No Time for Sergeants

An American comedy built around military service. Will Stockdale is a young man from a Georgia farm who is drafted into the air force. The problem is not that he is difficult but the opposite: he carries out every order literally, without any second thought, all the way. That wrecks the system faster than disobedience would. The sergeant puts him on latrine duty; Will treats it as a mission and organises it so thoroughly that the plumbing wins commendation at inspection. That scene is the film's best-known passage. The humour comes from the character's innocence, but the film does not present him as stupid; everyone tries to exploit him and each time falls into the trap they set themselves. The source was first a novel, then a Broadway play. Andy Griffith played the same part on stage and carried it into the film; the role made his name. Don Knotts appears in a small part; the two worked together for many years afterwards. Mervyn LeRoy directed. One of the most-watched examples of its period for anyone who likes 1950s American comedy and service humour. For a viewer expecting modern comedy, the pace is slow and the jokes come from the stage, built up at length and paid off in a single beat.