Corazón de marino

On shore leave, sailor William Haines (as Jack Kelly) meets pretty blonde Anita Page (as Alice Brown) at a dance. The pair fall in love, but her possessive parents consider Mr. Haines to be "a common, ordinary sailor," and throw Ms. Page out in the streets. With reluctant help from pal Karl Dane (as Sven "Swede" Swanson), Haines tries to straighten out his irresponsible life, and settle down with Page. This was the first "talkie" for box office star Haines, who helped keep the sound of cash registers ringing for MGM.

In hindsight, "Navy Blues" is an average Haines formula film. It was also the first time many filmgoers heard Mr. Dane, a popular supporting actor who had less of a Swedish accent than he had in silent films ("Yumping Yimminey!). The men had just released another film with Page ("Speedway"), who was considered one of the biggest new stars of the year. It is fun to watch how much attention Haines pays to Page's pretty legs in this film - his inability to keep his hands to himself undoubtedly appealed to many.

***** Navy Blues (12/13/29) Clarence Brown ~ William Haines, Anita Page, Karl Dane, Edythe Chapman

After the success of the silent film SPEEDWAY in 1929, William Haines made his starring talkie debut in NAVY BLUES with Anita Page, who was fresh from her success in THE Broadway MELODY.

Haines plays a sailor on leave on who Page at a local dance. They have a whirlwind romance but his brash personality alienates her family and she is thrown out of the house. Haines takes her to a boarding house; she expects him to marry her but he abandons her and goes back to sea. After a few months he gets leave and goes looking for her, knowing he made a huge mistake. She's working as a dance hall girl (read prostitute), but he finds her and rescues her. Happy ending.

Haines is terrific here, a natural comic with his silly-billy antics. He loses none of his charm transferring from silents to talkies. And when the moment calls for dramatics, he's ready. Haines was a huge star in his day and NAVY BLUES was a solid hit for him.

Co-stars include Karl Dane in one of his best talkies roles, Edythe Chapman, J.C. Nugent, Jack Pennick, Wade Boteler, and Richard Tucker.

This film begins with an obnoxious sailor by the name of "Jack Kelly" (William Haines) being ordered to attend a semi-formal dance sponsored by a local women's organization in a port on the West Coast. Although he has absolutely no interest in attending this dance, he does happen to meet an attractive blonde named "Alice Brown" (Anita Page) who catches his fancy. From that point on he does everything he can to romance her but is caught completely off-guard when she responds in a much more serious tone. Fearing any sort of commitment, he leaves rather abruptly and-recognizing the impact his words have upon her-struggles with his feelings immediately afterward. Unfortunately, his feelings of abandonment only deepen when his ship leaves port that very night leaving Alice all alone. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay comedy for the most part which contained a certain amount of innuendo appropriate for the time. Both William Haines and Anita Page performed in a solid manner and Karl Dane (as "Sven Swanson") also contributing some good comedy as well. That being said, while this clearly wasn't a great comedy by any means, it was good enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

This looks so slick, so well made and acted that you'd never guess it was made back in 1929. Often really old pictures are just interesting on an academic level but this is genuinely entertaining as well.

I don't think 'romantic comedy' accurately describes this. What makes this so fascinating and quite shocking is how such an unpleasant loud-mouthed yob, whom at one point you're thinking might be a rapist, can actually be the hero of a romantic movie. He's cocky beyond any limits of acceptability, disrespectful, cruel, racist, violent and sexist. For a character like this to be accepted as the hero of a story must reflect that to the demographic who loved Haines (there were many!), these sorts of attitudes were normal in 1929.

If you can put aside the awkward social commentary on 1920s attitudes to women, this picture is surprisingly watchable. Clarence Brown was one of MGM's most able and imaginative directors and here makes his first talking picture without any problems or difficulties as though he'd been making them for years. Similarly, silent mega-star, William Haines appears to have been making talkies forever as well.

Anita Page, playing the object of Haines's affection (or survivor, as she'd probably be called today!) wasn't in 1929, a natural talking picture actress but in films like this, the pretty girl wasn't expected to act - she was there just to be the pretty film star - and she fulfills this role brilliantly. A very, very pretty girl indeed.

The three (3) principals of NAVY BLUES (1929) were at or near the top of the M.G.M. Star System. William Haines, Anita Page and Carl Dane all were very popular at that time, having successfully negotiated their rise too 'Stardom'. Now a new challenge arose, the 'talking picture'. In this modest film they were allowed to strut their stuff and learn how to manage the new restrictions of the sound medium.

THE NUTS; JACK KELLY (Haines), Seaman in the U.S.N. is a character wrapped up in his 'Gay-Blade' persona, a role Haines frequently fell back upon. SVEN SWANSON (Dane) his shipmate and 'friend' issues forth in the same way he did in silents, a simple minded Swede. ALICE 'Allie' BROWN (Page) provides the romantic interest. Other then some on-board footage showing Naval life most of the story concentrates on ALICE and JACK. JACK having to come to terms that it is time to 'grow-up' and commit to the person he loves.

The early restrictions of sound filming are clearly evident. Most shots are static with some 'left to right' movement. Nobody wanting to miss their marks or the microphones. The shipboard footage is interesting, though the Clemson Class Destroyer, our latest type was obsolete when laid down. Not even having been ten (10) years in service.

Neither Haines or Page had any trouble adapting to the new medium, their voices easily registered and matched their characters. Dane though had a thick accent, but was not unintelligible. Voice training would have solved the worse of his problems. Either He or M.G.M. were not interested in following up on this and his career petered out in the early 1930's. On 04/14/1934 Dane ended his problems, with a bullet.

Tastes were changing and though Haines was tops at the Box-Office in 1930, Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg were not satisfied. In their opinion, clean up and keep private your personal life or you will be 'persona non grata'. Haines chose to go his own way ending his film career, but becoming a successful interior decorator. Likewise Page was deemed expendable with the studio preferring Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. Nor was she interested in playing casting couch politics with the executive staff, so exit Ms. Page. This all happened in a period of only five (5) years. The transition period from silents too sound was tough, these three (3) were casualties of it.