I'd never heard of this one but it showed up in some list of great Jack Lemmon films (he won an Oscar for it!) and look at the rest of the cast! And it was directed by John Ford (at least, until he got sick and somebody else took over and finished it). So we gave it a shot. Verdict: pretty good! It's a bit more comedic than The Caine Mutiny and a bit more down-to-Earth than Operation Petticoat (and other 50's films set in the Pacific in WWII like Father Goose and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison), but it ends on a more sombre note than any of them. Essentially, it's based on a picaresque memoir published in 1946, which was first turned into a play (also starring Henry Fonda) and then this. Fonda's Mr. Roberts is the cargo officer on a ship whose job it is to supply other ships, and who is champing at the bit (silly man) to see real action. Powell is his friend the ship's doctor, Lemmon is the young chancer Ensign Pulver, who tells Walter Mitty-esque stories and never gets anything done, but of whom Roberts is nonetheless fond, and Cagney plays out-of-character as the martinet (slightly cracked) captain, who resents Roberts because he is a "college boy" and also because all the crew love him (because he doesn't really seem to care about rank, but also understands about esprit de corps). Roberts writes weekly letters
demanding a transfer, which the captain forwards to the relevant authorities (only because this is required by naval regulations), but always marked "unapproved". Pulver details all kinds of revenge plots against the Captain (who actually doesn't know who he is - he sees him for the first time (as far as he knows) and is astonished to discover that Pulver has been aboard for 14 months), such as marbles
in the ceiling above his bed and a home-made firecracker under it. All the captain seems to love is his palm tree,
which, for some reason, was an award for something (largely won by Roberts' competence) and which nobody is allowed to touch. There are the usual escapades involving female nurses
(and binoculars) and Roberts conniving to get the ship sent to a particularly nice harbor where the captain should allow the crew "liberty" after over a year being confined to the ship. He manipulates Roberts into agreeing to stop writing letters and backtalking him in front of the crew by making that a condition of allowing the crew ashore.
The crew predictably go wild, to such an extent that they are "kicked out" of the port, something that infuriates the captain further. However, after this, Roberts is noticeably different (because he can't break his agreement) and the crew starts to think he's gone over to the bad side. And to make matters worse for Roberts (at this point it's very difficult to empathize), the end of the war in Europe is announced, and he's scared the war in the Pacific will end without him getting the transfer. However, the celebrations for this momentous event include Pulver demonstrating that his homemade firecracker packed a real punch (the funniest moment in the film), and Roberts having a "The Chief at the end of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" moment with the Captain's palm. This in turn leads to a series of events that culminate in the crew's reconciling with Roberts and taking it upon themselves to see he gets the transfer he wants. To his horror, Culver is appointed his replacement, proving to be a big disappointment in the "standing up to the captain" department - at least, until the final twist. Definitely of its time, and, like most of the films mentioned, very much in the enlisted men's camp vs. the officers (albeit with a savior officer). Made everything look insufferably hot, though, and reminded me a bit of Porridge, what with all the home-made alcohol they kept making on the sly. (A scene where they fake up some "scotch" out of Coca Cola, grain alcohol, iodine and hair tonic,
in an attempt to win over a nurse, is quease-inducing.)
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