Eyes of the Navy (1940) User Reviews

Making Top Guns

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 23 April 2016]

By 1940 a lot of Hollywood studios were making preparedness films as anyone with half a brain knew that sooner or later we would be involved in those unpleasant events in Europe and Asia. Wings Of The Navy at Warner Brothers and Flight Command at MGM dealt with naval aviation as did this Oscar nominated short subject Eyes Of The Navy.

There is some acted sequences by Russell Wade, Warren McCollum and Charles Middleton, but the majority of the film is documentary footage some of it clearly from MGM's Flight Command. Even some of the background musical score is from that film.

The pilots then and now are the glamor profession of aviation. This shows what goes into making a Top Gun back in 1940. Looking at it I still marvel at the advances in aviation made during those World War II years. I think today's viewer will agree.

A must for aviation buffs.

Promotional piece about preparing for WWII...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 17 February 2009]

This was a very timely short produced by MGM to inspire the home front about preparing for what looked like America's certain entrance into WWII a year before Pearl Harbor.

Ensuring the future of America by training its young men for war is the theme of the short. Peace, Security and Progress are mentioned by the narration. The film opens at the Pensacola Air Station where the U.S. Navy and Marines trained airmen for future assignments in the air.

Scenes of formation flying, men trained in mockup planes, and shooting weapons on the firing range are shown, among battle plans drilled in classrooms and actual landings on carriers as well as dive bombing at speeds of 500 miles per hour. In twenty minutes, the short covers a lot of ground in the kind of training involved.

Obviously the film was used to promote enlistment in the armed services as America entered the WWII phase and it does a good job of doing exactly that.

MGM knew that something was up!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 9 December 2015]

Frank Whitbeck is the masculine, crisp narrator of many MGM publicity shorts disguised as documentaries that somehow always ended up with a look at MGM's new releases. You'd get 15 minutes on a discovery like cotton which would lead to the discovery that it was very influential on the invention of film. Of course, since you'd be on the subject of film, why not promote, promote, promote? So for 5 minutes, you'd get the new releases followed by the inevitable star parade. Smooth on MGM'S part but ultimately obvious.

So when I heard his voice on this short, I was expecting the ending to be a salute to their military films, and I was surprised and happy to be wrong. What I did get was a nice little pre-war peak into the going's on at Pensacola and one cadet's desire to succeed. He's only seen briefly, the farmer's son pleading with pop to get off of the farm and hopefully see Paree. There's a lot of air sequences (as the air force was combined between the army and navy at the time) and shows the hopeful heroes in preparation "just in case". A year before Pearl Harbor, Hollywood was already getting the propaganda machine in order. As a result, this ends up being very prophetic even though the majority of the rest of the world was already under threats from three major world enemies.

Navy flyboys

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 13 June 2020]

MGM produces this 20 min educational industrial film for the United States Navy. It's a call for service to America's young men. It's a year before Pearl Harbor and this is not a dire war cry. It touts the training in Pensacola, Florida although there are probably footage from the west coasts. It was nominated for an Academy Award. There are lots of planes and a very crowded aircraft carrier. It's a bit primitive as some of the training still takes place with biplanes. There is some good action as they practice dive bombing. Without a shooting war, this doesn't have the urgency. That is to come later.

Be Prepared

[boblipton · 5/10 · 23 March 2020]

It's a rather pompously narrated short touting air training by the armed forces, with some shots of the major proving grounds at Pensacola. There, the audience is informed, fliers had been trained for thirty years.

There's also a paean to the informality of behavior at the school, where, we are told, the trainees are names and not numbers. There are machine guns -- aimed at targets, not the students -- and a look at the terrifying, slingshot-like affair that launches the Navy's biplanes from the aircraft carriers. At least they don't show you how they land, using a hook on a line to catch the planes; if they don't get it right, those planes go over the edge and sink in the water with all hands!

It's clear that, more than a year before the US went to war, people knew it was coming.

Good Short

[Michael_Elliott · 24 February 2009]

Eyes of the Navy (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-nominated short from MGM takes a look at how men are trained once they enter the Navy. The film kicks off with a message from MGM stating that they made this movie because of how important it is to be prepared in case our country ever comes under attack. It goes without saying but Pearl Harbor would be attacked a year later, which gives this film even more meaning. The film is pretty simple as it shows a young man joining the Navy and then we see him go through basic training and so on. The movie does a very good job with its 20-minutes and actually manages to put quite a lot of information in. We also get to hear about our "possible enemies" yet none of them are ever mentioned by name nor are they hinted at. It's also worth noting that there's a familiar line here that would later be used in Kubrick's The Shining, which is the "dull boy" line, which is also referring to a character named Jack here.

