The Marines Are Coming (1934)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

David Howard

Writers:

Colbert Clark (story)
James Gruen (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 November 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

Hold Everything...Here's WILLIAM HAINES IN "THE MARINES ARE COMING" (original print ad - several caps)

Plot:

When Lt. "Wild Bill" Traynor, bad boy of the Marine Corps, arrives at a San Diego Marine Base, he is...

Plot Keywords:

Bandit | Latin | Marine Corps | Captain | Fiancee

Cast

William Haines	...	Lt. William 'Wild Bill' Traylor
Conrad Nagel	...	Capt. Edward 'Ned' Benton
Esther Ralston	...	Dorothy Manning
Armida	...	Rosita Hernandez Consuelo Ibera y Buenaventrura
Edgar Kennedy	...	Sgt. Buck Martin
Hale Hamilton	...	Colonel Gilroy

Runtime:

USA:74 min (original release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #451)

Company:

Mascot Pictures

Trivia:

William Haines' last movie.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Storm Over Bengal (1938)

Soundtrack:

My Brazilian Baby

William Haines still peerlessly brilliant in his final film.

The first half of this low budget comedy/drama is terrific fast-paced fun. William Haines, looking splendid in his marine uniform, plays a wild playboy marine officer who just can't obey the rules. He drinks, he gambles, he womanises, and gets away with it all. Only William Haines could make such a role so utterly charming. He races through this film with great style and pizazz - stealing every scene he's in, except perhaps for those he shares with the Mexican fire-ball Armida. She plays a girl hopelessly in love with Haines who follows him all around the world. An hilarious little bundle of energy, she is one of the few actors who can match Haines in sheer exuberance.

Silent film veterans Esther Ralston, Edgar Kennedy and especially Conrad Nagel also lend strong support. Nagel's role is rather unrewarding though, and decidedly humourless.

Sadly the second half of the film gets bogged down into some totally unbelievable war action on a tropical isle, and loses its way. Haines was never very comfortable when he had to be serious on screen, and the hilarious hi-jinks of the first half of the film make a transition to action drama virtually impossible. Still the final scenes return to the comic mood of the first half, and the film is a satisfying, if minor, entertainment, that sadly closed the career of a unique and exciting screen personality. There has never been another star like William Haines, and I suspect there never will be. That Hollywood didn't look after this wonderful performer is a sad indictment of the studio system, and of homophobia.