Rusty, le vantard

This film essentially begins with a Navy sailor by the name of "Russell J. 'Rusty' Gibbs" (Dick Purcell) being challenged by three of his shipmates that he cannot take a homely librarian named "Doris Kimbell" (Mary Brian) out on a date to a popular nightclub known as the Crows Nest. Naturally, Rusty accepts the bet even though he is totally unaware of her rather conservative principles. Fortunately, he is an extremely quick learner and after only a little conversation he formulates a plan to impress her by pretending to be studying for Annapolis. To that effect, he requests an algebra book on the shelf immediately behind the counter as part of his plan. Sure enough, his ploy begins to see results as she accepts his offer to walk her home. What he doesn't know is that he has rival for her affections named "Julian Everett" (Edward Woods) who has a secret agenda and the algebra book Rusty has borrowed is much more than what it seems. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a cute little comedy which benefited from solid performances from everyone concerned. I especially liked the performances of Warren Hymer (as "Gerald 'Biff' Jones") and Chester Clute ("Uncle Andrew") who seemed tailor made for their individual roles. Be that as it may, although this film is clearly dated, I enjoyed it for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Who would think an algebra book could cause so much trouble. But it does, especially for our four roughouse ship jockeys. What great sailors the actors make from budding Romeo (Purcell as sailor Rusty) to muscled dimwit Biff (Hymer), along with serious-minded Chips (Sawyer) and tag-along Gateleg (McMahon). Why bother with a Navy when this roughouse bunch shows they can stumble through any kind of foreign threat, especially with the versatile Hymer who steals the show. Good thing there's lovely actress Brian to relieve our eyes from all these ugly guys. Her conversion from plain-Jane librarian to romantic eye-candy is a compelling one that fits right in.

The flick's first part is mainly comedic, while the second tries to serious-up without losing the amusing aspects. Watch the guys get involved with a murky foreign scheme aimed at an assassination. But can they stop it since no one can figure out just who long-time buddy Rusty really is! (Avoid the IMDB summary which for some reason is book length and gives away the suspenseful plot points.) Of course, the 68-minutes is hardly Oscar bait, but does remain humorously entertaining despite the passing decades. All in all, the result's a testament to the enduring skills of one of Hollywood's lowest budget studios, Republic. So give it a try.

(In passing- Too bad both Purcell and Hymer passed away at relatively young ages. Nonetheless, for a chuckle, check out IMDB's Trivia that reports on a defiant Hymer's revenge on Columbia's arrogant chieftain Harry Cohn. It's a gasser-- or something like that.)

This navy comedy concerns the adventures of several men on shore leave--and in particular, Dick Purcell as he woos a bookish librarian in order to win a bet. However, his lying and scheming to get the girl has unintended consequences--he actually does fall for the girl and he gets mixed up with a group of spies! I have never seen this film on television nor have I seen it on video. The way I learned about it was finding a public domain copy on the internet that I was able to copy and show on my DVD player. I've tried this with quite a few films lately and most of them were pretty bad, so I know why they are in the public domain and free to copy. However, this film really isn't bad at all and compared to other military comedies it's actually better than most. That's because although it had a modest budget, it was written very well and had many cute twists and turns you wouldn't normally expect from a B-movie.

An interesting note is that one of the sailors is played by Joe Sawyer who made a name for himself a few years later playing Sgt. Ames in Hal Roach military comedies along with William Tracy. The character he plays in this film is very similar to the one he played for Roach.