Amis pour toujours

I first saw this film over 40 years ago and viewing it again it was as good as I remember it. The team that brought you Flirtation Walk, director Frank Borzage and stars Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler did even better in my opinion with their film about a Naval Midshipman at Annapolis and his lady love.

Like Flirtation Walk, both Powell and Keeler come from service families. But Powell's a disappointment to his father, Admiral Lewis Stone. He's a crooner on the radio and from what we see is making a pretty good living at it. Still a combination of persuasive techniques by Stone and Keeler get him to follow in the Naval tradition of his family.

For reasons I don't understand Ruby did not dance a step in Flirtation Walk, but she makes up for it here. It was a weakness in the other film that is now remedied.

Dick Powell got two lovely ballads to sing, I'd Rather Listen To Your Eyes and I'd Love to Take Orders from You. Possibly because he was changing record companies from Brunswick to Decca in 1935 he didn't record either of those songs commercially. That's a pity because he does them so well.

What he did record was the song Don't Give Up the Ship with an orchestra and choral background. That song had a lot of popularity, so much so that the Naval Academy at Annapolis adopted it as their official song, something I'm sure Dick Powell and songwriters Harry Warren and Al Dubin must have been proud of.

Like he did with Flirtation Walk, Frank Borzage got to do some location shooting for Shipmates Forever at Annapolis and on the battleship, USS Pennsylvania. It certainly made for a far more realistic setting than in most Thirties films.

Unlike Flirtation Walk which was more upbeat, Shipmates Forever has the death of one of Powell's classmates which certainly lent a somber, but more realistic note to the proceedings.

Ross Alexander, Eddie Acuff, and John Arledge play Powell's roommates and all do good jobs in roles they are usually typecast in. Shipmates Forever is one of Dick Powell's best Warner Brothers musicals from the Thirties and its charm is eternal.

In New York, popular crooner and radio star Dick Powell (as Richard "Dick" Melville) meets tap-dancer Ruby Keeler (as June Blackburn) at a Navy celebration. As you would expect, they are mutually attracted. Helping the relationship considerably is the fact that both Mr. Powell and Ms. Keeler have soured on their US Navy connections. Powell wants to continue his singing career and resists Navy admiral father Lewis Stone (as Richard Melville), who wants his boy to continue a long family tradition. Having lost both a father and brother to Navy service, Keeler agrees Powell should keep his distance...

In order to prove he can make the grade, Powell predictably applies to the Navel Academy at Annapolis. Though he intended otherwise, Powell eventually joins the Navy as a midshipman. Keeler makes a few appearances, coming to terms with her family tragedies through Powell's experience...

Director Frank Borzage and the Warner Bros. team are equipped with plenty of location and stock footage, but too much of it is padding; this film's appeal would be greater with some trimming. Helping the formulaic Delmer Daves story is a colorfully introduced trio of "Shipmates Forever" - Ross Alexander (as Lafayette "Sparks" Brown) from Arkansas, Eddie Acuff (as Lincoln "Cowboy") from Texas and John Arledge (as Johnny "Coxswain" Lawrence) from Arizona. Robert Light (as Ted Sterling) is also on board. Best supporting actor is Mr. Arledge, who gets the best-written role and sails away with the film.

****** Shipmates Forever (10/12/35) Frank Borzage ~ Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, John Arledge, Ross Alexander

An enjoyable if slightly sappy movie with a fairly standard plot line.

Notably, the song from this film "Shipmates Stand Together" is still performed as part of a medley by the US Naval Academy Men's Glee Club.

Speaking about the music from the film, the US Military Academy's Alma Mater (that's Navy's gridiron rival West Point!) is used as background music at least three times, including in the closing scene.

Interesting goof, possibly intentional?

The scenes dealing with the upperclassmen "rating" the Plebes are fun; they are different in detail but not in quality from what goes on at the Academy even today.

Of the movies available on VHS or DVD about the Naval Academy, I would rank this about in the middle:

1. Navy Blue and Gold (1937) 2. Midshipman Jack (1933) 3. Shipmates Forever 4. An Annapolis Story (1955) - pretty bad. 5. Annapolis (2006) - truly dreadful.

SHIPMATES FOREVER (Warner Brothers, 1935) cashes in on the recent success of FLIRTATION WALK (1934), set in West Point, reuniting Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ross Alexander, John Arledge, Frederick Burton, with Frank Borzage as its director, in a Navy themed product filmed on location at Annapolis, Maryland. As with FLIRTATION WALK, SHIPMATES FOREVER centers mostly upon Powell, not so much for his crooning, but his ability as a serious actor and ladies' man. Although labeled a musical, the movie emphases more on plot than tunes, and contains more sentimental moments than comedy, thus being a true departure for both Powell or Keeler, best known for their backstage musicals with Busby Berkeley dance numbers and gold-digging chorus girls.

