An Annapolis Story (1955)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Don Siegel

Writers:

Daniel Mainwaring (writer)
Daniel B. Ullman (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 April 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Two brothers, enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy on the verge of the Korean War, fall in love with the same girl. |

Plot Keywords:

Midshipmen

Cast

John Derek	...	Tony J. Scott
Diana Lynn	...	Peggy Lord
Kevin McCarthy	...	Jim R. Scott
Alvy Moore	...	Willie Warren
Pat Conway	...	Tim Dooley
L.Q. Jones	...	Watson
John Kirby	...	Macklin
Don Haggerty	...	Lt. Prentiss
Barbara Brown	...	Mrs. Scott
Betty Lou Gerson	...	Mrs. Lord
Fran Bennett	...	Connie
Robert Osterloh	...	AGC Austin
John Doucette	...	Boxing coach
Don Kennedy	...	McClaren
Tom Harmon	...	Announcer

Also Known As:

Navy Air Patrol (USA) (alternative title)
The Blue and the Gold (UK)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Allied Artists Pictures

Quotes:

Boxing coach: [to Jim Scott and Tony Scott] Go cool off in the showers, both of you.

Two Brothers At The Naval Academy

When I reviewed the film Annapolis that starred James Franco and Tyrese Gibson a few years ago I remarked that one of the big flaws I found in that film was the lack of anything resembling academics in the film. That is made up for in An Annapolis Story where you do see a well rounded depiction of the experience of being a midshipman there. But in fact romantic rivalry comes before anything else in this film.

The rivalry is between two brothers attending the Naval Academy post World War II. One brother got an appointment through the ranks as a veteran of the Navy, Kevin McCarthy. The second is younger brother John Derek who got it via academics and a Congressional appointment.

These brothers have a bit of a rivalry going in everything from academics to athletics. Both are on the football team, McCarthy a by the book type and Derek inclined to go out on his own. The rivalry is friendly until Derek starts making moves on McCarthy's long time girl Diana Lynn. Then it gets quite ugly.

It continues right through Naval Air Training in Pensacola and into the Korean War when both become fighter pilots on those new jets. As to what happens and who Lynn chooses in the end you'll have to see the film to find out.

A lot of good newsreel footage for the combat scenes and location shooting at the Naval Academy helps this film out in so many ways. Having been to the Naval Academy several years ago, I can testify not too much has changed for the more recent Annapolis or from the time An Annapolis Story was filmed there. An Annapolis Story is a decent B film from Allied Artists and a sincere tribute to the midshipmen who have graduated there and whom this country owes so much.

And it's to the Naval Academy and every midshipman whoever attended since the 1840s when it was founded that this review is respectfully dedicated.