But North, while certainly attractive, plays nothing like Monroe's character in The Seven Year Itch or any of her other movies. She functions more or less as the straight woman to Ewell's fidgety clowning, while a parade of sexy starlets portray Tashlin's typically exaggerated image of a Playboy-type sexpot. In particular Rita Moreno, in an early role, directly imitates not just Monroe but specifically Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, even talking about her "air-condition(ing) herself while [her neighbor's] wife was away,". "I didn't see that movie," sighs Ewell's character.

Moreno's terrific, sexy performance is one of the film's highlights, making the extremely talented Moreno's frustratingly spotty film career all the more baffling. (Reader Sergei Hasenecz bluntly argues, "Not baffling at all. She wasn't white enough. This is 1955." True to a point, but a few other Hispanic actresses, notably Katy Jurado, had much bigger success at this time. And, intriguingly, Moreno was reportedly a second choice after African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge turned down the part.)

The Lieutenant Wore Skirts also features an unusually good role for Les Tremayne, fifth-billed but basically the third lead after Ewell and North. He was a major radio star and prolific character actor in movies and on television after that, but almost always in small parts in big films (e.g., North by Northwest) and bigger supporting parts in minor films (The Angry Red Planet). This was probably his best screen role.

The other good piece of news is that Fox Cinema Archives, frustratingly inconsistent with their 1950s ‘scope titles especially, presents The Lieutenant Wore Skirts on DVD in an unusually good 16:9 enhanced widescreen transfer with equally fine stereophonic sound..

The movie opens with a flyover of Beverly Hills, with Katy (North), the young wife of World War II war hero-turned-novelist-turned-television writer Gregory Whitcomb (Ewell), narrating. Real stars' homes are shown, including mansions belonging to Jack Benny, Jean Simmons, Bob Cummings, and others, before the Whitcomb home is introduced. They're enjoying an idyllic existence, but on the day of their third wedding anniversary Greg, an Air Force Reservist (Ewell was 46 at the time), receives a letter calling him back into active duty.

Greg's swinging bachelor agent, Hank Gaxton (Tremayne), thinks he can get Greg a deferment by having him ghost-write the autobiography of dashing Korean War hero Capt. Barney Sloan (Combat! star Rick Jason). But the plan goes awry when Greg is offended by Sloan's attempts to seduce Katy and by his condescending remarks about Greg's war record.

Eventually Greg surrenders to the inevitable while Katy, a former Air Force lieutenant herself, reenlists, figuring officer Greg would be able to request her as her adjunct, or secretary, or something. But then Greg returns home with the news that he's failed his physical and that the Air Force has sent him packing. Katy, on the other hand, is duty-bound and soon shipped off to Hawaii.

The meandering screenplay, by Tashlin and Albert Beich, based on the latter's story, is primarily interested in watching how this devoted couple struggles with their forced separation, and later how they cope with the stark gender-reversal: on base it's Katy who's off to work in the morning while apron-wearing Greg stays home, does the laundry and plays bridge with other "army wives." Their husbands (including Gregory Walcott) all wrongly assume he's on the make while they're away. One of the wives is played by Jean Willes, who's certainly tempting, but mostly Greg just desperately wants to help Katy get out of the military so they can go back to their previous, blissful life together.

The film's last act, with Greg trying to convince both Katy and an Air Force psychiatrist (Edward Platt) that she's crazy and thus win a Section 8 discharge, is routine sitcom material, but other parts of the film exhibit bits of Tashlin's signature comedy.

Frank Tashlin (1913-1972) was a cartoonist, comic strip creator and, eventually, a director of short cartoons. His constant rambling resulted in short stints at most of the cartoon factories: Paul Terry, Van Beuren, Ub Iwerks, Columbia, and Disney, though he's best remembered for his work at Warner Bros., first in the mid-1930s, then again for a couple of years during the war. He also worked as a gag writer, at Hal Roach Studios briefly in the 1930s, then on a free-lance basis for various comedians, especially Bob Hope.

He eventually took over the direction on Hope's The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) and soon after directed and co-wrote Son of Paleface (1952), Hope's best and funniest film of the decade. After that Tashlin alternated between Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis movies for Paramount - including two of their more tolerable films, Artists and Models (1955) and Hollywood or Bust (1956), plus Rock-a-Bye Baby and The Geisha Boy (both 1958), two of Jerry best early solo works - and sex-driven farces for 20th Century-Fox. Susan Slept Here (1954) and The Lieutenant Wore Skirts are pretty mild, but The Girl Can't Help It (1957) and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) rank among the best and most subversive comedies of the decade.

Like Jerry Lewis, Tashlin was hailed as a genius in the pages of the Cahiers du Cinéma, but by the ‘60s Tashlin's movies with and without Jerry were increasingly tepid. Tashlin's last film, the Bob Hope comedy The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968) is awesomely bad.

As with Wilder's The Seven Year Itch, really one of that director's weakest movies, The Lieutenant Wore Skirts reflects very ‘50s attitudes toward gender roles, as seen through Tashlin's role-reversal of them. Wilder got around Production Code restrictions by taming George Axelrod's play and turning it into a story that's all about the tease minus the strip (save for the iconic blast of subway ventilation exposing MM's shapely legs). Tashlin similarly presents women as objects of fantasy except that here it's mostly around the edges. Women exaggerated almost to point of being cartoons orbit Greg's universe, complete with double-entendres and mild sexual innuendo, but he's already devoted to Katy and she to him. All the best material, surprisingly, is reserved for scenes involving Tremayne's bachelor, who winds up with Rita Moreno in the end.

Video & Audio

Thankfully, The Lieutenant Wore Skirts dodges the frequent sourcing of old panned-and-scanned masters that have made many Fox Cinema Archives releases effectively unwatchable. In this case, the 16:9 enhanced transfer is about as perfect as DVD gets: the image is as sharp as Fox's Bausch & Lomb anamorphic lenses allow, and the color is good. Moreover, the original 4-track magnetic stereophonic sound has been adapted well; the music tracks filter into the surround channels and some of the dialogue is directional. No subtitle or alternate audio options on this Region 1 disc. The only Extra Feature is a 4:3 widescreen trailer.

Parting Thoughts

Fair to middling, The Lieutenant Wore Skirts is neither bad nor good but somewhere in the middle. It both reflects ‘50s mores while subverting them at the same time, but the picture also lacks the inspired free-for-all lunacy of Tashlin's best films. Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is the Kyoto-based film historian and publisher-editor of World Cinema Paradise. His credits include film history books, DVD and Blu-ray audio commentaries and special features.