L'étrange mission du Nordlande

James Gleason runs a tour bus and tells his passengers about the sights from the Woolworth Building to Coney Island. Robert Armstrong take photos of people at Luna Park, and William Boyd runs a shooting gallery there. They all love Ginger Rogers, who runs a candy counter. When the US declares war, they all join the navy and eventually find themselves on an old sailing ship, hunting for German submarines.

It's a rambling, random sort of movie which relies on the three male stars and tastes of exotic locations like Tangiers and Havana -- all on the RKO lot, of course -- as well as some help from the Navy. They also sank an actual ship at sea in an exciting sequence. It's also a lotof fun in this buddy comedy.

...at least during its first half. If it had started out with the three buddies in the navy and concentrated on the naval action scenes, it would have been a much better and tighter film. The second half of the film is worth it, especially for the action sequences and close up shots of early 20th century ships, but it's like a dull toothache getting there. Also, don't watch this film just because Ginger Rogers is in it. She has an important role, but it's a small one.

The film starts out showing three New York City buddies working the tourist trade and also in good-natured competition for the hand of Sally (Ginger Rogers), a singing candy salesgirl along the avenue. World War I breaks out, the three buddies seem completely indifferent to the struggle, yet enlist in the navy anyways. The one of the three with the least industry as a civilian (Bill Boyd as Baltimore) winds up the commanding officer to the other two (Robert Armstrong as Dutch and James Gleason as Skeets). To make matters more complex, Sally has fallen in love with one of the three, but doesn't have the chance to tell him before the three sail off to war.

The film is a little more interesting on board ship, mainly because of the close shots we have of the ship itself, and also because the chemistry among the three buddies is believable. However, James Gleason at age 49 looks a bit long in the tooth to be a swabby, especially when the sign at the enlistment office said you had to be between 17 and 35 to be eligible.

One real obvious flaw in the film that made me believe that everything outside the naval scenes was slapped together with minimum care is the costume design, or, I should say, the lack of it. In the scenes in New York just prior to WWI we have everyone dressed in the fashions of 1931 and everyone driving the cars of 1931 - no effort was taken to bring this film into period.

In conclusion, if you watch the few scenes with Ginger Rogers in them and the last 45 minutes involving the naval suicide mission, you've seen everything here worth seeing. The rest is padding.

Skeets O'Reilly (James Gleason), Baltimore Clark (Bill Boyd), and Dutch Herman (Robert Armstrong) are three friends who all work on the Coney Island Boardwalk and all are in love with Sally (Ginger Rogers). WWI breaks out and the guys all enlist in the Navy.

The guys are a bit too old to start in the Navy although wartime could make them desperate enough to take older guys. Ginger is not yet twenty and doesn't get to dance. This is an interesting time on the seas. There are still sailing ships with more modern Navy ships. There are plenty of ships provided by the cooperation of the Navy. The guys try to be funny, but they're no Three Stooges. This has a bit of everything and not great at anything.

This film is much better than other reviewers would lead you to believe. If you're a fan of Robert Armstrong, James Gleason and early Ginger Rodgers as I am that would be almost enough. The three guys and a gal plot may seem old now but it wasn't then. It's carried off pretty well here. I appreciated the views of 1930 New York including Luna Park at Coney Island. As far as I can tell the midway was actually filmed at an amusement park in California; it certainly added a sense of reality. I, too was confused by the 1931 clothing in a film taking place in 1917. I kept wondering what war broke out. However, such anachronisms are to be expected in almost every period film. Women's hair styles and makeup always give it away. And if Greed could carry it off wearing late 1890's clothes in 1922 crowds, why complain here?

But the naval scenes are the star here. To my knowledge they are the most extensive authentic scenes ever filmed. It's obvious that the Navy gave it's complete cooperation. Everything looked authentic because it was. I loved that the film shows the German side without prejudice (or subtitles). Frank Reicher and Henry Victor lend an air of authenticity here, too. Except for the semi-comic interludes it could have been an excellent documentary. Over all this should be better known for its appeal to World War I fans and naval historians. Look fast for Richard Alexander (Prince Baron of Flash Gordon) as a crew member with one line.

Immediately after the United States enters World War 1 against Germany, three men from Coney Island by the names of "Baltimore" (William Boyd), "Dutch" (Robert Armstrong) and "Skeets" (James Gleason) enlist in the U. S. Navy and leave behind a young woman named "Sally" (Ginger Rogers) who each of them has fallen in love with. Unfortunately, Sally only loves one of them, So, the other two (Dutch and Skeets) do their best to keep them apart by deceiving Baltimore about Sally's true affection for him. However, although Baltimore falls for their deception, they soon discover that he has his own plans for them as well--and this involves a deception toward the German Navy. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a comedy which had a bit of slapstick humor here and there but otherwise I didn't really see much humor in it. Of course, this film was produced over 80 years ago when budgets were rather strained. So, perhaps I am being a bit too harsh in my evaluation. Be that as it may, although it wasn't a great film by any means, I didn't think it was necessarily that bad either and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.