''Away All Boats'' is a 1956 American

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Joseph Pevney and starring

Jeff Chandler Jeff Chandler (born Ira Grossel; yi, יראַ גראָססעל; December 15, 1918 – June 17, 1961) was an American actor, film producer, and singer, best remembered for playing Cochise in '' Broken Arrow'' (1950), for which he was no ...

George Nader George Garfield Nader, Jr. (October 19, 1921 – February 4, 2002) was an American actor and writer. He appeared in a variety of films from 1950 to 1974, including ''Sins of Jezebel'' (1953), ''Congo Crossing'' (1956), and ''The Female Animal'' ...

Lex Barker Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. (May 8, 1919 – May 11, 1973), known as Lex Barker, was an American actor. He was known for playing Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953, and portraying leading characters from Karl May's novels, notably a ...

, and

Julie Adams Julie Adams (born Betty May Adams; October 17, 1926 – February 3, 2019) was an American actress, billed as Julia Adams toward the beginning of her career, primarily known for her numerous television guest roles. She starred in a number of ...

. It was produced by Howard Christie from a screenplay by

Ted Sherdeman Ted Sherdeman (21 June 1909 – 22 August 1987) was an American radio producer, television writer and screenwriter. He was known for the films '' The Eddie Cantor Story'' (1953), ''Away All Boats'' (1956), ''St. Louis Blues'' (1958), '' A Dog of ...

based on the 1953 novel by Kenneth M. Dodson (1907–1999), who served on the in World War II and used his experiences there as a guide for his novel. He was encouraged in his writing by

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

, who had read some of Dodson’s letters, written in the Pacific. The book (and film) is about the crew of the ''Belinda'' (APA-22), an amphibious attack transport. The book became a best seller. The film was produced by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

Plot

The story of USS ''Belinda'' (APA-22), launched late 1943 with regular-Navy Captain Jebediah S. Hawks (Jeff Chandler) and ex-

merchant mariner A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

Lieutenant Dave MacDougall (George Nader) as boat commander. Despite personal friction, the two have plenty with which to deal as the only experienced officers on board during the ship's shakedown cruise. Almost laughable incompetence gradually improves, but the crew remains far from perfect when the ship sees action, landing troops on enemy beachheads. Few anticipate the challenges in store at

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

Cast

as Capt. Jebediah S. Hawks *

as Lieut. Dave MacDougall *

as Commander Quigley *

as Nadine MacDougall *

Keith Andes Keith Andes (born John Charles Andes, July 12, 1920 – November 11, 2005) was an American film, radio, musical theater, stage and television actor. Early life The son of Mr. and Mrs. William G. Andes, Andes was born in Ocean City, New Jersey ...

as Doctor Bell * William Reynolds as Ensign Kruger *

Richard Boone Richard Allen Boone (June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981) was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series '' Have Gun – Will Travel''. Early li ...

as Lieut. Fraser *

Charles McGraw Charles McGraw (born Charles Crisp Butters; May 10, 1914 – July 29, 1980) was an American stage, film and television actor whose career spanned more than three decades. Early life McGraw was born to Beatrice (née Crisp) and Francis P. B ...

as Lieut. Mike O'Bannion *

Jock Mahoney Jacques Joseph O'Mahoney (February 7, 1919 – December 14, 1989), known professionally as Jock Mahoney, was an American actor and stuntman. He starred in two Action/Adventure television series, ''The Range Rider'' and ''Yancy Derringer''. He ...

as Alvick *

Hal Baylor Hal Harvey Fieberling (born Hal David Britton); December 10, 1918 – January 15, 1998 known professionally as Hal Baylor, was an American actor, probably best known for his role as Pvt. 'Sky' Choynski in the film ''Sands of Iwo Jima''. In 1 ...

as Chaplain Hughes *

John McIntire John Herrick McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in Novem ...

as Old Man / Film's narrator *

Frank Faylen Frank Faylen (born Charles Francis Ruf, December 8, 1905 – August 2, 1985) was an American film and television actor. Largely a bit player and character actor, he occasionally played more fleshed-out supporting roles during his forty-two ...

