A silent movie of which the Nimitz Library at the Naval Academy has a copy on DVD, and which I have not found anywhere else. My desire to see it came from an eagerness to see all the movies made at the Academy, where I graduated in 1972. This one isn't very good; none of them are very good except maybe _Shipmates Forever_. This one does have the famous silent star Ramon Navarro, whose character's naval father was killed in action (the filmmakers faked a memorial tablet and stuck it on a monument in the middle of the Yard), and he is reluctantly filling his destiny by signing up to USNA. He catches on that he can do a good job if he tries. Complications ensue when a plebe's sister becomes the object of his affections, but she is engaged to a civilian cad who is eager to sabotage Navarro's midshipman career to eliminate competition. You can guess how it ends. It was, of course, fun to see the Academy of almost a hundred years ago, and the cast who dressed the same way we used to, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There was no football in this movie; that was a surprise.
Review of The Midshipman
