Tonnerre sur l'Atlantique

"Thunder Afloat" is a very unusual film. Although it appears to be a film about WWI, it really seems to be about WWII. However, the US was officially neutral in 1939 and Congress actually enacted legislation forcing the studios to remain neutral (though this law clearly violated the US Constitution). So, studios were VERY apprehensive to speak out against Hitler and Nazis. But, by 1939 it appeared as if the US might be entering the war eventually and the human rights violations were too great to ignore--plus the war just broke out in Europe. So if you wanted to find an anti-Nazi film in the US in 1939, you'd be VERY hard-pressed to find one aside from the VERY brave "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (1939). In order to bolster anti-German sentiment, "Thunder Afloat" shows Germans as evil...but this film is set in 1917, not 1939--a clever way to get around the stupid neutrality laws.

The film begins with an old tugboat captain (Wallace Beery) tricking his 'friend' (Chester Morris) into joining the Navy during WWI. However, soon Beery himself would join after his tugboat was sunk by a German sub. Beery is given command of a patrol boat but mucks it up badly. He won't take orders and acts as if he's a one-man Navy--and ends up is serious hot water with his commander--who is, incidentally, Morris!! Is there any redemption or will Beery just be a dope and the US lose eventually the war because of him? Is there any doubt! Again, like so many US military films made about that time, the MAJOR theme is teamwork--most notably the power of the group over the individual. However, the film manages to be both entertaining and fun--with a very rousing finish. So, despite following formula, it does so very well.

Wallace beery had already won his oscar for the champ back in 1931. Chester morris was nominated for Alibi in 1929. And virginia grey, of course, was Pat in The Women. Here, Thorson and Blake (beery and morris) are arch rivals in the tug boat business. This was made over the summer of 1939, as world war two was hitting europe; this story actually takes place during world war one, as the card at the very beginning tells us. The U. S. wouldn't be yanked into world war two for another two years. When Thorson bumps into a german sub, they sink his boat. This prompts Thorson to sign up, and join Blake, who is already in the service. Can they take on the germans and keep the east coast waters safe? They certainly butt heads, at least at first. Thorson's daughter Susie (grey) wants Blake to take special care of her dad, but we know there's going to be a showdown at some point. Written by Ralph Wheelwright and Harvey Haislip. Directed by George Seitz. He directed a bunch of the andy hardy films. Died young at 56, morris will go on to be boston blackie in many of the chapters. This little film isn't bad! Covers a lot of ground. One question.. did they really have listening sound tubes to listen for subs in 1918? Maybe...

By this point in his career, Wallace Berry had settled into the role of MGM's star galoot; accompanied by a kid -- in this case Virginia Grey, a perennial MGM starlet who rarely got a chance to shine -- and opposed by a juvenile lead -- here, the great Chester Morris -- they all get a chance to produce a lot of serio-comic fireworks around the sub-chaser service during the World War One East Coast raids.

Tremendous credit must be offered to director George Seitz -- a specialist in comedy, now best remembered for the Andy Hardy series -- and director of photography John Seitz; sorry, they were not related. These two veterans knew how and when to apply the high-priced gloss that MGM boasted in this period, but also when to settle back and let their actors carry the scenes: Beery, just staring as his ship goes down; Morris grinning as a surly Beery retreats; and Grey looking as if she is going to reach up and clunk the leading men's heads together.

The Beery vehicles of this period were programmers, as close as MGM went to B pictures, carried on his aw-shucks charm. In this one, he has to work for his star credit when everyone is working their hardest. The result is among the best of his last decade.

It was definitely about WW 1 because one of the ships sunk was sunk off Long Island in 1918. The USS San Diego was cruising 10 miles off Fire Island, NY in July of 1918 when it struck a mine that was laid by German U Boat 117 . It sank bow first with the loss of 5 or 6 men . The rest of the crew rowed ashore to Long Island and were saved. It was over 500 feet long and it was the only US Capital ship sunk during WW 1. The movie shows the San Diego hitting the mine and blowing up. I have never seen a movie that mentioned the San Diego sinking.

If you know anything about the U boat war off the Eastern US during WW 1 this movie makes sense. They used the 110 foot sub-chasers the Navy had built to fight the U boats near shore. They showed schooners being attacked on the surface by the U boats , many schooners were sunk with deckguns up and down the US east coast during WW 1.

A very nice movie , the acting was pretty good and the story was good too.

Thunder Afloat (1939)

** (out of 4)

Tugboat captain John Thorson (Wallace Beery) tricks his rival Rocky Blake (Chester Morris) into joining the Navy so that he can get a big deal. However, the captain changes his mind about WW1 after his tugboat is struck by a German U-boat. It's important to note where the U.S. was during 1939 when WWII was a hot topic and this country wasn't certain whether they were going to join or not. It's clear that MGM and the producer's hearts were in the right place with THUNDER AFLOAT but I just found the thing to be way too stupid to be enjoyed. The film starts off like you're watching some sort of bad comedy and what we've basically got is Beery acting like his big bear self while he takes on Germany all by himself. There are some incredibly stupid scenes early on in this picture including one where Beery just punches the German U-boat captain and nothing really happens to him. Yeah right! Can you imagine what would happen to an American who punch a German captain? There are countless scenes where Beery just acts like a moron and I'm sure people ate it up in 1939 but when viewed today it just doesn't work. The entire film is rather flat as we watch Beery end up in the Navy where of course he meets up with his old pal Blake. This leads to Beery and Morris exchanging a bunch of quick lines but none of them work. Morris is one of my favorite forgotten actors but he's really not given too much to do. It tells you something when actors like Beery and Morris can't bring any life to a picture. Virginia Grey is good in her supporting role but she's not given too much to do. THUNDER AFLOAT has its heart in the right place but the mix of politics, comedy and action just never fully work.