In the Navy (1941)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Arthur Lubin

Writers:

Arthur T. Horman (story)
Arthur T. Horman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

30 May 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

You'll Boogie-Woogie to: "We're In The Navy" - "Hula-Ba-Luau" - "Gimme Some Skin"...and sing and sway to other songsations!

Plot:

Russ Raymond, America's number one crooner, disappears and joins the Navy under the name Tommy Halstead...

Plot Keywords:

Electrician | Pastry | Hawaii | Abbott And Costello | Crooner

Cast

Bud Abbott	...	Smokey Adams
Lou Costello	...	Pomeroy Watson
Dick Powell	...	Thomas Halstead
Claire Dodd	...	Dorothy Roberts
The Andrews Sisters	...	Patty, Maxene, LaVerne
Dick Foran	...	Dynamite Dugan
Billy Lenhart	...	Butch
Kenneth Brown	...	Buddy
Shemp Howard	...	Dizzy
The Condos Brothers	...	Dance Specialty
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Laverne Andrews	...	LaVerne - One of the Andrews Sisters
Maxene Andrews	...	Maxene - One of the Andrews Sisters
Patty Andrews	...	Patty - One of the Andrews Sisters

Also Known As:

Abbott and Costello in the Navy (Australia)
Hello, Sailor (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

86 min | Argentina:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Not Rated (video & dvd release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #7376)

Filming Locations:

Naval Training Center, San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

When the picture was sent to the U.S. Navy for approval, the Navy refused to have its name associated with it because of the sequence at the end when Watson takes over a ship and does some decidedly un-military manoeuvres with it. The producers came up with the idea of having Watson accidentally taking a sleeping potion and dreaming the entire sequence. When this scene was shot and edited in, the Navy lent its backing to the picture.

Quotes:

Smokey Adams: Did you ever go to school, stupid?
Seaman Pomeroy Watson: Yeah, and I come out the same way.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The World of Abbott and Costello (1965)

Soundtrack:

Bussing the Bee

Buck Gobs

I saw this first when young so maybe my rose-tinted specs are kicking in, but I still really like this film. Just as Britain's box office no. 1 George Formby was enlisted by the movie industry to help the War effort with a string of "service comedies" so were Abbott & Costello, America's no. 1 cinema attraction at the time. And same as Formby, keeping the same formula but with varying results. Universal were also cashing in on the previous hit Buck Privates – for speed and cheapness most of this film was shot in front of a back projection of stock footage and on a handful of sets. Hold That Ghost had already been finished but had to wait while In The Navy had its day in the Sun first.

Bud and Lou are a pair of ordinary gobs, Dick Powell is an idolised crooner who wants to escape the attention to become an ordinary gob but is hounded by Claire Dodd ace reporter, while Dick Foran had his gob shut for most of the picture. Powell might have considered himself a "Forgotten Man" in 1941 but he still got equal billing with the boys. The farcical but at the time controversial nautical climax (without it being only a dream) was lifted from Jack Ahoy with Jack Hulbert from 1934, but I've no doubt it was lifted for him as well. The songs by Don Raye and Gene de Paul were hit and miss, the best being the lovely Starlight, Starbright (for Powell) well up their usual lustrous Wartime Universal mark, and the peppy Gimme Some Skin and Hula Ba Luau (both for the Andrews Sisters). Patti must have been standing in for Martha Raye – who came back for Keep 'Em Flying one year later. Foran for all of his fine singing voice was slightly in the way here and only got to do a bit of A Sailor's Life For Me. Favourite bits: The Condos Brothers dance routine – I feel my ankles cracking just recalling it; Find the submarine; genuine fun with the Sons of Neptune initiation ceremony; Powell's efforts to thwart the photographer; There's a second chance a few years later to check it out in Little Giant but no matter which way you look at it – 7 x 13 = 28!

Not quite up to Buck Privates, but still with that unique Universal atmosphere pervading and thus one of my favourites from the boys.