Sons O' Guns is a 1936 comedy directed by Lloyd Bacon.
Jimmy Canfield (Joe E. Brown) is a star of the Broadway stage during World War I. Jimmy simply can't bring himself to join the Army, because, as he says, he isn't mad at anybody. But his fiancée Mary breaks up with him because he won't join. There's also the matter of an ex-girlfriend, Bernice, who is about to sue Jimmy for breach-of-promise. To escape this, Jimmy decides to pretend that he's enlisted. He puts on a uniform (he's been playing a soldier in shows), joins a platoon on the march so that Bernice can see—and naturally winds up in the army for real.
Cut to the Western Front. Various comic hijinks ensue, with Jimmy at different points impersonating both a British and a German officer, getting suspected of espionage, and blundering into German trenches. When he isn't doing any of that he romances a lovely French waitress, Yvonne (Joan Blondell).
Tropes:
- Alcohol Hic: Capt. Polsonby-Falke, who is a drunk, does this a lot.
- As You Know: The relationship between Mary, Jimmy, and Col. Harper is explained for the audience when the colonel carps about Jimmy not joining the army, and Mary says "Don't you worry about my fiancée, Father."
- The Big Damn Kiss: Between Jimmy and Yvonne at the end, when, instead of getting shot for treason and espionage, Jimmy is given a medal for coaxing an entire German regiment into surrendering.
- Blunt "Yes": When Jimmy says he needs a few months to think about enlistment, Mary says "You mean time enough for the war to be over," and Jimmy answers "Yes." He frantically backtracks, but it's too late.
- Breach of Promise of Marriage: Bernice has filed six breach-of-promise suits and won five, and the sixth was "a moral victory." It's trying to escape from her that gets Jimmy accidentally in the Army.
- Discreet Drink Disposal: Jimmy does this while drinking with Capt. Polsonby-Falke, so he can escape from the stockade after the captain gets drunk enough to pass out.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Subverted. The drill sergeant screaming at Jimmy for always screwing up maneuvers is actually his old butler, Hobson. Hobson always apologizes afterwards.
- Gilligan Cut: The men reach their barracks and Jimmy expresses relief that after all that marching, he'll finally get "a nice clean bed to sleep in." They then march into the barracks, which is nothing more than an empty hall where everyone sleeps on the floor.
- High-Class Glass: Captain Polsonby-Falke, an Upper-Class Twit British officer that seems to be attached to the unit, wears one of these. Jimmy makes a great show of putting the monocle on when impersonating the captain.
- Hypocritical Humor: Capt. Polsonby-Falke catches Jimmy drinking in the stockade, says "There's a strict order against drinking!", and promptly hiccups, because he is drunk.
- Instant Messenger Pigeon: Pierre, Yvonne's stepfather, is shown concealing some birds in a fake accordion. They're messenger pigeons which he is using to send intelligence to the Germans. When Jimmy finds the pigeon coop, and sets the pigeons free because they are disturbing his sleep, he is arrested and charged with espionage.
- Literal Ass-Kicking: Hobson the butler does this at Jimmy's request, when Jimmy is trying to work up a sense of aggression in order to motivate himself to enlist. It doesn't work.
- Lovable Coward: Jimmy, who is just a nice guy who doesn't want to fight anybody. When a superior officer, mistaking Jimmy for Capt. Polsonby-Falke, orders him to attack a machine gun nest, Jimmy says "But now? When all the shooting's going on?"
- Match Cut: From Army recruits marching through the city in a parade, to those same recruits slogging through the rain and mud of France.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Col. Harper flatly refuses to let Jimmy and Mary get married as long as Jimmy avoids joining the Army. This doesn't actually seem to bother Jimmy all that much.
- Right Behind Me: Jimmy and Hobson are rehearsing what he can say to fend off Bernice's breach of promise suit, when, unbeknownst to Jimmy, Bernice enters the room behind him. Jimmy finishes his spiel and says "By that time the dame ought to be here!", only for Bernice to answer "The dame is here!"
- Stock Footage: The setting is established with opening stock footage clips of war bond rallies and soldiers marching through New York.
- Translation Convention: Apparently Germans in the trenches are given to talking in heavily accented English, because when Jimmy is in disguise as a German officer, he's able to talk to some other officers and order the regiment to retreat.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: Jimmy is arrested for, among other things, suspicion of espionage because he set loose the messenger pigeons that actually belonged to Pierre, the real spy. Jimmy is eventually cleared and given a medal for heroism, but the movie ends without mentioning if Pierre was ever caught.