Impossible to appreciate without a Navy connection

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 25 February 2019]

"Eyes of the Navy" is an American 20-minute documentary short film from 1940, so this one is from the days of World War II and already almost 80 years old, maybe more depending on when you read this review. I don't think this really includes any big names except MGM who produced it. The director is Herman Hoffman, narrator is Frank Whitbeck and these two are probably as forgotten by most as are all the actors who helped reenacting particular scenes. The title already makes obvious what this is: a little look inside the Navy, a very positive one obviously. There is no talk of soldiers dying for their countries, but instead the focus is mostly on sense of belonging and community. Then again, America had not entered World War II at that point yet. But there was a tendency that they soon would, so it was important to make sure enough men will volunteer and be available in order to win the War. It also fits that this one was nominated for an Oscar to hand it bigger popularity, even if it lost to another film, but not surprisingly this one was also closely connected to politics with focus on Teddy Roosevelt. Global (and national) politics were just the defining subject these days. I personally must say I am not really impressed by this one here though. It does not feel half as motivating as it should in order to get these men to join the Navy to me. The narration is okay at best and the entire thing feels stale and bleak despite the frequent use of heroic music. I would say that this black-and-white sound film has not aged particularly well. i guess you really need some kind of Navy background to appreciate the watch. I did not, but then again my only Navy connection is that I kinda like the long-running successful television show Navy CIS. Also film historians or historians in general related to the 20th century can give this one a go. Everybody else should skip it and they won't be missing much.

Getting them ready to fight and die.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 5 February 2013]

My summary was meant to be cynical. But, by 1940 it appeared pretty obvious to a lot of Americans that our entry into the war was pretty much unavoidable. Sooner or later, we WOULD be in the war. So, the once neutral Hollywood film production machine suddenly began churning out films to bolster the public's perceptions of military life, duty and bravery. Some of the films were comedies and some were dramas or shorts and all were very pro-military and were made with the cooperation of the services.

"Eyes of the Navy" is a documentary short that promotes naval aviation. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel--perhaps as an endorsement by the Academy for the armed forces (especially since another similar film was also nominated in this category). It shows many different aspects of aviation--such as pilot training, gunnery school, launches of seaplanes from battleships, ground training, carrier landings, airplane production and repair facilities and graduation. The film is chock full of footage--decent and rarely grainy footage. As for the narration, it's earnestly done by Frank Whitbeck. The overall film is quite well done though I am not sure if it really was Oscar-worthy--this is hard to say. But, it did get its point across in an effect and compact manner. And, for military buffs, it certainly is a must-see.

By the way, it's interesting to note that just about all the airplanes being used in this film were pretty much obsolete once the US entered the war a year later. Apart from the Catalina seaplanes, most of the rest of the planes were in the process of being phased out or would soon be phased out (such as the Devastator torpedo bombers). It just shows how rapidly technology changed as a result of war.

A Look At The Navy's Wings

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 12 March 2002]

A MGM Short Subject.

After relentless, rigorous training, young men from around the USA become the EYES OF THE NAVY as pilots of the air arm of the Navy & Marines.

Produced well before the entry of America into World War Two, this Short serves as both a plea for preparedness by having a strong air defense, as well as a promotional pitch for the flying fleet. It is interesting in that Uncle Sam's potential enemies (Germany, Italy, Japan) are never mentioned by name.

After Pearl Harbor, Hollywood went to war totally against the Axis. Not only did many of the stars join up or do home front service, but the output of the Studios was largely turned to the war effort. The newsreels, of course, brought the latest war news into the neighborhood theater every week. The features showcased battle stories or war related themes. Even the short subjects & cartoons were used as a quick means of spreading Allied propaganda, the boosting of morale or information dissemination. Together, Uncle Sam, the American People & Hollywood proved to be an unbeatable combination.

Effective recruiting film

[izod611 · 9/10 · 16 February 2012]

I agree with most of what has been said in the previous reviews. But one review stated that dive bombing was carried out at 500 mph. This is just a bit off, as the SBD Dautless had a top speed of 255 mph and the SB2C Helldiver's velocity not to exceed (Vne) was 295 mph. And these were the top of the line fleet aircraft used during the war. The lines about "open and airy barracks" and "lots of time off" may have been thought of as necessary to snag young men, but all that was really needed was the footage of aircraft in action to attract any young male into the Navy. It was interesting to see the 1940 footage of Pensacola, Miramar and North Island as I operated at all of those Air Stations during my career.

Retired Naval Aviator.