The D.I. (Mark VII; Warner) is a stiff salute from TV Star Jack (Dragnet) Webb to the Marine Corps drill instructor. A raucous prowl through the barracks and across the drill fields of Parris Island, the film is not based upon last year's tragic "death march" of a recruit platoon into the Carolina swamps. Made with the blessing and help of the Marine Corps, The D.I. might otherwise almost seem to be anti-Corps propaganda, su ruggedly, almost brutally does it portray the making of a young leatherneck.
The leatherneck maker, Sergeant Jim Moore (Webb), chews callow boys and spits marines. He shouts...