Carry On Sergeant on AllMovie

No relation to the British "Carry On" series of the 1950s, the Canadian WWI seriocomedy Carry on Sergeant was written and directed by Bruce Bairnsfather, the cartoonist-creator of woebegone British soldier "Old Bill." The story begins in a Canadian locomotive plant, where heroes Hugh Buckler and Jimmy Savo (a legendary Broadway comedian, making a rare screen appearance) labor away, unaware that a German spy is in their midst. When war is declared, Buckler and Savo enlist in the Canadian Highlanders, but not before Buckler is able to marry heroine Nancy Hargreaves. Rising to the rank of sergeant, Buckler tries to do his duty to the best of his ability, but his competence is compromised by an on-and-off love affair with French temptress Louise Cardi. Feeling guilty about his indiscretions, Buckler returns to the front, where he is promptly killed. It is up to his pal Savo to tie up loose plot ends by capturing the spy who has been weaving in and out of the plotline since the first reel. Over a year in the making, Carry on Sergeant ended up costing half a million dollars, the highest-budgeted Canadian film of its time. It is still available for reappraisal from several mail-order "public domain" videocassette companies.