The scenario has Powell playing Richard John "Dick" Melville III, singer at the Sky Club in New York City, who would rather be entertaining than serving in the Navy as traditionally expected of him by his admiral father (Lewis Stone). Dick meets and immediately falls in love with June Blackburn (Ruby Keeler), a dancing teacher for little children, who also comes from a long line of Navy relatives. With the intention of taking his Navy entrance exam to show his father he can pass it, and not entering the academy, Dick has a change of heart and enters the academy anyway, with the intention of throwing away his commission in the end. Dick soon resents the friendship of his fellow roommates, "Cowboy" Lincoln (Eddie Acuff), Johnny "Coxwain" Lawrence (John Arledge) and Lafayette "Sparks" Brown (Ross Alexander) from Arkansas to room alone after plebe year. Basically, a loner with his only companion being June, Dick becomes a disappointment to his father, who wants him to be nothing more than a true Navy man.

Other members of the cast include Dick Foran (Gifford); Robert Light (Ted Sterling, June's cousin); Mary Treen (Cowboy's Girlfriend); Joseph King and The Meglin Kiddies. Of the supporting players, it's Ross Alexander who provides some good doses of comedy, especially where he successfully sneaks in a radio into his room during plebe year under the noses of his superiors.

When I first watched SHIPMATES FOREVER on Memorial Day weekend on Turner Network Television (TNT) back in 1989, I actually didn't care for it mainly because I was expecting a big song and dance/ flag waving, military musical in the tradition of 1936 releases of BORN TO DANCE (MGM) or FOLLOW THE FLEET (RKO Radio), or possibly an overblown lavish scale production in the manner of MGM's ANCHOR'S AWEIGH (1945) with Keeler tap dancing galore and Powell leading a military parade of singing sailors. After repeated viewings, I find SHIPMATES FOREVER breaks away from the usual military musical clichés, and truly believe it holds up better than FLIRTATION WALK due to the realistic way Navy life is depicted.

With tunes by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, including "Don't Give Up the Ship," "I'd Love to Take Orders from You" and the charming "I'd Rather Listen to Your Eyes," the songs grow tiresome after being re-prized two or three times. While Keeler never tap danced in FLIRTATION WALK, she doesn't sing a note in SHIPMATES FOREVER, yet shows off her dancing skills first in the dancing school to the amazement of her students and another at the Sky Club. With some time out for song interludes, there's no production numbers. Reportedly distributed in theaters at 124 minutes, it's the 109-minute print that's currently in circulation on the TV markets, DVD format and broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. While Powell recruited to military duty as THE SINGING MARINE (1937), he would make a return engagement into the Navy once again, co-starring opposite the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello for IN THE NAVY (Universal, 1941).

Trivia: The theme to SHIPMATES FOREVER was reworked as a 1939 military programmer titled ON DRESS PARADE (WB, 1939) starring The Dead-End Kids, with Leo Gorcey assuming the role originally enacted by Powell, but minus the singing. (** Bells)

There's a lot to like in SHIPMATES FOREVER, but it's really a treat for DICK POWELL's fans with him singing a batch of songs (only a couple are really catchy), with generous close-ups of pert and pretty RUBY KEELER as the gal who can't make up her mind about the sailor she loves.

Keeler is only given a couple of tapping moments, which is fine with me. I have to agree with the book "Warner Bros. Presents" which describes her as "conspicuously untalented" but managing to be "endearing" nevertheless.

It's the formula story about a young man whose father is a Navy veteran (LEWIS STONE) and thinks his son should follow in his footsteps. The son happens to be a popular radio crooner who only half-heartedly joins the service just to prove that he can pass the officer's exam. The predictable plot follows a standard course with the boy winning the love of the girl by the time we reach the final reel.

Powell gets to demonstrate that he had a flair for carrying a tune although his voice is nothing remarkable. He's pleasant to watch and handles the acting chores with professional ease.

I can't say the same for ROSS Alexander who mugs through his role as comedy relief, but JOHN ARLEDGE does a fine job as an ill-fated sailor friend who attempts to put out a boiler room fire.

Touches of drama are better than the humorous interludes, so it's an uneven film, to say the least, directed by Frank Borzage who usually does much more sentimental romances than patriotic musicals like this one.