''This Man's Navy'' (aka ''Airship Squadron No. 4.'' and ''Lighter Than Air'') is a 1945
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
film about U.S. Navy
blimp
A non-rigid airship, commonly called a blimp (Help:IPA/English, /blɪmp/), is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid airship, semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on th ...
s directed by
William A. Wellman and starring
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1 ...
,
Tom Drake,
Jan Clayton
Jan Clayton (August 26, 1917 – August 28, 1983) was a film, musical theater, and television actress. She starred in the popular 1950s TV series '' Lassie''.
Early years
Born in 1917 in Tularosa, New Mexico, the only child of two schooltea ...
and
James Gleason. The supporting cast features
Selena Royle and Beery's brother
Noah Beery Sr.
Noah Nicholas Beery (January 17, 1882 – April 1, 1946) was an American actor who appeared in films from 1913 until his death in 1946. He was the older brother of Academy Award-winning actor Wallace Beery as well as the father of characte ...
, and presents a rare opportunity to see both Beery brothers work together in their later years. The picture is also one of the very few films, other than training films, to depict U.S. Navy airship operations.
[Hardwick and Schnepf 1989, p. 62.]
Plot
During World War II, Chief Aviation Pilot Ned Trumpet (
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1 ...
) is the commander of a U.S. Navy
K class blimp at
Lakehurst, New Jersey naval base. "Old Gas Bag", who has a reputation for telling
tall tale
A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it ...
s, brags about his fictional son to his skeptical friend Jimmy Shannon (
James Gleason) and, then realizes that he will need to find someone to impersonate his "son". By chance, Trumpet soon meets Jess Weaver (
Tom Drake), a young disabled man, arranging for an operation to fix his legs, injured in a riding accident. Afterward, Weaver agrees to go along with the deception and soon earns his Navy wings and commission as an
ensign
Ensign most often refers to:
* Ensign (flag), a flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality
* Ensign (rank), a navy (and former army) officer rank
Ensign or The Ensign may also refer to:
Places
* Ensign, Alberta, Alberta, Canada
* Ensign, Ka ...
.
While piloting a blimp on a submarine patrol mission, Trumpet launches an unauthorized attack on a German submarine (ignoring orders sent to break off the attack), but Weaver's bomb misses and the submarine fires back, hitting the airship. Trumpet takes over the controls and sinks the submarine. Weaver faces a court-martial for disobeying orders, but Trumpet takes the blame for his actions. After Weaver is awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross, he gives the DFC ribbon to his "father." Leaving Lakehurst, Weaver gets pilot training at
NAS Pensacola.
Weaver transfers to Ferry Command. While on assignment in Burma, his airplane crashes in Japanese territory. Trumpet rushes to the rescue in a blimp. Fending off Japanese soldiers, the crew pick up three survivors, the fourth being killed. They are then attacked by three fighter aircraft.
With the airship punctured and losing
helium
Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...
, the crew jettison as much as they can to gain altitude; when that is not enough to reach clouds to hide in, both Trumpet and Shannon parachute out.
Allied
P-38 Lightnings fly to their rescue. Afterward, Trumpet and Shannon return to base in triumph. Weaver indicates that he will be returning to the lighter-than-air service at Lakehurst, to reunite with his "father."
Cast
*
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1 ...
as Ned Trumpet
*
Tom Drake as Jess Weaver
*
James Gleason as Jimmy Shannon
*
Jan Clayton
Jan Clayton (August 26, 1917 – August 28, 1983) was a film, musical theater, and television actress. She starred in the popular 1950s TV series '' Lassie''.
Early years
Born in 1917 in Tularosa, New Mexico, the only child of two schooltea ...
as Cathey Cortland
*
Selena Royle as Maude Weaver
*
Noah Beery, Sr. as Joe Hodum
*
Henry O'Neill
Henry O'Neill (August 10, 1891 – May 18, 1961) was an American actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles on film during the 1930s and 1940s.
Early life
Henry O'Neill was born in Orange, New J ...
as Roger Graystone
*
Steve Brodie as Tim Shannon
*
George Chandler
George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985) was an American actor who starred in over 140 feature films, usually in smaller supporting roles, and he is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the television ...
as Bert Bland
*
Donald Curtis as Operations Officer
*
Arthur Walsh as Cadet Rayshek
* Will Fowler as David
*
Richard Crockett as "Sparks"
*
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter.
Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts ...
(uncredited)
Production
''This Man's Navy'' was an example of
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
's relentless wartime efforts to portray all the fighting units of the U.S. military in a film. Wallace Beery served in the U.S. Navy as a blimp commander, and on his discharge, was instrumental in convincing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce a film in tribute to his former command. MGM asked for and received complete cooperation from the U.S. Navy in making ''This Man's Navy''. Some scenes for the movie were filmed at the
Naval Lighter-Than-Air Station, Santa Ana, California.
Reception
One of the typical Beery potboilers from MGM in the 1940s, ''This Man's Navy'' received a typical reaction from critics and public alike. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' dismissed the film as pleasant fare but, "...while nominally a topical adventure, the film is largely devoted to Mr. Beery disporting himself as of yore. As a rough-hewn, golden-hearted chief petty officer in the Navy's blimp service, he is scarcely different from Beery the erstwhile marine, gob, etc."
Aviation film historian Michael Paris in ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema'' (1995) noted that ''This Man's Navy'' hearkened back to an earlier era. Paris wrote, the film "is something of a throwback to the melodramatic style of the pre-war years and is strangely at odds with the realistic and sombre mood of ''
Wing and a Prayer''."
[Paris 1995, p. 162.]
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." ''The Making of the Great Aviation Films'', General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
* Heiser, Wayne H. ''U.S. Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Aviation, V. I, 1916 - 1942 Chronology.'' McHenry, IL: Dihedral Press, 2006. .
* Koppes, Clayton R. and Gregory D. Black. ''Hollywood Goes to War: How Politics, Profits and Propaganda Shaped World War II Movies.'' New York, The Free Press, 1987. .
* Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. .
External links
*
*
{{William A. Wellman
1945 films
1940s war adventure films
American aviation films
1940s English-language films
Films directed by William A. Wellman
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films about the United States Navy in World War II
Films scored by Nathaniel Shilkret
American war adventure films
1945 war films
1940s American films
English-language war adventure films