Son of the Navy

Martin Spellman -- who is still alive as I write this -- and his dog Terry -- best known for playing Toto in THE WIZARD OF OZ -- have run away from an orphanage to look for some parents. Along with James Dunn, who is looking for a lift back to his navy ship, before he is marked AWOL, they get a lift from Jean Parker, who thinks they are father and son.... and makes it stick for most of this decent little Monogram second feature.

It's an appealing threesome in the lead, even if it is a little too sentimental for my taste and some of the details seem to have been intended to make the movie stretch out to a decent 71 minutes. Mr. Dunn and Miss Paker spend a lot of time shouting at each other, which makes their fate more inevitable, and everyone seems very amiable in their roles, even the grouchy landlord who calls the cops on Mr. Dunn.

The movie was released in May, but given a Christmastime setting. Since one of the ships mentioned frequently is the Arizona, which was sunk at Pearl Harbor, it' was a bit disconcerting, but that's the sort of thing that happens when you watch old movies.

A sailor needs a ride to San Pedro so he must hitchhike. At the same time a runaway orphaned boy and his dog also are looking for a ride but with the hidden motive of finding a "mom" and "pop." The sailor and boy decide to play father & son but only for hitching a ride. The boy has other plans thereby putting the unwitting sailor in trouble with the navy. The sailor at first denies a son but soon begins to like then love the boy & dog. Finding a "mother" is another thing but the boy manages though his scheming. A true heartwarming and sentimental story of a boy & his dog. Need I say more?

Some familiar family clichés abound in this Monogram Production that stars James Dunn as a sailor trying to get back to his ship before it sails. He meets up with young Martin Spellman who is running away from an orphanage and the two of them and Martin's terrier dog team up to hitch a ride with Jean Parker to get to the docks at San Pedro.

If Dunn thinks he's seen the last of Parker, Spellman, and the dog he's got another think coming. Spellman has picked these two out as his future parents. That's going to be hard because Parker is a Navy brat who has sworn she'll never marry a sailor. She's got a nice steady responsible businessman boyfriend in Craig Reynolds who's also one big drip.

I don't think I have to say any more. Monogram was never known for its originality. But young Spellman is a winning kid and you do really root for him to get the family of his choice.

Son Of The Navy is a nice family film that for Monogram is the equivalent of something like The Yearling.

Fun family movie about a runaway 12 yr old orphan, who was hitching a ride. He meets a navy man also hitchhiking. The boy pretends to be the sailors son, and gets a ride from a loud woman. Then the fun begins. James Dunn plays the sailor, and Jean Parker plays the female lead who spends most of the time yelling. The radio says he's 12, the loud lady later says he's 11, and near the end the sailor says he's 10. He was really 15 when he made this film. Overall, a fun movie to watch.