The Admiral Was a Lady

Edmond O'Brien and his pals are content not to hold regular jobs, but live by their wits in the corners. When they meet ex-WAVE Wanda Hendrix, she is puzzled by their lackadaisical attitude, and they are about to go their separate ways until juke box king Rudy Vallee co-opts them to keep Miss Hendrix away from former and future wife Hillary Brook. At least, that's what O'Brien tells himself as he keeps up a facade of indifference as Miss Hendrix seems to care for one of his handsomer friends.

As a comedy I found it rather weak tea. However, I think it's one of several movies that handles post-War anomie. These are all people who have fought in a war, and on returning to civilian life, are confronted with the sudden loss both of discipline and danger, and a sense of "Did I really risk death so I could go back to the nine-to-five I was doing before the War?" This would peak with the Douglas Sirk soapers of the late 1950s, but for the moment, director Albert Rogell is trying to tell it as a screwball comedy. O'Brien is perhaps a little too real, a little too old, and lacking the comedy chops to bring this off.

Four WWII vets cleverly avoid work thanks to humorous scheming of their former head officer, Stevens. Apart from that the subplots multiply and crowd around in attempted screwball fashion.

The movie's an occasionally amusing slapstick. Then again, when I think frantic comedy, tough guy Eddie O'Brien sure doesn't come to mind. He tries hard here, probably too hard, while his middle-age pairing with an angelic looking Hendrix requires a stretch. Still no one was better at fast-talking than the star of noir classic DOA, ironically made the same year as Admiral, i.e. 1950.

Looks to me like someone was trying to juice up the material with a frantic pace, as the scenes speed along without time to really register. That is, my chuckles were too quickly crowded out by the onset of a new scene or dialogue, cutting short my satisfaction. In short, if comedy can be too slow, it can also be too fast as is the case here.

Anyway, it's O'Brien as seldom seen, with Hendrix doing her best in a difficult role. If she looks a bit confused, it's understandable. Then there's the three familiar supporting players just sort of hanging around. True, Sands is now more obscure than the other two, Brodie and Erdman; still, he was certainly a well-known heart-throb for my post-war teen generation. All in all, the flick's just an okay madcap whose few imaginative touches are over-crowded by problems with pacing and plots. Too bad.

This movie is one of those true gems that seems to have slipped through the cracks in time. It wasn't a big hit in its day – most likely because it wasn't made or distributed by one of the major studios. It didn't have the build-up and promotion that the majors gave their films. Nor did it have a big name cast to sell it. But, "The Admiral Was a Lady" has an excellent screenplay with a wonderful story. It's main plot is supplemented with a subplot, and then another, and finally a sort of surprise subplot toward the end.

The title refers to the female lead, Wanda Hendrix who gives an excellent performance of a discharged ensign WAVE, Jean Madison. But the main focus of the film is the character of Jimmy Stevens, a former Army Air Forces bomber pilot and captain, played by Edmond O'Brien. O'Brien is exceptional in this role. Had the film been made by one of the big five or six studios, I think he would have had an Academy Award nomination. The fact that this film, with its particular story, doesn't have any of the glamorous leads of Hollywood in the roles, makes it all the more real and down to earth. That is, real for the times and situations, if not the particular and peculiar circumstances of Jimmy and his crew. O'Brien was 35 when this film was made, and he would go on to win an Oscar and two Golden Globes in his career, with another Oscar nomination.

The rest of the cast were all very good as well. The technical aspects and production were all very good. This is not a film with lots of laughs, and it doesn't have slapstick. Rather, it is a film with a tremendous number of humorous situations. One after another, they build on the plot and form subplots as the film progresses. Each situation or encounter adds more smiles and chuckles. It has just enough repartee between Jimmy and Jean to give added laughter. And over all of this, there is a sense of friendship and camaraderie, and kindness toward others, that gives a special glow to the film.

At some point, viewers may begin to wonder what the heroin voices about this group of discharged World War II vets. "When are they going to stop being deadbeats and get back into life after the war?" Then, the little surprises of the film will start to unravel, thanks to Jean's own kindness and caring for the guys.

