Advance to the Rear

In the war between the blue and the gray, one soldier is yellow! When a cantankerous Union colonel is labeled a coward after his horse bolts for the rear, the brass puts him in command of a company of the brainless and brawnless and sends them all West. The idea is to keep the misfits out of action. Instead, they ride straight into slapstick encounters with a purty spy, a passel of happy-go-lucky harlots, a shipment of Union gold and a wily band of Johnny Rebs. Destry Rides Again director George Marshall takes the reins of another frontier comedy and brings a dandy cast with him: Glenn Ford, Melvyn Douglas and a rowdy roster of Hollywood character stars that stretches from Jim Backus to Joan Blondell.

• comedy