This is more fun than you might expect. Not the romance, which is dull and familiar. A swabbie (Cagney) falls for the daughter of a Chief Boatswain's Mate (O'Brien) and the two guys hate each other. They always seem to be stationed together. And Cagney's character is equally familiar -- the tough, selfish cynic who joins the Navy on a dare and finds himself stuck. He proves himself a hero, of course, as all these characters do, as Cagney himself was to do a few years later in "The Fighting 69th." That's all boring. What's fun and interesting are the locations. Usually a story like this is shot on relatively cheap cardboard sets with some inserted footage of Navy ships. See "Follow the Fleet", inter alia, for an example.
Here, though, as other commentators have pointed out, the shooting was done on the decks of the real USS Arizona and there is considerable footage of the dirigible Macon, which was housed at Moffet Field near Palo Alto, California. The monstrous hangars are still there.
The first time Cagney demonstrates his altruism is while the Arizona is on fleet maneuvers off San Diego. It's genuine heroism too. A powder bag leaks and a fire threatens the entire turret. Cagney throws himself on the burning powder to smother it. There was a similar explosion in the turret of the battleship USS Iowa in 1989 that damaged much of the turret and killed 47 crewmen. (The Navy blamed it on a homosexual spat.) I may be biased because I was on a ship that took part in fleet maneuvers off San Diego too. I was a lowly lookout with no real responsibility and enjoyed every minute of watching guns go off in the sunshine. My ship, the Coast Guard Cutter Gresham, was supposed to track a submarine on sonar but couldn't find the submarine in the first place so the exercise was a flop. I won't bother to describe the farce that followed the announcement of "Air action, port!"
Where was I? I wish someone would discretely flap a napkin at me when I got off topic like that. I'd do as much for you. Anyway, the second time Cagney indulges in heroics is a charm. He gets the girl, saves O'Brien, and wins another medal, I guess.
Cagney is his usual bouncy self, sneering and ready to bop everybody on the schnozz. O'Brien is reliable and unexciting. Gloria Stuart, who passed on recently, is less than inspiring. Frank McHugh lends solid support. I could hardly believe it when I saw Bill Elliot as a Navy officer. Ten years later he would make a series of cheap Westerns and serials as "Wild Bill Elliot," one of my faves when I was a kid.
At any rate, and for whatever reason, I expected to be rather more bored than I was. Nice crisp photography.
Here, though, as other commentators have pointed out, the shooting was done on the decks of the real USS Arizona and there is considerable footage of the dirigible Macon, which was housed at Moffet Field near Palo Alto, California. The monstrous hangars are still there.
The first time Cagney demonstrates his altruism is while the Arizona is on fleet maneuvers off San Diego. It's genuine heroism too. A powder bag leaks and a fire threatens the entire turret. Cagney throws himself on the burning powder to smother it. There was a similar explosion in the turret of the battleship USS Iowa in 1989 that damaged much of the turret and killed 47 crewmen. (The Navy blamed it on a homosexual spat.) I may be biased because I was on a ship that took part in fleet maneuvers off San Diego too. I was a lowly lookout with no real responsibility and enjoyed every minute of watching guns go off in the sunshine. My ship, the Coast Guard Cutter Gresham, was supposed to track a submarine on sonar but couldn't find the submarine in the first place so the exercise was a flop. I won't bother to describe the farce that followed the announcement of "Air action, port!"
Where was I? I wish someone would discretely flap a napkin at me when I got off topic like that. I'd do as much for you. Anyway, the second time Cagney indulges in heroics is a charm. He gets the girl, saves O'Brien, and wins another medal, I guess.
Cagney is his usual bouncy self, sneering and ready to bop everybody on the schnozz. O'Brien is reliable and unexciting. Gloria Stuart, who passed on recently, is less than inspiring. Frank McHugh lends solid support. I could hardly believe it when I saw Bill Elliot as a Navy officer. Ten years later he would make a series of cheap Westerns and serials as "Wild Bill Elliot," one of my faves when I was a kid.
At any rate, and for whatever reason, I expected to be rather more bored than I was. Nice crisp photography.