The Fighting Seabees (1944)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Edward Ludwig

Writers:

Borden Chase (original story "Donovan's Army")
Borden Chase (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 March 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War | Romance

Tagline:

ROMANCE OF THE SEVEN SEAS! (original poster - all caps)

Plot:

Construction workers in World War II in the Pacific are needed to build military sites, but the work...

Plot Keywords:

Navy | Hospital | Doctor | Bomb | Jealousy

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

John Wayne	...	Lt. Cmdr. Wedge Donovan
Susan Hayward	...	Constance Chesley
Dennis O'Keefe	...	Lt. Cmdr. Robert Yarrow
William Frawley	...	Eddie Powers
Leonid Kinskey	...	Johnny Novasky
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Sawyer Collins
Grant Withers	...	Whanger Spreckles
Paul Fix	...	Ding Jacobs
Ben Welden	...	Yump Lumkin
William Forrest	...	Lt. Tom Kerrick
Addison Richards	...	Capt. Joyce
Jay Norris	...	Joe Brick
Duncan Renaldo	...	Construction worker at party
Hal Taliaferro	...	Lt. Commander. Hood

Also Known As:

Donovan's Army

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Germany:12 | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #9802) | UK:U | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures (I)

Trivia:

Roy Barcroft, a Republic stalwart, appears in this film as one of the Seabees. No effort was made to give him a "character" name, they simply referred to him using his real name, "Barcroft".

Goofs:

Factual errors: In a couple of scenes Japanese soldiers are seen pulling the pin out of grenades with their teeth and throwing them American style. Actual Japanese grenades had a compression actuator not a pin. Typically they would smack the top of the grenade on their helmet to start the fuse and then throw.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Action (1977)

Soundtrack:

Ireland Must Be Heaven, for My Mother Came from There

OK for what it is

Picked this up as a cheap DVD as I am a sucker for 40's/50's WW2 films.

Taken as a bit of propaganda and entertainment, and not reflecting in any way historical fact, it achieves it's aim. IMO, it is not up to the standard of some of Wayne's other WW2 films of this period such as Sands of Iwo Jima and They Were Expendable.

It is somewhat disjointed, but I can imagine it having a positive effect on recruitment for the US Forces. Some earlier threads have commented on the reasons why Wayne did not have active war service. Whatever the reason, I would think he had a more positive effect on by being on film rather than seeing active service.