A Wave, a WAC and a Marine

A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine is an American 1944 musical comedy film directed by Phil Karlson (in his directorial debut) for low-budget Monogram Pictures.

A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine
Directed byPhil Karlson
Screenplay byHal Fimberg
Produced byEdward Sherman
Sebastian Cristillo (executive producer)
StarringElyse Knox
Anne Gillis
Sally Eilers
Richard Lane
Marjorie Woodworth
Ramsay Ames
Henny Youngman
CinematographyMaury Gertsman
Edited byWilliam Austin
Music byFreddie Rich
Distributed byMonogram Pictures
Release date
  • October 7, 1944 (1944-10-07)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

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Sally Eilers runs a talent agency and sets out to put a couple of Broadway stars under contract. Her bumbling employee signs their understudies instead.

Cast

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Production

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The film's executive producer was comedian Lou Costello. As a gesture to his father – a diehard movie fan, who used the family's actual last name – Costello was credited as Sebastian Cristillo (his father's name), so the latter could see his own name onscreen. The other listed producer, Edward Sherman, was Costello's manager.

Phil Karlson got to know Lou Costello when worked on Abbott and Costello films at Universal as an assistant. Costello tracked down Karlson and told him he wanted to produce a film with Karlson directing. According to Karlson, Costello asked him what did he want to make, and "I said I don't know. By this time I'm so flabbergasted that I had no idea what I wanted to do. But he put up the money and we decided on the crazy story A Wave, a WAC and a Marine."[1]

Reception

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Karlson called the film "probably the worst picture ever made.... It was a nothing picture, but I was lucky because it was for Monogram and they didn't understand how bad it was because they had never made anything that was any good."[1] However it did launch Karlson's directing career.

See also

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References

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