as Chief Phillip P. 'Pappy' Moran *

James Westerfield James A. Westerfield (March 22, 1913 – September 20, 1971) was an American character actor of stage, film, and television. Early years Westerfield was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to candy-maker Brasher Omier Westerfield and his wife D ...

as 'Boats' Torgeson *

Don Keefer Donald Hood Keefer (August 18, 1916 – September 7, 2014) was an American actor known for his versatility in performing comedic, as well as highly dramatic, roles. In an acting career that spanned more than 50 years, he appeared in hundreds of ...

as Ensign Twitchell Uncredited * Clint Eastwood as Corpsman *

David Janssen David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer) (March 27, 1931February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967). Janssen also ...

as Talker

Production

Film rights were bought by Universal, whose president Edward Muhl said the movie version would be Universal's most expensive of the year. The first choice for the lead role was

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

. George Nader had twice taken roles that Chandler refused. This was the first time the two actors had worked together. The armed services had not been pleased with their portrayal in ''

From Here to Eternity ''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American drama romance war film directed by Fred Zinnemann, and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The picture deals with the tribulations of three U.S. A ...

'' or ''

The Caine Mutiny ''The Caine Mutiny'' is a 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard two destroyer-minesweepers in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Among its themes, it deals with the moral ...

''. However the Navy was worried about declining recruitment numbers and Universal received its full cooperation for the film, including an opportunity to photograph maneuvers and mock attacks in March 1955 in the Caribbean and on

Vieques Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, ...

. The movie was filmed aboard . It is most notable for its realistic and terrifying depictions of Japanese

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...

attacks on U.S. Navy ships during the last year of World War II in the Pacific Theater. The kamikaze attack scene was later reused in the 1976 film ''Midway''. The Navy also granted a two-week leave of absence for Ralph Scalzo, a landing boat coxswain, who took part in filming in the Caribbean and was needed for added closeup shots in Hollywood. ''Away All Boats'' is one of the few films made in

VistaVision VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format which was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954. Paramount never used anamorphic processes such as 2.55: 1, CinemaScope but refi ...

at a studio other than

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

. The film made use of the Perspecta stereo process for its soundtrack. Clint Eastwood's role is a brief speaking one (with one line of dialog spoken by another actor), as a Navy medical corpsman assisting the ship's captain after he is severely wounded while trying to save his ship. The script, script revisions, and status reports dealing with the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

Film and Television liaison office is kept in the

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

Library Department of Defense Film Collection.

Reception

A review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' by Bosley Crowther found the early scenes in the film confusing, particularly the motivation of the characters played by Jeff Chandler (Captain Jebediah Hawks) and Lex Barker (Commander Quigley). He also found it an efficient service film in which “all the confusions are adjusted and everybody comes out a hero in the end”.

Home media

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

made a color documentary about the making of the film. A record with some of Frank Skinner’s music from the film was released by Decca Records in May 1956. Participants included Al Hibbler (who sang a theme from the film score) and an orchestra conducted by

Jack Pleis Jack K. Pleis (May 11, 1917 – December 5, 1990) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, conductor, composer and producer. He recorded on London and Decca Records in the 1950s, and Columbia Records in the 1960s. During the course of his career, ...

. Decca released this on 78 rpm 29950 and 45 rpm 9-29950. MCA Home Video released a VHS version in HiFi sound in 1986. Good Times Video released a VHS version in LP on March 2, 1998. Good Times Video released a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on May 1, 2001. This was in full-screen rather than the

widescreen and may have been a copy of the earlier Good Times VHS release.

References

* Dodson, Kenneth. ''Away All Boats'', Little, Brown and Company, December 1953. * Crowther, Bosley. “Screen: Away All Boats”, ''The New York Times'', August 17, 1956, p. 14. * Shenk, Robert; “Away All Boats” in Jill B. Gidmark. ''Encyclopedia of American Literature of the Sea and Great Lakes''. p. 26, Greenwood, 2001. (A description of the novel on which the movie was based).

External links

* * * * {{Joseph Pevney 1956 films 1956 war films American war drama films 1950s English-language films Films based on American novels Films based on military novels Films directed by Joseph Pevney Universal Pictures films Films about the United States Navy in World War II Pacific War films Films shot in Puerto Rico Films scored by Heinz Roemheld Films scored by Frank Skinner 1950s American films