Annapolis Salute

A standard RKO programmer about the loves and lives of midshipmen at Annapolis is enlivened by three factors: cast, location shooting at Annapolis and the usual handsome work of Christy Cabanne.

The cast includes Van Helfin in his early, semi-villain phase, Arthur Lake at the end of his juvenile period -- the following year he would begin playing Dagwood in the Blondie series, which would keep him busy in movies and TV for the next twenty years -- and the always entertaining Harry Carey as the father of James Ellison, the nominal lead.

Let me, in yet another review, call your attention to the work of Christy Cabanne, usually cited as the least of D.W. Griffith's followers, who worked with him at Biograph and continued working until his death in 1948. TCM has recently been running more of his work at Warner's and RKO and they are surprisingly good, with off-kilter framing. He knew how to use the camera for psychological effects and even in his cheapest B westerns show their moments of flair. Here, equipped with a decent if not huge budget he takes a movie that should be meaningless and makes something very nice of it. Doubtless some of the lovely camera placement is due to familiarity with Annapolis. He was a graduate of it.

It's a group of new sailors training to be in the Navy. Clay V. Parker (Van Heflin) is not happy to be there. Right away, he does not get along with fellow recruit Bill Martin (James Ellison). After a boxing fight, they become friends. They both fall for Julia Clemens (Marsha Hunt), sister of recruit Tex.

It's a rather light romance love triangle. The actors are pretty good. Hollywood made a bunch of these Annapolis movies during this time. I certainly don't remember too many modern day examples except for that one movie. I'm not sure why. In this one, they're not doing too much filming on actual navy ships. They stay more with the characters and relationships. Those are the ships in this one.

Though bigger studios like MGM with Navy Blue And Gold and Warner Brothers with Shipmates Forever did bigger budgeted Annapolis stories, Annapolis Salute from RKO stands good comparison and can hold its own with the heavyweight film factories. In fact it's a whole lot like Navy Blue And Gold.

Like the MGM classic Annapolis Salute is the story of three roommates and their time at the Academy. Jim Ellison is from a navy family and his father Harry Carey, Sr. cheers his progress from the sidelines. Van Heflin is a spoiled rich kid and Arthur Lake is a slow witted Texan.

It's women in the persons of Marsha Hunt, Ann Hovey, and Marilyn Vernon that are the real traps for these midshipmen to ignore. They are almost the undoing of Ellison.

This film gives you the opportunity to see Arthur Lake before he was permanently and irrevocably cast as Dagwood Bumstead. But I think they laid on the slow wittedness to think with him and Vernon who plays his sister. I can't imagine how this dunce wangled an appoointment to Annapolis.

Other than that a good film.