At the beginning of 1925 director Cecil B. DeMille was at loose ends, having recently been forced out of Paramount, a company he helped create. He chose to become an independent producer, formed his own production company, and proceeded to release feature films through a company called Producers Distributing Corporation (PDC). He personally directed some of these films, while assigning a slate of program pictures to contract directors. Corporal Kate is an example of a programmer DeMille produced but did not direct, a B-picture with solid production values but without top stars. It's moderately entertaining, but not entirely satisfying over all, as both the story and the leading players leave something to be desired.
This is the tale of two women who go to war—so, right off the bat, it's unusual. Kate Jones (played by Vera Reynolds) and Becky Finklestein (Julia Faye) are manicurists when America enters the Great War. They're patriotic and want to do their part, so they sign up to go overseas and entertain the troops with their song and dance routine. Are they any good? Nope, barely passable. While the soldiers may be starved for entertainment—or simply the sight of attractive young women—they're not terribly impressed with Kate and Becky's act.
However, the plucky duo make the best of it. Stationed in a small French village the girls are forced to lodge in a stable, and only after cleaning out a space formerly inhabited by pigs. When a soldier named Clark Jackson (Kenneth Thomson) comes to Kate's rescue in a dangerous situation she initially resists his charms, but he's persistent. They enter into a wartime romance. Becky also loves 'Jake," as she calls him, though he regards her only as a friend and is oblivious to her true feelings. The romantic triangle is complicated further when Evelyn, a lady from Clark's past, arrives on the scene, now working as a Red Cross nurse. Like him, she is well born and wealthy, and her presence points up the social divide between Clark and the two working class girls who have fallen for him.
Kate perceives Evelyn as a rival for Clark's affections, unaware that Evelyn is interested in someone else, a flier she plans to marry. Just as her jealousy towards Evelyn reaches a fever pitch, the war intervenes: the village is shelled by the Germans. Becky is mortally wounded, and, as she lies dying, calls for "Jake." He comes to her side, insists—at Kate's behest—that he loved her all along, and kisses her as she dies. Kate is also gravely wounded. Evelyn survives unharmed, but receives word that her fiancée has been killed. After the battle we find that Kate, who is now recovering in a military hospital, has resumed entertaining the troops as a solo act. She's reunited with Clark just as word comes that the Armistice has been signed.
As this synopsis should make clear, what's striking about the scenario of Corporal Kate are its sharp shifts in tone. It starts as a comedy, then becomes a romantic melodrama, and, in the climactic section, abruptly turns into a grim saga of warfare and tragedy. The combat sequences are well handled, and offer the film's strongest and most memorable scenes. But in the end we're left with an oddity that feels like three very disparate two-reel shorts patched together into an unwieldy feature. I'm not convinced that even DeMille, had he directed, could have smoothly handled the sharp transitions. It doesn't help that the lead players simply aren't charismatic enough to carry the show. In the title role Vera Reynolds is pleasant but little more. (If this had been an A-picture, Clara Bow would have been ideal.) Kenneth Thomson, as her sweetheart, doesn't make much of an impression either. (Imagine Buddy Rogers in the role.) Julia Faye, as Becky, comes off best by default. (Rather like an understudy for Marie Prevost.) We're left with the impression that PDC lacked a strong bench of players, and thus the producers were compelled to use second-stringers. Variety's critic Sime Silverman summed it up succinctly: "Not a big time picture."
PDC itself did not survive the silent era. Despite a handful of hits such as The King of Kings, there were too many flops in the company's ledgers. By the summer of 1928 DeMille had been forced out of his own production company. Corporal Kate, which was one of PDC's flops, survives as an example of this short-lived company's bread-and-butter product. It's mildly entertaining, offbeat and interesting in some respects, but today it largely serves as a prime example of why Cecil B. DeMille's independent production company was, ultimately, a failure.
