Advance to the Rear

In the war between the blue and the gray, one soldier is yellow! When a cantankerous Union colonel is labeled a coward after his horse bolts for the rear, the brass puts him in command of a company of the brainless and brawnless and sends them all West. The idea is to keep the misfits out of action. Instead, they ride straight into slapstick encounters with a purty spy, a passel of happy-go-lucky harlots, a shipment of Union gold and a wily band of Johnny Rebs.

Destry Rides Again director George Marshall takes the reins of another frontier comedy and brings a dandy cast with him: Glenn Ford, Melvyn Douglas and a rowdy roster of Hollywood character stars that stretches from Jim Backus to Joan Blondell.

Union Colonel Brackenby (Melvyn Douglas) and his second-in-command, Captain Heath (Glenn Ford), attempt to command a rather inept cavalry unit during the Civil War. General Willoughby (Jim Backus) heads them out West on assignment rather than allowing them to foul things up where it counts. They soon get involved with Martha Lou, a confederate spy (Stella Stevens) posing as a prostitute, and her boss, Jenny (Joan Blondell) as well as a group of renegades and an Indian chief. In spite of their ridiculous slapstick antics, they manage to carry out their mission. This comedy was based on COMPANY OF COWARDS, a novel by Jack Schaefer.