Hellcats of the Navy
Hellcats of the Navy | |
---|---|
Black and white | |
Production company | Morningside Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 82 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Hellcats of the Navy is a 1957 American
The film's setting is the Pacific War. The film's storyline concerns Commander Casey Abbott, skipper of the submarine USS Starfish, being ordered to retrieve a new type of Japanese mine in the waters off the Asiatic mainland. When diver Wes Barton, Abbott's rival for the affections of Nurse Lieutenant Helen Blair, gets into a life-threatening situation, Abbott must keep his personal and professional lives separate when dealing with the crisis.
The story is based on the 1955 non-fiction book Hellcats of the Sea by Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood and Hans Christian Adamson.
Plot
Commander Casey Abbott (
The results arouse ill feelings in the crew and especially Abbott's executive officer, Lt. Commander Landon (Arthur Franz), who asks his captain to let him air his views in confidence. The results lead Abbott to write in Landon's efficiency report that he should never be given command of a naval vessel, resulting in further ill will between the two.
Cast
- Ronald Reagan as Commander Casey Abbott
- Nancy Davisas Nurse Lt. Helen Blair
- Arthur Franz as Lt. Cmdr. Don Landon
- Robert Arthur as Freddy Warren
- William Leslie as Lt. Paul Prentice
- William Phillips as Carroll
- Harry Lauter as Lt. Wes Barton
- Michael Garth as Lt. Charlie
- Joseph Turkelas Chick
- Don Keefer as Jug
Uncredited (in order of appearance) | |
Bing Russell | frogman on submarine |
Frank Chase |
sailor holding a knife |
Thomas Browne Henry | Board of Inquiry Chief |
Maurice Manson | Vice-Admiral Charles A. Lockwood |
Selmer Jackson | Admiral Chester W. Nimitz |
James Dobson | Ens. Bob Altman |
Production
It was the second film
Reagan said in his autobiography that he was disappointed, overall, in the film, having expected a result more like Destination Tokyo, a major Warner Bros. submarine film made during World War II. The diminishing status of the feature films that Reagan was being offered, plus his increasing involvement with television, led to his leaving the big screen forever.
The
During the film's production, as USS Besugo was about to get underway, an argument ensued between the director and one of the unions. There was only a short window of opportunity to maneuver the boat away from the pier, as it was difficult for a submarine tied up in San Diego to get underway while a tide was running. Besugo was one of the first submarines to employ nylon rope lines, and when stretched, the lines could get about "as big around as a pencil" and become lethal if they broke under strain. The order was given to the helmsman to answer all bells. Reagan happened to be on deck practicing his dialog lines and hollering out, "Ahead one third, starboard back full ..." About this time, the nylon ropes were stretched to their breaking point when an officer gave the command, "All stop, ALL STOP, Goddammit, ALL STOP!" and Reagan, totally oblivious to what was going on, continued to practice his lines, rocking back and forth on his feet with his hands behind his back, as if nothing were wrong.
Among the
According to Maurice Manson, who played Vice-Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, shooting for the film was completed in five days.[6]
Film premiere
Hellcats of the Navy had its official premiere in
DVD reviews
Glenn Erickson of DVD Talk reviewed the DVD release of Hellcats of the Navy and thought that although the direction was "competent", the script was "completely derivative and cornball". He went on to criticize the lack of realistic supporting characters and the film's use of obvious stock footage, especially that of a U. S. Navy patrol boat portraying a Japanese ship. Overall, he described the film itself as "fair".[3] David Krauss of Digitally Obsessed described the production values as "bargain basement" and found that the cast's stiff performances alienated viewers. He gave the film a C for style and a B- for substance, although he also described the direction as "dry as a military briefing" on CNN.[7]
Erick Harper at DVD Verdict has written that Hellcats followed a series of submarine war film clichés, like the "love triangle" and familiar elements of the action sequences. He compared parts of the film to the TV series Star Trek (which premiered almost a decade later), in that it follows a standard Hollywood formula for its plot. He described Ronald Reagan as "comfortable" and "believable",[8] and said that the film was "worth checking out for the historical value, if nothing else".[8]
Bibliography
- OCLC 2364890., a non-fiction account of the U.S. Navy's Pacific submarine fleet's Operation Barney in World War II,[9]of which Hellcats of the Navy is a fictionalized filmed version.
See also
References
- S2CID 244725985. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
- ^ "Corrected Blacklist Credits". Writers Guild of America West. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
- ^ a b Erickson, Glenn (3 May 2003). "DVD Savant Review: Hellcats of the Navy". DVD Talk. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Swires, Steve (April 1989). "Nathan Juran: The Fantasy Voyages of Jerry the Giant Killer Part One". Starlog Magazine. No. 141. p. 61.
- ^ p. 44 Skinner, Kiron K.; Anderson, Annelise & Anderson, Martin Reagan: A Life In Letters Simon and Schuster, 29/11/2004
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ Krauss, David (2 July 2003). "Hellcats of the Navy (1957)". Digitally Obsessed. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ a b Harper, Erick (18 June 2003). "Hellcats of the Navy". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 18 February 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ "Hellcats of the Sea: Operation Barney and the Mission to the Sea of Japan, by Charles Lockwood, Hans Adamson". Goodreads. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
Hellcats of the Sea, first published in 1955, recounts the activities of the U.S. Navy's Pacific submarine fleet in World War Two. Much of the book details Operation Barney the secret mission to bring the war closer to the islands of Japan, as the war had never extended to the Sea of Japan.
External links
- Hellcats of the Navy at IMDb
- Hellcats of the Navy at AllMovie
- Hellcats of the Navy at the TCM Movie Database
- Hellcats of the Navy at the American Film Institute Catalog
- "Hellcats" and "Hell Pots" Archived 2009-03-24 at the Wayback Machine