Navy Blues

The three (3) principals of NAVY BLUES (1929) were at or near the top of the M.G.M. Star System. William Haines, Anita Page and Carl Dane all were very popular at that time, having successfully negotiated their rise too 'Stardom'. Now a new challenge arose, the 'talking picture'. In this modest film they were allowed to strut their stuff and learn how to manage the new restrictions of the sound medium.

THE NUTS; JACK KELLY (Haines), Seaman in the U.S.N. is a character wrapped up in his 'Gay-Blade' persona, a role Haines frequently fell back upon. SVEN SWANSON (Dane) his shipmate and 'friend' issues forth in the same way he did in silents, a simple minded Swede. ALICE 'Allie' BROWN (Page) provides the romantic interest. Other then some on-board footage showing Naval life most of the story concentrates on ALICE and JACK. JACK having to come to terms that it is time to 'grow-up' and commit to the person he loves.

The early restrictions of sound filming are clearly evident. Most shots are static with some 'left to right' movement. Nobody wanting to miss their marks or the microphones. The shipboard footage is interesting, though the Clemson Class Destroyer, our latest type was obsolete when laid down. Not even having been ten (10) years in service.

Neither Haines or Page had any trouble adapting to the new medium, their voices easily registered and matched their characters. Dane though had a thick accent, but was not unintelligible. Voice training would have solved the worse of his problems. Either He or M.G.M. were not interested in following up on this and his career petered out in the early 1930's. On 04/14/1934 Dane ended his problems, with a bullet.

Tastes were changing and though Haines was tops at the Box-Office in 1930, Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg were not satisfied. In their opinion, clean up and keep private your personal life or you will be 'persona non grata'. Haines chose to go his own way ending his film career, but becoming a successful interior decorator. Likewise Page was deemed expendable with the studio preferring Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. Nor was she interested in playing casting couch politics with the executive staff, so exit Ms. Page. This all happened in a period of only five (5) years. The transition period from silents too sound was tough, these three (3) were casualties of it.

As a happy-go-lucky sailor who woos, leaves, and returns to sweet, low-class Anita Page, William Haines plays what he always plays, and it hasn't worn well. What may have been charming and cheeky in 1929 now comes across as self-centered and smug, with Haines' character making unfunny jokes, hitting up his Navy pal (the equally unwatchable Karl Dane) for loans he doesn't intend to pay back, avoiding responsibility, and playing a love'-em-and-leave-'em cad. Despite what we now know about Haines, he's a convincing ladies' man--just not very appealing. Clarence Brown directs with a more mobile camera than most 1929 talkies boasted, and the Navy footage is interesting historically. And Page, with an emotional scene or two, acquits herself nicely. But all these characters just seem kind of simpleminded, and we're not particularly rooting for these two to end up together, whatever the screenplay is telling us.

William Haines, the eternal mischief maker, strikes again as a sailor on two-day leave who after much effort sweeps innocent young Anita Page off her feet. There isn't much to this routine boy-meets-girl story other than another manic performance by Haines, whose antics admittedly are a matter of taste, and the winsome presence of Page, who is given relatively little to do but react to her dominant male co-star. Three Fred Ahlert-Roy Turk songs are featured: the title song – the least of the bunch - which is sung at various points by individuals and a poorly miked large ensemble, as well as snatches of "Mean to Me" and "I'll Get By" played by dance bands. The shipboard sequences with Haines, Karl Dane and others, intended as rowdy comedy, may have amused audiences in 1929 but they drag now, though Haines does manage to squeeze some laughs out of the material through sheer persistence.

...because 5/10 seems too low and 6/10 seems too high.

MGM was late to the sound film game, and this movie released in December 1929 was the first sound film for MGM stars WIlliam Haines, Anita Page, and supporting player Karl Dane. In Dane's case it would be not only his first sound film but the biggest role he'd have in sound films before his career took a permanent and tragic downturn.

All of the sailors on Jack Kelly's (William Haines's) ship are being made to go to a dance being put on by some middle-aged society ladies. Most of the women there are considered very unattractive by Jack, but one stands out - Alice Brown (Anita Page). They have a pretty good time at the dance and a great time just spending time together the next day as well, but when Jack takes Alice home he confronts Mrs. Brown who hates sailors for some reason never explained and orders him to leave. Alice says she is leaving with Jack as she is sick of being treated like a child and that she is going to marry Jack. This puts Jack in a bind as he has always been a love-em-and-leave-em kind of guy, and marriage was not something he was planning on. Complications ensue.

This film is probably going to be of interest mainly to early sound film buffs as it has all of the signs of a studio grasping for a formula that works in a new medium. For example, one curious feature is some strange editing. In three or four scenes, when the actors walk off screen, there is a long pause between switching shots leaving only a blank room to look at for what seems a very long time. This usually happened at the very end of reels before the days of printed-in cue marks, especially with sound-on-disk, with several seconds of extra footage after the scene ends in case the projectionist is slow on making the changeover.

Another strange feature is just one song - "Navy Blues" - being sung or played throughout the film - by a group of unusually harmonious sailors, by an organ grinder, and by an orchestra at a dance hall. Maybe MGM didn't have much of a music budget after pulling out all of the stops for Broadway Melody?

This film begins with an obnoxious sailor by the name of "Jack Kelly" (William Haines) being ordered to attend a semi-formal dance sponsored by a local women's organization in a port on the West Coast. Although he has absolutely no interest in attending this dance, he does happen to meet an attractive blonde named "Alice Brown" (Anita Page) who catches his fancy. From that point on he does everything he can to romance her but is caught completely off-guard when she responds in a much more serious tone. Fearing any sort of commitment, he leaves rather abruptly and-recognizing the impact his words have upon her-struggles with his feelings immediately afterward. Unfortunately, his feelings of abandonment only deepen when his ship leaves port that very night leaving Alice all alone. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay comedy for the most part which contained a certain amount of innuendo appropriate for the time. Both William Haines and Anita Page performed in a solid manner and Karl Dane (as "Sven Swanson") also contributing some good comedy as well. That being said, while this clearly wasn't a great comedy by any means, it was good enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.