Voici la marine !

Cagney was great as a stubborn smart aleck, and that is what the James Cagney had a great manner of getting the girl, whether it be Bette Davis in THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. (1941) or Gloria Stuart in HERE COMES THE NAVY (1934).

In HERE COMES THE NAVY, Chesty O'Conner (Cagney) joins the navy simply to have a shot at a rematch brawl with naval officer Biff Martin (Pat O'Brien). On board, he wants to take O'Brien's girl who turns out to be his sister (Stuart). He befriends Droopy Mullins, a sidekick type splendidly played by Frank McHugh.

This was a delightful film, a must for fans of Cagney's humor. And for navy buffs who like to note the service between the world wars, as the Department of the Navy is cited as cooperating in this film.

Oh, and my wife reminds me to point out that there is a blimp in this picture. It is dated to that extent, but its themes and comedy are always applicable. (The blackface scene being the notable exception, but as such attitudes were very present in yesterday's Hollywood, we must bit our lips and let them pass. In this film, the actual African American characters look at Cagney in blackface as if he were goofy. They, too, let it pass.)

Jimmy Cagney is a high metal man who gets into a brawl with Naval Petty Officer Pat O'Brien. In pursuit of his grudge, Cagney joins the Navy, where he is a self-centered guy, but makes friends with Frank McHugh. He also charms Gloria Stuart, who tries to civilize him. She turns out to be O'Brien's sister.

In other words, same old same old when it comes to plot, just the sort of movie that William Haines started in for Metro in the 1920s; Cagney is a low-class guy, although just as cocky as Haines ever was. He's in high-energy mode here, and Naval cooperation gives this one some documentary interest. Cagney, O'Brien and McHugh are assigned to the USS Arizona, and there's ample footage of that ship, now under the waves at Pearl Harbor. Later, Cagney is assigned to the USS Macon, one of the two largest dirigibles commissioned by the Navy. The year after this movie was made, the airship crashed into the Pacific, with the loss of two men.

Although this is pretty much a standard movie, its production values are first-rate, and alloys Bacon gets good performances out of his actors. Arthur Edeson's cinematography and his views of the Macon and her hangar are lovely.

I'd heard about this since I was a kid!

The scenes aboard Arizona, the US Pacific battle Fleet at sea!

The plot is lousy but entertaining enough to hold you between those amazing scenes!

"That's my ship, the Arizona", says Pat O'Brien in the very first line of dialogue in this 1934 Warner Brothers feature. Indeed, much of this motion picture was filmed aboard the famous battleship that is now a national monument on the bottom of Pearl Harbor.

Another prominent feature of "Here Comes The Navy" is the USS Macon, the U.S. Navy's last dirigible. If the elderly battleship USS Arizona was a leftover from World War I, the USS Macon represented the cutting edge of technology in 1934, much as the Space Shuttle does today. The giant airship crashed into the Pacific Ocean less than a year after this film was produced, fortunately, with the loss of only two of her 100 crew members. Although the service continued to operate much smaller and less expensive non-rigid blimps for many years, the loss of the USS Macon put an end to the Navy's rigid airship program. There can be little doubt that many of the USS Macon's crewmen seen in this movie were still aboard at the time of the crash.

Of course, the principal feature of "Here Comes The Navy" is the crackling byplay between perennial rival/buddies James Cagney and Pat O'Brien, both of whom were at the top of their form here. As usual, Cagney plays the brash wise-guy while O'Brien is the steady, authority figure bent on channeling Cagney's energy into the right direction. It is a formula they were to repeat in several more movies, most famously in "Angels With Dirty Faces".

Caught between Cagney and O'Brien is Gloria Stewart. This was the same Gloria Stewart who would later be featured in the 1997 version of "Titanic". Stuart did a reasonable job here, even though she was inevitably upstaged by her two dynamic co-stars. But then, Cagney and O'Brien could easily steal scenes from anybody.

"Here Comes The Navy" is a treat for Cagney fans (and there are still plenty of those out there). It is equally a treat for history buffs. Originally intended as a showcase for the contemporary Navy, the movie is now a time capsule of the service in a bygone era.

Besides James Cagney and Pat O'Brien, there's also beautiful Gloria Stuart (63 years before her triumphant return to the screen in Titanic (1997)) as the love interest, and Frank McHugh providing comedy centered around his mother's false teeth. In a fight over a girl with Navy man O'Brien, Cagney is knocked out when his girl distracts him. And when O'Brien later steals his girl, Cagney is so angry he joins the Navy with the hope of getting even. Talk about holding grudges! After 3 months of basic training (shot on location at the Naval Training Station in San Diego, California), Cagney is assigned to the battleship U.S.S. Arizona, the ship O'Brien is on. The Navy allowed location shooting on the actual ship, which is the same one sunk at Pearl Harbor and is now in the harbor as a memorial. It's an impressive ship with unbelievable firepower and we see the big guns being loaded and fired in maneuvers. Meanwhile, Cagney had met and wooed Stuart, but she turned out to be O'Brien's sister! And O'Brien caused a rift, another reason for Cagney to get even with him. Because of a bad attitude problem, Cagney eventually is transferred to the dirigible U.S.S. Macon at Sunnyvale, California. Again, the actual airship is used and it is an awesome sight as it is pulled out of its hangar, dwarfing everything in view. As luck (and the script) would have it, the ship tries to land in windy weather but aborts, with O'Brien hanging on to a mooring line as it gains altitude. Cagney disobeys orders and climbs down the rope with a parachute to try to save the man he doesn't yet know is O'Brien.