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.

I agree with the other reviewer that this is one of the best in screwball comedies and deserves more recognition than it has gotten in the past. I came across it quite by accident when purchasing a 50 movie video collection. There were some Stooges (not too fond of), East Side Kids (ok but not attractive enough), and a few other good and unusual movies. THIS one stood out as probably one of the best in the collection for its zany twists and turns and fun all around. As another viewer said, it has an unique twist to the "returning soldier" story. I would think it would fit best under the Preston Sturges movies for the amazing wild and funny antics, Rudy Vallee with the ever persistent glasses that Sturges first placed on his nose in Palm Beach Story, and the heart that demonstrates that even the crazies of men with the craziest ideas has a definite purpose in mind and not so crazy after all.

Rudy Vallee and Hillary Brooke as Peter and Shirley Pedigrew nearly steal the show with their wacky relationship, but the sweet romance that builds from the very beginning when Jimmy sees the Admiral is full of innocence and charm.

This is one of those movies that you wish had even more than what has been presented to you because you don't want it to stop. You want more.

This is a perfect example that there are still hidden gems out there in the Golden Age of Hollywood that are still undiscovered.

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

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.

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.