However, upon its release, Martin and Lewis ended up in a long, drawn-out legal battle. After several years, they relinquished all financial interest in this film in exchange for not having to make any more of these "outside" ones. The copyright on this film was not renewed in 1977, resulting in its public domain status. The film is based on a play by James B. Allardice that ran for 151 performances from 1948 to 1949 with Mike Kellin and Kenneth Forbes repeating their roles. The producers opened up the play by adding a sequence of an absent without leave Lewis in drag fending off the amorous advances of his drunken platoon sergeant, a sequence on an obstacle course and the addition of several songs written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. One of the later Martin and Lewis films, Sailor Beware (1952) had a working title of At Sea with the Navy. Copyright status This film's copyright was registered to York Pictures Corp. and Screen Associates, Inc. on January 23, 1951 (LP 679), and was renewed on December 7, 1979 (RE43009). However, the film has since lapsed into the public domain as the copyright holders failed to renew their copyright in the 28th year of publication pursuant to the Copyright Act of 1909. Home media As this film is in the public domain, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from a variety of companies comprising many different quality prints. In July 2014, Film Chest released a restored version in HD. See also List of films in the public domain in the United States References Notes External links (source material) 1950 films 1950 musical comedy films Military humor in film American musical comedy films American World War II films American films based on plays Films directed by Hal Walker Paramount Pictures films Films about the United States Army American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films