Maury Gertsman |
Edited by | William Austin |
Music by | Freddie Rich |
Distributed by | Monogram Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 70 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine is an American 1944 musical comedy film directed by Phil Karlson (in his directorial debut) for low-budget Monogram Pictures.
Plot[]
Less the wartime comedy promised by the title than an inside-Hollywood story interrupted by musical numbers, Sally Eilers runs a talent agency and sets out to put a couple of Broadway stars under contract. Her bumbling employee (Henny Youngman) signs their understudies instead.
The film's executive producer was comedian Lou Costello. As a gesture to his father – a diehard movie fan, who used the family's actual last name – Costello was credited as Sebastian Cristillo (his father's name), so the latter could see his own name onscreen. The other listed producer, Edward Sherman, was Costello's manager.
Cast[]
- Elyse Knox as Marian
- Ann Gillis as Judy (as Anne Gillis)
- Sally Eilers as Margaret Ames
- Richard Lane as Marty Allen
- Marjorie Woodworth as Eileen
- Ramsay Ames as Betty
- Henny Youngman as O. Henry Brown
- as Red (as 'Red' Marshall)
- Alan Dinehart as R. J., the Producer
- Billy Mack as Himself
- Cy Kendall as Mike
- Aileen Pringle as Newswoman
- Jack Mulhall as Bartender
- Mabel Todd as Nurse
- as Himself
- unbilled players include Mel Blanc and Connie Haines
Production[]
Phil Karlson got to know Lou Costello when worked on Abbott and Costello films at Universal as an assistant. Costello tracked down Karlson and told him he wanted to produce a film with Karlson directing. According to Karlson, Costello asked him what did he want to make, and "I said I don't know. By this time I'm so flabbergasted that I had no idea what I wanted to do. But he put up the money and we decided on the crazy story A Wave, a WAC and a Marine."[1]
Reception[]
Karlson called the film "probably the worst picture ever made.... It was a nothing picture, but I was lucky because it was for Monogram and they didn't understand how bad it was because they had never made anything that was any good."[1] However it did launch Karlson's directing career.
See also[]
References[]
External links[]
- 1944 films
- English-language films
- 1944 musical comedy films
- American films
- American black-and-white films
- American musical comedy films
- Films about entertainers
- Films directed by Phil Karlson
- Films scored by Freddie Rich
- Films set in Los Angeles
- Films set on the home front during World War II
- Monogram Pictures films
- 1944 directorial debut films
- Musical comedy film stubs