Half Shot at Sunrise

(1930)

78 minutes.

Film / Comedy / Musical

Directed by Paul Sloane

Cast: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Edna May Oliver, Dorothy Lee and George MacFarlane

During World War I, soldiers Tommy and Gilbert go AWOL in Paris, more interested in picking up women than in military duty. Along the way, Tommy falls for a girl named Annette, unaware at first that she's the daughter of Colonel Marshall, their commanding officer. Gilbert, meanwhile, falls for Mademoiselle Olga, the Colonel's lady friend. Hoping to turn the two soldiers into heroes so they won't be court-martialed, Annette and Olga persuade the boys to deliver a set of sealed orders, "borrowed" from the Colonel, to the front lines. After an uncharacteristically dramatic scene at the front, the two are apprehended by the MPs and brought to Colonel Marshall, but escape punishment by pointing out that the envelope they'd carried was the wrong one. It actually contained a love letter from Olga to the Colonel, who is married and would rather his wife not know about his French girlfriend!