This film essentially begins with a young man by the name of "Dorian 'Dodo' Doubleday" (William Tracy) being drafted by the United States Army and reporting for duty at his basic training site with several other fellow draftees not long afterward. It is then revealed that Private Doubleday has a photographic memory and, as a result, knows the Army regulations better than anyone. This includes the non-commissioned officer named "Sergeant Williams Ames" (Joe Sawyer) who has been tasked to train the new soldiers. Needless to say, this embarrasses Sergeant Ames who immediately decides to put him in his place. Unfortunately for Sergeant Ames, however, the officers appointed over him are quite impressed with Private Doubleday--so much so that they immediately send the young private to a non-commissioned officer course a few buildings away. To everyone's surprise, when he returns a short time later, he is now wearing the rank of First Sergeant. Absolutely enraged by this, Sergeant Ames begins to do everything he can think of to humiliate the young man. The problem, however, is that everything he tries backfires in a spectacular manner. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film turned out much better than I initially expected due in large part to the unique solutions Dorian Doubleday used to extricate himself from one highly unlikely situation after another. Everything was totally absurd--but quite humorous at the same time. And although this is a rather short comedy, I still found it to be quite enjoyable, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
Review of Tanks a Million
