Here Comes the Navy Movie Review

Here Comes the Navy is a 1934 romantic comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring James Cagney, Pat O’Brian and Gloria Stuart. It’s a charming flick.

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“Ah, mind your own business“

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Not much happens in this film in terms of the plot, at least not much exciting stuff. The guy joins the navy, doesn’t like it, but stays and eventually becomes a hero there all the while falling in love with a girl played by Stuart. It’s a fairly simple plot and I personally found it somewhat implausible and typically contrived in his heroism acts in the final third.

But there is no denying the charm in this film. It’s very endearing in both its characters and its overall feel which is comedic, romantic and highly sweet. That’s why it nonetheless succeeds as a solid Oscar nominee, despite it not being deserving of a nomination and of course far from the greatness you would expect from a nominated film.

Pat O’Brian is pretty good in his role and I found Gloria Stuart very likable and charming in her love interest role. It was truly striking and funny seeing her so much younger in this film also happening on a ship whereas she played that famous role in ‘Titanic’ many decades later.

But this is James Cagney’s show and he took the opportunity presented to him and entirely excelled and stole the show entirely from all of the other players. Yes, he is more known for his gangster roles, but he could be quite a comedian and a romantic and a “swell guy” overall which he is here. He plays an inherently likable dude and it’s hard not to root for him here.

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Here Comes the Navy Movie Review

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Here Comes the Navy isn’t particularly appealing visually which is a problem its fellow Oscar nominee ‘The House of Rothschild’ shares, but at least this one is somewhat cinematic and it’s much better paced, though the direction from Lloyd Bacon is very weak and he should have made it more exciting overall. The dialogue is definitely good and the romance works, but I expected more runtime focusing on it and less on the navy. The humor also needed some work. But its lightness and charm carried it through regardless.

Here Comes the Navy is weakly directed and focusing on many navy scenes which are less interesting than the romantic ones, but still its inherent charm carried it through to a solid status as it’s a very enjoyable flick with likable characters and a charismatic performance from James Cagney.