The plot has a lot more written into it than meets the eye. If the Armed Forces had more people like Captain Jimmy Stevens, it might have saved considerably in the post-war costs to treat veterans and help them readjust to civilian life in peace time. And, it surely would have benefited countless veterans who for many years – even decades – suffered with what then was called "combat fatigue." Today we know it as PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). It's very interesting that Wanda Hendrix had just come off a divorce from Audie Murphy. They had married in February 1949 and divorced in April 1950. It was the first marriage for both, but Murphy was suffering form PTSD from his service in WW II. He was the most decorated serviceman of the war, and performed many heroic actions at the risk of his life. But, his experiences left deep scars and he woke up screaming at night from nightmares. He had a terrible temper, slept with a loaded gun at his bedside, and carried weapons with him to the studios. His recovery was very slow.

This movie has some historical value also for its depiction of the time after WWII and the programs to aid veterans adjusting back to civilian life. I don't know of any other film that has anything about the "52-20" program. That was an unemployment assistance program for war-service veterans to help tide them over until they could find work. It paid $20 per week for up to 52 weeks. The program was part of the GI Bill (The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944). The GI bill included college aid, costs for technical school training, the 52-20 program and some other provisions. The American veteran population at the end of the war was 15,163,000. The 52-20 program began in September 1944, and it was extended four more years until 1949. More than 8.7 million veterans received help from the program. In its last year, only 840,000 vets had used their full entitlement, and there were 650,000 veterans still on the rolls. But 14.5 million had returned to the work force or gone on to college or technical training.

Incidentally, the plane that Jimmy and his crew flew (which they called Sinful Sinthia), was a Douglas A-20 Havoc light bomber intruder. The normal crew was two or three, but Jimmy's plane had four. The U.S. made nearly 7,500 of these aircraft that served from 1939 through 1944. Besides the American Army Air Forces, the RAF and Soviet Union used many A-20s. Ohers that also flew them were France, Australia and the Netherlands.

This is a movie that is sure to please most viewers. It's a warm comedy romance that includes a slice of life and history for WWII vets in the years right after the war.

The Admiral Was A Lady casts Wanda Hendrix as a recently discharged WAVE who by a curious chain of circumstances gets herself mixed up with four veterans all from a discharged bomber crew. If it were not for the fact that these four who are played by Edmond O'Brien, Richard Erdman, Steve Brodie, and Johnny Sands were combat veterans from the recent war, they'd be seen as deadbeats. In fact they're flirting with the status right now.

O'Brien and his pals have made a positive genius of not working and stretching their unemployment benefits to the maximum. They get caught at it, but by private detectives who are working for millionaire Rudy Vallee. Wanda's fiancé is involved with Vallee's ex-wife Hillary Brooke and Vallee wants Hillary back. Best way to do it is get Wanda and the never seen 'Henry' together.

The way Wanda talks about Henry he's quite the paragon of virtue. One thing is for sure though, he's not as much fun as the deadbeat quartet as exasperating as they can be. The only question is which one she will marry.

The title refers to the fact that the men start referring to Hendrix as 'the Admiral'. The Admiral Was A Lady is a film that deserves to be better known and might have been if it wasn't an independent released from United Artists, but came from a major studio instead.

Following service in World War II, four pals - former employment agent Edmond O'Brien (as James "Jimmy" Stevens), boxer Steve Brodie (as Mike O'Halloran), interior decorator Johnny Sands (as Eddie Hoff), and cab driver Richard Erdman (as Oliver "Ollie" Bonelli) - return to civilian life. But, the four men don't want work to interfere with collecting veterans benefits. On the unemployment line, they meet pretty WAVE Wanda Hendrix (as Jean "The Admiral" Madison), and romance ensues. The curiously mismatched cast start out at a disadvantage, and only make up for the incongruence in a couple of supporting roles.

**** The Admiral Was a Lady (8/4/50) Albert S. Rogell ~ Edmond O'Brien, Wanda Hendrix, Johnny Sands, Steve Brodie