Sea cadets
Movie | |
---|---|
German title | Sea cadets |
Original title | Navy blue and gold |
Country of production | United States |
original language | English |
Publishing year | 1937 |
length | 94 minutes |
Rod | |
Director | Sam Wood |
script | George Bruce |
production | Sam Zimbalist |
music | Edward Ward |
camera | John F. Seitz |
cut | Robert Kern |
occupation | |
| |
Naval cadets (original title: Navy Blue and Gold ) is an American film by Sam Wood from 1937. A novel by George Bruce , who also wrote the screenplay, served as a literary model .
action
Richard "Dick" Gates Jr., scion of a wealthy family, football star Roger Ash and sailor John "Truck" Cross are accepted as cadets at the US Naval Academy . Once in Annapolis , the location of the academy, the three young men share a room. They couldn't be more different, but they get along perfectly. The former football coach, Captain "Skinny" Dawes, quickly becomes aware of her.
After being deliberately tricked into snubbering an older cadet named Harnett, Dick returns to his room with all kinds of wounds. Roger then challenges Harnett to a duel, from which he emerges as the winner and thus earns the respect of his classmates. For Christmas, Dick invites his two roommates to his home. Truck and Roger are very impressed by the friendliness of Dick's family, but especially by Dick's lovely sister Patricia. Roger makes her advances immediately, but Patricia feels much more drawn to the shy truck.
The following year, Dick, Truck and Roger join the academy's football team. Roger feels superior to everyone and overestimates his abilities, which is why he quickly becomes unpopular. After a conversation with his coach, he gets drunk and leaves the academy without permission. Dick and Truck go in search of him and finally find him in a bar, where they also run into the coach. The three cadets are threatened with expulsion from the academy, but Captain Dawes happens to drop by and claims he invited them to dinner and that they just forgot to get permission to go out.
When a drunken officer is reported in class who dodged his duty and was then dishonorably discharged from the Navy , Truck protests and says it was a lie. Rather, the officer was sick when the navigator let his ship run aground. The officer then refrained from blaming the dead navigator for the ship's sinking before a military court. It turns out that Truck is the officer's son. Since Truck did not give his full name, John Cross Carter, when he enrolled, he has to leave the academy. Dick's father and his own father tried in vain in Washington, DC to prevent his expulsion from the academy.
During a dialogue between Patricia and Truck, which Roger secretly overhears, Roger realizes how much his friends and the Navy mean to him. In front of a statue he says a loud prayer for Truck. Captain Dawes hears him speak and decides to help Truck. When an important football game between the United States Army and the Navy is due, Trucks' expulsion is revised and he is allowed to participate in the game. His father has also been rehabilitated in the meantime. Captain Dawes, who is meanwhile in the hospital, listens to the game on the radio. The Navy will eventually emerge victorious.
background
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Bancroft_Hall_US_Naval_Academy_LOC_084380.jpg/220px-Bancroft_Hall_US_Naval_Academy_LOC_084380.jpg)
The shooting took place from September 7th to the beginning of November 1937. The stadium sequences were created in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . The US Naval Academy in Annapolis also served as a filming location in addition to the MGM studios. Originally, George Murphy was slated for Robert Young's role.
Midshipmen came into US cinemas on November 19, 1937. The film opened in Germany on February 10, 1939.
Reviews
Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times said that midshipmen came off quite "reasonably" when compared to a dozen previously released films in the military genre. The result is "a credible, funny and often moving film". It is also nice to see old Navy virtues like sportsmanship on the screen again. "Even if Sea Cadets may not be the best military academy film yet, it's not Stewart's fault," said the New York Herald Tribune . Stewart's “skilful performance in a rather absurd role” ensures that “a rather absurd story becomes exciting in the first place”.
Hal Erickson of the All Movie Guide , in retrospect, found that the film served "some of the oldest clichés in the military academy genre." "Several storylines and stereotypical characters" of the film were used in similar films in the following decades, including An Officer and a Gentleman (1980).
German version
A German dubbed version was created in the MGM dubbing department in Berlin at the end of the 1930s. The dialogue was directed by Karl-Heinz Stroux and Otmar von Ecker after the dialogue book by Hermann Gressieker .
role | actor | Voice actor |
---|---|---|
Roger "Rog" Ash | Robert Young | Hannsgeorg Laubenthal |
John "Truck" Cross | James Stewart | Kurt Meisel |
Mrs. Alyce Gates | Billie Burke | Eva Maria Brock |
Captain "Skinny" Dawes | Lionel Barrymore | Erich Ponto |
Richard Arnold "Dick" Gates Jr. | Tom Brown | Hans Quest |
Richard Gates Sr. | Samuel S. Hinds | Fritz Odemar |
Tommy Milton | Paul Kelly | Ernst Wilhelm Borchert |
Graves | Barnett Parker | Hubert von Meyerinck |
Weeks | Frank Albertson | Clemens Hasse |
Coach of the Southern Institute | Pat Flaherty | Josef Dahmen |
Harnet | Ted Pearson | Erich Fiedler |
Web links
- Midshipmen in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Midshipmen at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Notes on tcm.com
- ↑ a b cf. dievergessenenfilme.wordpress.com
- ↑ “[…] after recalling those prior dozens of service pictures dealing with the brass-but-toned middies at Annapolis, it is also one of the more agreeable entertainments the screen has provided this season. […] Has worked them into a credible, comic, frequently touching film. The old virtues are glorified again: the good old Navy spirit, the good old Navy fight, the good old Navy sentiment, […] And, candidly, it's good to see them again […]. " Frank S. Nugent : 'Navy Blue and Gold' Is Shown at the Capitol-New Films Open at the Criterion and Rialto . In: The New York Times , December 24, 1937.
- ↑ “If Navy Blue and Gold is not the most beguiling service-college picture yet filmed, it is not Mr. Stewart's fault. [...] It is due to his expert rendition of a rather preposterous part that a rather preposterous show becomes generally exciting. " In: The New York Herald Tribune , cf. Felicia Feaster on tcm.com
- ