Stand by for Action (1942)

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

An unexpected gem, this war movie is a warm and gentle tale filmed in the stark, cold terror which followed the attack on Pearl Harbor.It lacks the rah-rah sentiment of many war pictures, but in many delivers a truth larger epics could not.Though the story is (generally) about a crack-and-polish aristocrat getting his (much-deserved) comeuppance and becoming a better man, it is also a love story.Walter Brennan plays Chief Yeoman Johnson, a passed-over and long- forgotten relic who spent the majority of his life caring for- and championing- the ship he loved.To the world at large, the destroyer Warren is a forgotten relic, a rusting has-been best left mouldering in her grave. Johnson alone believes in her, and in the film's climax, she justifies the faith of both Johnson and the new generation recruited to man her.As a retired USN sailor, I find a verisimilitude in Brennan's performance about the love of a crew for their ship, and in Charles Laughton's performance as a crusty old admiral doing the right things in the most irritating (for his victims) manner possible.There is greater truth in the crew's reaction to the rescue of a boatload of women and children. People may laugh at the idea of gruff, rough-and-rowdy sailors melting (and getting slightly goofy) over children and babies, but I saw it first hand during Operation Sharp Edge. Yes- grizzled chief petty officers DO actually melt when babies smile.In an era in which people are jaded by CGI, the special effects are quaint and antiquated, but effective. A great deal of care and attention to detail was paid to the models, and those versed in the ships of the era can make out the (American) vessels by type and class. Finally, the humor in the movie is top-notch and satisfying with karma and just desserts being served in equal measure.

I love Charles Laughton as Admiral Thomas in this movie. He pulls no punches when it comes to throwing barbs at his former aide and then to his own personal military doctor when it comes to dealing with childbirth. I wonder how did the American military let Laughton wear a Medal of Honor on his uniform? Back in those days, it was taboo to wear a medal like that let alone a ribbon.The only thing I didn't like was about the commanding officer of the Warren coming up from the ranks because I wondered how many enlisted men between the First and Second World Wars actually made officer rank? America's officer corp was pretty much like the German Junker military officer corp and British officer corp where the upper middle class, rich class, and aristocracy class dominated the officer corp, and they were very conservative. The National Guard was like a social club for America's upper crust from the books that I had read. Otherwise, I would have given the movie a perfect 10.All in all, it was a very enjoyable movie. I wish it was on DVD.

What at first blush appears to be a throw-away Navy propaganda film, released in Dec 1942, turns out to be a very easy-to-watch tale of war at sea with some moments of excellence, particularly the scenes with Charles Laughton as the crotchety Admiral Thomas. The commissioning of the destroyer Warren includes a rousing speech by Laughton in which he inspires the new crew with a dramatic re-telling of the story of John Paul Jones giving his "I have not yet begun to fight" speech aboard the Bon Homme Richard. Off-beat plot twist includes the Warren finding a life raft filled with babies and pregnant women. The final act of the movie is an exciting depiction of the bravery of the Warren in single-handedly sinking a Japanese Battle Ship to save an entire convoy (naval convoys and battle are somewhat dated but still interesting and earned an Academy Award Nomination for special effects). Robert Taylor turns in a passable job as our hero, the spoiled LT. from Harvard. Brian Donlevy is also good as the seasoned CPT from whom Taylor learns much and later becomes his friend. Appearances by stalwart actors Chill Wills and Walter Brennan. Second half of the movie has lots of sea-battle action.

The movie is divided into three parts, like Gaul. Part I: Character. Charles Laughton as the crusty old admiral (is there any other kind?) longs to get back to sea and join the war in 1943. Laughton has an efficient but cocky and somewhat spoiled aide in Robert Taylor -- a Harvard man. Brian Donleavy is a former enlisted man who has worked his way up to Lieutenant Commander and Laughton makes him skipper of a refurbished old destroyer, the USS Warren left over from WWI. Figuring that his aide needs a bit of seasoning to make a good officer, Laughton assigns him to the Warren as Executive Officer. Taylor makes a decent exec but misses no opportunity to twit the captain.Part II: "Comedy." There is no romantic interest for Taylor, so the film introduces sentiment and comedy by having the Warren pick up a lifeboat filled with two women and a dozen babies. The crew goes nuts over the presence of the women and babies, especially when it turns out that BOTH of the women are pregnant and must give birth in sequence.Part III: Action. Because of Taylor's having made a mistake in judgment, the Warren shows up an hour late before taking its position as part of the destroyer screen for a convoy. A Japanese battleship shows up and wounds the convoy's flagship. Donleavy decides on a courageous and almost certainly suicidal manouever to save the convoy, but he is knocked unconscious before he finishes. Taylor takes over command, zips the Warren back and forth through its own smoke screen, and blows the battleship (a "pagoda-masted buzzard") out of the water.I wish I could say I liked it because I'm ordinarily attracted to these inexpensive and propagandistic movies made during the war, some of them well executed within their limitations. This isn't one of them. It's easy going enough, no more intense than a war-time comic book, but it's too long to hold one's interest.The comedy episode is really really dated. Maybe we've seen too many movies in which women (with or without kids) are reluctantly taken aboard a warship -- "Operation Pacific", "Operation Petticoat," "Hell or High Water," and the couldn't-be-better-titled "The Baby and the Battleship." Whatever the reason, my heart sank when the lifeboat full of babies showed up because I knew what was coming. What I didn't know is that it would take so agonizingly long to get through it. The officers' eyes pop. The men assigned to care for the babies are plug uglies. And then the deliveries of the new babies. Eyes pop again. "She can't have a baby -- that's against regulations!" The pharmacist's mate is scared to death. Everybody is scared to death. The crew paces back and forth, smoking nervously, while the baby is delivered. ("A boy?") Then the second lady comes to term and we go through the whole routine once more. It's like being on the Long Island Expressway on a Sunday night, with the cars rolling along at ten or sometimes five miles an hour, sometimes stopping completely.I won't go on. It's not a hateful movie. I just wish it had been better so that I could recommend watching it but my muse is screaming in my ear.