Beginning with Charlie Chaplin's , released in America near the end of World War I, the military comedy film has been one of Hollywood's most durable genres. This generously illustrated history examines over 225 Army, Navy and Marine-related comedies produced between 1918 and 2009, including the abundance of laughspinners released during World War II in the wake of Abbott and Costello's phenomenally successful (1941), and the many lighthearted service films of the immediate postwar era, among them (1955) and (1958). Also included are discussions of such subgenres as silent films ( ), military-academy farces ( ), women in uniform ( ), misfits making good ( ), anti-war comedies ( ), and fact-based films ( ). A closing filmography is included in this richly detailed volume.