| Caught in the Draft | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | David Butler |
| Written by | Wilkie C. Mahoney Harry Tugend |
| Produced by | Buddy G. DeSylva |
| Starring | Bob Hope Dorothy Lamour Eddie Bracken |
| Cinematography | Karl Struss |
| Edited by | Irene Morra |
| Music by | Victor Young |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.2 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)[1] |
Caught in the Draft is a 1941 Americancomedy film directed byDavid Butler and starringBob Hope,Dorothy Lamour andEddie Bracken. It was produced and distributed byParamount Pictures. Released six months before theAttack on Pearl Harbor and American entry intoWorld War II it deals with thepeacetime draft brought in the previous year as part of the country's mobilization preparations for future war.[2][3]
Don Bolton, a vain movie star who fears being drafted into the military, suffers an aversion to loud noises—even fake gunshots on the set. He therefore doubts he would last a day in training. On one occasion, Col. Peter Fairbanks visits the studio as technical consultant on a war film. He brings his beautiful daughter Tony with him. Don plots to marry the colonel's daughter to avoid the draft. After proposing to her, however, he immediately learns that draft eligibility ends at age 31. So Don, who is 32, retracts his proposal. A disgusted Tony accuses him of cowardice.
A few weeks later, Don realizes he's in love with Tony after all. He wants to impress her, so he stages a fake enlistment. But everything backfires, and before he knows it, Don's in the Army, along with his assistant Bert and his manager Steve. At training camp, Col. Fairbanks isCO. He tells Don if he ever gets promoted to corporal, he can marry Tony. But Army life proves almost too much for the trio. Consequently, they endure lots ofKP duty as punishment.
Later, when Don and his companions are transferred to a distant base, a camp war game is set up. During the "fighting," Bert alters the signposts in the field in order to help his team. But the result proves disastrous; the men on the opposing team now follow a route into a live artillery range. Don overcomes his fear of noise to rescue the men. He also saves Tony, who is observing the games while riding horseback. After this success, Don is promoted to corporal and is now free to marry Tony.[4]
A 1941 cinema journal describes theair mortar as having been "inaugurated" in the film, stating: "this new development uses air blown under pressure through pipes, as well as powder and pyrotechnics, to gain unusual effects."[5]
The film was a big hit and becameParamount's second most successful release of 1941 afterLouisiana Purchase, also starring Bob Hope.