The Navy Way (1944)

Good concept, poorly executed.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The Navy Way is a WW2 propaganda film helping to recruit men into the US Navy. The story follows a bunch of the usual green recruits through the selection process and then the various gruelling training regimes they must undergo. It turns out that joining the navy is a character-building exercise that'll make a real man out of you, if we didn't know that already.The problem about this film is that it doesn't go anywhere, unlike Kubrick's similarly-constructed FULL METAL JACKET. The guys get together, fight, bond, and that's it. The ex-boxer is the most interesting character but he doesn't go anywhere either. The whole love triangle sub-plot just seems to be included to slow the pacing down further. There is a measure of realism here but as a film, THE NAVY WAY is severely lacking.

Mixing comedy, drama and a ton of patriotism, this late war film is a last minute attempt to get new blood in so the old blood can have a little rest. Cleverly opening with flashbacks of a bunch of the recruit's past, this is the beef stew of society as all types end up as buddies, some in with the most honorable of dreams, the others almost pushing and screaming in their efforts to stay out. But as the training influences take over their ideals, they all plan to serve together on the same trip.Robert Lowery headlines as a cynical boxer, ready for a shot at the title, but forced to change his plans when his draft card is pulled. Meeting pretty nurse Jean Parker has him convinced that he's in the right place but a last minute revelation has him discovering the truth about her feelings for him.Comedy is put in the hands of veteran character actor Roscoe Karns who had a misunderstanding with girlfriend Mary Treen and joins out of spite. Various others represent various social classes, aged and emotional maturities, but the message is clear: no man who wants to serve their country should be disqualified. Veteran actor Robert Armstrong overlooks the advancement of the recruits as they go from clumsy newbies to fully trained sailors ready for duty. Lowery gets a comical surprise when he whistles at Parker upon first sight and ends up being called over by her for reasons he doesn't expect. Other comic moments keeps the atmosphere light for a while, but there is a definitely serious theme of love of country and freedom at the front. As corny as it is to see the security's eyes widen in pride when the youngest recruit humbly repeats his oath, it's also a reminder of why we have fought for freedom and why we can't stop. In retrospect, this is probably the best of the low budget Pine Thomas features released by Paramount.

A routine program filler with some familiar faces in the cast -- Rosco Karns, Robert Armstrong of "King Kong," Horace McMahon in a walk-on. It's sort of a training film -- "What to Expect When You Join the Navy and What You Should Avoid Doing." The opening narration tells us about the men in civilian clothes who are being marched into the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, "Yesterday, you lived in Glencoe, Illinois, in Hammond, Indiana, in Podunk, Nebraska. And you were a machinist, a clerk, a farmer, a philatelist (well, not that), but today you're joining the Navy and you are sailors." That's fine for the half dozen men whose careers we follow, but a little upsetting to Johnny Zumano, a boxer whose career was just getting started and who wanted to become a champ to provide for his impoverished parents. Johnny, whose story this chiefly is, gets over his initial frustration but when, on top of everything else, he is dumped by his girl friend he gets drunk and is about to be court martialed and discharged.Through the seasonable interposition of a gracious providence, the four-striper who is about to pull the lanyard on the guillotine of justice overhears Johnny talking to the chaplain. "Gee, I wanted to stay in the Navy something awful and ship out with the other fellas but I couldn't tell the Captain that." Johnny has his pride, see, and he don't go whining to nobody.However, the Captain having overheard Johnny's confession, so to speak, now realizes how committed Johnny is to the U. S. Navy. Does Johnny avoid a discharge? Does he join his comrades? Do they ship out together? No power on earth could drag the answers from me.It's a low-budget effort, true, and we can't expect too much in the way of acting or story or art direction. Yet, every time I tell myself that, I think of Val Lewton over at RKO who in the same time period was churning out one little gem after another on a similar budget, and horror pictures at that, with such unpromising titles as "The Leopard Man." Or, ten years later, the inexpensive but vernacular art of the Scott-Boettiger Westerns. It's the difference between merely doing a job and showing some degree of craftsmanlike care in your product.

This is a flag-waving programmer about the lives of boots at the Great Lakes Training Facilities during World War II. It manages to cover all the bases without doing much wrong. This Pine-Thomas feature -- they were known as "Dollar Bills" because of their ability to squeeze out a decent flick on a tight budget -- manages to have a few interesting bits despite a lack of top-notch talent.The central story, about turning around an unwilling draftee Robert Lowery, who is more interested in winning a boxing championship than the War, and his romance with gorgeous WAVE Jean Parker is a bit subpar, but a fine supporting cast including a humorous ex-shoe clerk Roscoe Karns, cowboy Tom Keene whose son has already died in the war and and Robert Armstrong as their instructor manages to keep things humming along.