The greatest movie ever made..!

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

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.

In the early 1940s, Hollywood made a lot of positive propaganda films in order to encourage Americans to get behind the war effort. Many of them were far from realistic (such as this film) but were also very entertaining and did a lot to boost spirits (again, like this film). Provided you view the film in this context, it's a dandy little picture and an interesting curio.Edward G. Robinson plays the title character--a decent but decidedly mild-mannered man who works at a bank. One day, out of the blue, he quits his job to open a "fix-it" shop--much to the surprise of his wife and boss! However, despite these grand plans of being his own boss, shortly after this he receives his draft notice. Considering that Robinson was a dumpy middle-aged man, everyone assumed this was just a mistake. However, despite the complete improbability of it all, he does pass the physical and is taken into the army! Now of course, you MUST suspend disbelief here--as Robinson has "4-F" written all over him (in other words, he is unfit for active duty). Despite the impossibility of it all, Robinson works his butt off and actually succeeds in becoming a soldier--even though his sergeant tries to get him a desk job. Robinson wants no part of a desk job (that was why he quit his job at the bank after all).What exactly happens next, you'll have to see for yourself. However, this is a rather silly film that still manages to be quite entertaining. Now if you think the idea of Robinson in the military, it could be a lot more ridiculous. In GREAT GUNS, Laurel and Hardy join the army! Even though they were about the same age as Robinson (in their early 50s), Ollie weighs in at about 350 pounds and Stan looks very old and worn. In MR. WINKLE, Robinson is supposed to be 43 and he is able to carry that off reasonably well.

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.

This picked on banker goes and get's drafted. He is always taking pills for some ailment, but once he goes into training with the Army, he's a changed man. The movie moves along very nicely. You see the change in him....slowly but at the right moments he emerges a stronger person and a hero. I'm sorry to say that this movie has been hidden and should be brought back. Very inspirational to say the least. Mr. Winkle is an excellent movie and should be viewed by all. His wife played by Ruth Warick, who recently passed away, plays a sympathetic wife and very loving. She feels her husband's pain while at the bank. She is extremely proud when he returns victorious and a changed man. Must see!