I’ve seen this movie previously and have been very
impressed by the writing, the acting and the overall
feel that is conveyed by the film. Henry Fonda stars
as the title character-Lt [jg] Douglas Roberts.
Fonda’s character is assigned to a cargo ship
somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but he
longs to be where the action is on a battleship
assigned to a large task force. He even sees the task
force go by him while he’s working one evening.
The film also has Jack Lemon, William Powell and James
Cagney playing significant roles. Lemon plays
Ens.Frank Pulver who is the comic relief through most
of this film. He tries multiple times to “score” with
any woman who comes across the path of the “bucket”
that they serve. Powell plays the ship’s
doctor/surgeon and is the resident wise man to both
the men and the officers on board. Cagney plays the
crotchety, old captain and has no humor, no good will
and no like for anyone but himself-if Scrooge or the
Grinch met Cagney in this film they’d find a friend to
be sure!
The film was made in the mid 1950’s and conveys some
of the boredom that many soldiers and sailors may have
experienced in the war. The film does really seem to
be very dramatic-how exciting can a cargo ship
be?-until near the end when we learn how much the crew
appreciates Fonda’s work with them as well as the
emotional ending where we learn that Fonda’s
character-after having gained a transfer to one of
those battleships in the task force-was killed during
an air raid attack near Okinawa.
I’m writing about this film because I recently saw
online that it will be broadcast this evening-Saturday
December 29, 2007-on the local Detroit PBS station at
9pm. For anyone who has not seen it and who enjoys the
Second World War genre then I’d recommend viewing this
film.
Mr. Roberts [1955] imdb.com
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048380/
Amazon.com DVD Mr. Roberts
http://www.amazon.com/Mister-Roberts-Henry-Fonda/dp/6305225761
youtube.com-Mr. Roberts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddskeaNSTBc
Saturday, December 29, 2007
