Remember MASH (1970)? Well. This movie predates it, and in this one the medical corps also throws plenty of spanners that inevitably gum up the way of the army. Of course, this earlier movie doesn't have the total irreverence of Mash, but there is the same abuse and misuse of army regulations, which inevitably leads to the double takes of the usual, flabbergasted and endlessly (and always uselessly) flabbergasted officers. Unfortunately, this movie does not come across with anything like the same success, thanks to surprisingly heavy-handed direction by Richard Quine (a genial man, noted for his friendly approach and light touch), plus the script's over-reliance on dialogue that is both over- repetitive and tiresomely prone to milk the very last grains of humor from situations that were not really all that funny to begin with.
Review of Operation Mad Ball
