Le Messager inattendu

Many experts on films think that 1939 was the best year for American film and while they may just be right, not everything made in that year was gold...such as "Navy Secrets". "Navy Secrets" is a cheaply made B-movie from Monogram Pictures with few thrills and a lot of talk. It frankly should have been better. The film stars the bland Grant Withers and the equally bland Fay Wray. And neither seem able to breath much life into this spy yarn. Despite a bit of excitement towards the end, the film just plods along to the finale...and a twist, which if you think about it, is pretty silly as well. Definitely a time-passer and nothing else.

By the way, until nearly the time the US entered WWII in December, 1941, American films stayed clear of talking about the Nazis. Much of this was because they didn't want to alienate foreign markets and much of it because of a silly law that violated the First Amendment that said American films had to remain neutral on the war! That's why you never hear mention of WHERE the spies are from, though I thought it interesting that several at the end seemed to have German accents.

Navy Secrets is an illustration of how low certain players can fall in terms of box office draw. At one time at the beginning of sound both Grant Withers and Fay Wray were featured in A films. Of course everyone knows that Fay Wray reached the heights in King Kong's gigantic paw in 1933. Now six years later she and Grant are starring in a C picture film for Monogram as a pair of naval intelligence agents trying to break up a spy ring.

According to this story the Navy in its infinite wisdom decides not to tell each other that the person they are working with is also an agent. The bad guys are after some new Naval sounding device and they are certainly Teutonic enough in keeping with the times. The spy ring operates out of Dewey Robinson's waterfront café.

Years ago Huntz Hall told a story that at Monogram when Sam Katzman needed to get a film under budget he just randomly ripped out a few pages from the script and the director just shot what was left. I got that impression watching Naval Secrets, I had to make many connections in my mind to follow the story and in some cases just gave up trying.

There is one funny scene where Withers and Wray keep trying to get rid of this annoying kid who is riding his bicycle and won't give them any privacy. It looked like it was grafted in from another film. I think I would like to have seen that film instead.

Poor little second feature has Grant Withers and Fay Wray wandering around the city trying to track down who wants an envelope carrying navy secrets -- only they think it's collectible stamps. Withers and Wray try to carry this one along on their charm, but they aren't up to it, although there is one good scene in a park and a small, annoying boy on a bicycle.