Two Yanks in Trinidad (1942)

Brian Donlevy is a gangster, and is spotted by the police going into a public library. They storm the place, but he is merely reading about Damon and Phythias because he has to give a speech that night about his best pal (Pat O'Brien). He sends his girl (Veda Ann Borg) to keep him busy while they get his surprise party ready. But O'Brien has been making a sucker out of Donlevy with a trick using a dollar bill, and a fight breaks out and O'Brien flees in the car Donlevy has bought him. The next day is the day men have to register for the draft, but O'Brien goes ahead and enlists - for protection. (The enlisting officer for the army is our old friend Ken Christy, who played Chief Gates on the Gildersleeve radio show.) Donlevy and his henchmen also enlist to keep an eye on O'Brien. Donald McBride is their longsuffering sergeant.

They are shipped out to Trinidad. Donlevy spots Janet Blair in the crowd with her boyfriend and breaks ranks to talk to her. He is continually getting special privileges in spite of the best efforts of McBride. Blair sings at a local night club. O'Brien sees here there and falls for her. She gives him a sob story about her sick father and he gives her money. Then Donlevy comes in, and the the club owner (John Emery) recognizes him and tells her to cozy up to him and find out what is doing there. O'Brien keeps sending messages to get he to return to his table. They start a brawl.

They get involved in war games, except that they use live ammunition to take over the enemy positions. Then they hi-jack a tank - and end up in the klink. Donlevy tries to get his sidekicks to desert, but they say they want to stay in the army. However, they fake their way past the guard and get into town. In the meantime, Donlevy has gone to Emery to get help getting out of Trinidad. It turns out this guy is a smuggler and wants help getting through the mine field. Blair asks him to take her with him, but he has to get out of the night club, so she dresses him up as an old woman. O'Brien dances with him and figures out that Blair is leaving with him. Emery wants his help with the mines, but O'Brien is getting patriotic inclinations by now and refuses to help him. They tie up them both, but one of their buddies has hidden on the boat and frees them. He tells them that the Japs have just bombed Pearl Harbor and they are now at war. Emery is going to cut loose the mines so that they will drift into the path of the fleet. The tugboat they abandoned is sinking with O'Brien tied up in it, but Donlevy rescues him. They set out to disable the mines, and get a Citation for Valor for their trouble. They are promoted to sergeant - and get 30 days in the guardhouse.




McBride


Blair