William Tracy
1st Sgt. Dorian "Dodo" Doubleday
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Synopsis
A railway clerk with a remarkable memory enters the army after absorbing its regulations in advance. His instant command of the rulebook wins promotion and infuriates a veteran sergeant. Put in charge of a disorderly company, the inexperienced recruit must discover whether knowing every instruction is enough to lead real soldiers.
Cast
DirectorsFred Guiol
Behind the scenes
Hal Roach launched his Streamliners with this compact comedy, designed to accompany another feature on a cinema programme. William Tracy and Joe Sawyer continued their rivalry in subsequent military comedies. Despite its title, this first instalment does not put tanks on screen.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.
Availability checked on September 10, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- William Tracy — film screenshot (United Artists) · Public domain
- James Gleason — Trailer screenshot · Public domain
- Elyse Knox — derivative work: Wildhartlivie ( talk ) ElyseknoxYANK1943.jpg : Original uploader was Danny B. at en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by Thirdship at en.wikipedia . · Public domain
- Joe Sawyer — D. Ross Lederman · Public domain
