The Admiral Was a Lady

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.

found this gem on a free streaming video site - not likely to see it anywhere else. Really enjoyable movie set just after WWII about a woman ensign (nicknamed the admiral) who falls in with a gang of lovable losers - four ex-GIs who work diligently from dusk to dawn at finding ways to avoid work. There's a silly subplot about them trying to get her back together with her long lost fiancee, and an even sillier sub-sub plot about a rich millionaire and meddling detectives. The main point of interest is the repartee between the "admiral" and the men. Sometimes she's tough as nails, but at other points it's like Dorothy's relationship with the tin man, the lion and the scarecrow. Would really like to see a computer-enhanced remake with Humphrey Bogart as Jimmy, Marilyn Monroe as Jean and Edward Herrmann as the millionaire. Favorite line - "how can such a nice man be so useless?"

The Hollywood treatment of the problems of returning servicemen after World War 2 took many forms - sob stories, psychological dramas, films noirs, even musicals - but this film is unusual, perhaps even unique, in giving them an irreverent screwball slant. The script sparkles with wise-cracking dialogue, and the action proceeds headlong in unpredictable directions. It is the sort of movie that the phrase "never a dull moment" was coined for. The two leads did full justice to their parts, but they lacked the star status to impress the critics. If Claudette Colbert and Cary Grant had been cast, or Jean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart, they could have performed no better, but this film would now be assured of its place in the annals of screwball comedy instead of being neglected and almost forgotten. Luckily it is not lost. It is available on DVD in eminently watchable condition, albeit without the full restoration that it deserves.

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 decided to watch this film for one reason...Edmund O'Brien. I love this guy's movies and assumed it would be pretty much like all his films of the era...tough, hard-bitten and entertaining. Imagine my surprise when this turned out to be a comedy! Edmund O'Brien in a comedy!

Jimmy (O'Brien) and his three pals who served together during WWII have an odd way of living. They work their hardest NOT to go to work in order to collect Veteran's unemployment benefits. This is a bit off putting when the film begins...four guys who are essentially scamming the system. Later, it becomes more obvious that at least some of them are suffering from what we'd term today PTSD. Well, the quartet meet up with a lady, Jean (Wanda Hendrix), who also is a vet and they take it upon themselves to show her the ropes of how to scam the system. But she doesn't want to be a professional unemployed vet and is waiting for her fiancé to meet her. The problem is, he never shows up...and so the quartet take her on a series of adventures.

As I already said, the adventures of men who have been avoiding work for five years makes this a tough sell. Many in the audience will feel annoyed at this...particularly how hard they work to avoid working. They are clearly NOT the most honorable of men. But despite this, the film is mildly interesting and makes a decent time-passer. Clearly not among O'Brien's better films and I was hoping to enjoy it much more than I did.