An easy-going bumbling Colonel commands a military hospital, the 1066th. A self-serving martinet second-in-command tries to use military regulations to tyrannize over the hospital staff. A fun-loving conniver wants to give the hospital staffers a chance to enjoy the company of the hospital's nurses while the second-in-command tries to thwart him. If Jack Lemmon and his friends had been doctors and officers, instead of enlisted personnel, the general resemblance to MASH would have been complete. When Richard Hooker's novel MASH was turned into a TV series (after passing through the movies), the writers must have been familiar with this movie. Curiouser and curiouser.

It's post World War II France, and sergeant Hogan (Jack Lemmon) is threatened with court martial by Captain Ernie Kovacs with every antic even though the commanding colonel (Arthur O'Connell) stands up for him. Who's running the hospital here, anyway? There's lots of silly pranks and antics in Lemmon's effort to throw the maddest military ball to end all military balls, all the while complaining of an ulcer he gets assistance from pretty nurse Kathryn Crosby for.

Only moderately amusing, this has a good cast and the benefit of future comedy legend Blake Edwards as one of its four writers. But if it looked funny on paper, something has been left off the screen, perhaps thanks to director Richard Quine who directed a few military comedies (a few with songs starring Mickey Rooney), all pretty forgettable. Rooney appears here too, but his participation seemingly something of an afterthought and no real addition to the script. "Bewitched" fans will appreciate Dick York in a major supporting role. This just ends up being nothing but another one of many anti-military comedy where they are made to seem like buffoons.

I noticed that one reviewer described this film as being like combining "M*A*S*H" and "McHale's Navy"---and this is a very accurate observation...though I might also add a touch of "Operation Petticoat". It's one of those quirky comedies that they were able to make AFTER WWII was finished--as the war, especially at the time, wasn't very funny! Now, over a decade later, folks were able to look at some of the absurdities and funny moments in the military the war--and it's easier here because it's set just a few months after the war--time to laugh and have fun.

"Operation Mad Ball" is set in an army hospital in France in September, 1945. You see early on that there is a Captain (Ernie Kovacs) who is a total jerk and an enlisted man (Jack Lemmon) who is always outsmarting him. Because the war is over and the men are longing to blow off some steam, Lemmon plans for a giant party--one where the enlisted men can fraternize, off the record, with the nurses. But since this is clearly against regulations and the annoying Captain is looking for an excuse to bust Lemmon, they need to tread very, very lightly. Along the way, there are tons of complications (I liked the one involving the body) and whether or not this insane ball will take place is constantly in doubt.

The film is a nice little comedy with lots of nice twists and interesting characters. My favorite was the Captain--Kovacs played a guy you love to hate. THere were also a lot of nice quirky characters as well. The script was quite clever and the film a nice, light comedy--on part with or perhaps a little better than "Operation Petticoat".