Powerful performances by some of Hollywood's legends

Rating: 9/10 (24 September 2006)

Typical of military movies of the era, this film furnishes what audiences came for. The typical march song background whenever the ship was shown sailing somewhere; the all for one, one for all call to arms ambiance; the usual and predictable boy-girl squabbling, etc. If one were to watch this movie not knowing approximately when it was made, the style and performance of a song sung by May Wynn alone would be a dead give away. The innocence and style of the time is sorely missed, as is this generation of film making.
Humphrey Bogart is at his best, as is Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray. Robert Francis was a fine up and coming young actor playing one of the lead characters also, who's film career was so unfortunately cut short. Among the many fine features this film offers, we see excellent reacting and authentic true to life responses to a highly realistic and credible situation aboard the confines of a war ship.
All the elements and characters in a fine story are present in this film, including the heroes (Johnson, Francis), the villain (MacMurray), the antagonist and disabled(Bogart), and the innovation needed by normal human beings in a highly abnormal situation. Obviously, this movie is less about war, and more about what people have to do in order to overcome severe and life threatening circumstances. The writing, direction, editing, and cinema photography are all top notch, and thoroughly engrossing from start to finish.