Hellcats of the Navy
| Hellcats of the Navy | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Nathan Juran |
| Produced by | Charles H. Schneer |
| Written by | David Lang Charles A. Lockwood Hans Christian Adamson Raymond Marcus Bernard Gordon |
| Starring | Ronald Reagan Nancy Davis Arthur Franz William Leslie William Phillips Harry Lauter Michael Garth Joseph Turkel Don Keefer Selmer Jackson Maurice Manson Robert Arthur |
| Music by | Mischa Bakaleinikoff |
| Cinematography | Irving Lipman |
| Editing by | Jerome Thoms |
| Release date(s) | 1957 |
| Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Hellcats of the Navy (1957) is a World War II submarine movie starring Ronald Reagan and his wife, billed as Nancy Davis, her then professional name. This was the only film in which they appear together.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Reagan plays Captain Casey Abbott, commander of the fictional submarine USS Starfish, who is ordered to undertake a dangerous mission which sees him attempting to cut off the flow of supplies between China and Japan in the heavily-mined waters off the Asiatic mainland. When a diver, who is Abbott's competitor for the affections of Nurse Lieutenant Helen Blair (Davis) back at home, gets into a dangerous situation, Abbott must struggle to keep his personal and professional lives separate in dealing with the crisis.
[edit] Production
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz endorses the film on screen at the start of the movie.[1] Reagan noted in his autobiography that he was disappointed in the film overall, having expected a result more like Destination Tokyo, a major Warner Bros. film of a decade previous. The diminishing status of the films he was offered led to his leaving the big screen.
[edit] Reception
Glenn Erickson of DVD Talk reviewed the DVD release of Hellcats, and thought that although the direction was "competent", the script was "completely derivative and cornball". He went on to criticize the lack of realism in the supporting characters and the use of stock footage, especially where footage of a US Navy patrol boat was used as a Japanese ship. Overall, he described the itself as "fair".[1] David Krauss of Digitally Obsessed described the production values as "bargain basement" and found the stiff performances of the cast alienated viewers. He gave the film a C for style and a B- for substance, although he also described the direction as "dry as a military briefing on CNN".[2]
Erick Harper at DVD Verdict thought that the movie followed in producing a series of submarine war movie clichés, in the love triangle and the action sequences. Parts of the film were compared to Star Trek, in that it follows a standard Hollywood formula. He described Ronald Reagan as "comfortable" and "believable",[3] and said that the film was "worth checking out for the historical value, if nothing else".[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Erickson, Glenn (3 May 2003). "DVD Savant Review: Hellcats of the Navy". DVD Talk. http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s808hell.html. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Krauss, David (2 July 2003). "Hellcats of the Navy (1957)". Digitally Obsessed. http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/displaylegacy.php?ID=4747. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ a b Harper, Erick (18 June 2003). "Hellcats of the Navy". DVD Verdict. http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/hellcatsnavy.php. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||
 |
This article about a war film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
