Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Original Screenplay 1945

The Contenders:

Dillinger
Marie-Louise (winner)
Music for Millions
Salty O’Rourke
What Next, Corporal Hargrove?

What's Next is Skipping This Film

Film: What Next, Corporal Hargrove?
Format: Turner Classic Movies on rockin’ flatscreen.

I’ve said before that these Oscar categories take me to some strange places. Few have been as strange as What Next, Corporal Hargrove?, a military comedy that appeared just at the end of World War II. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. It’s not nearly as funny as it thinks it is. It also doesn’t have any idea of what it wants to be, which is a significant problem.

In truth, there isn’t a great deal of plot here. We follow the exploits of Corporal Marion Hargrove (Robert Walker) and his scam-happy friend Private Tom Mulvehill (Keenan Wynn) as their artillery battery makes its way through France and toward Germany after D-Day. One of the recurring themes of the film is that Hargrove frequently gets promoted to corporal for competence and bravery and almost as quickly busted back to private for stupidity, incompetence, or bad luck. This is, again, supposed to be funny, but generally is not.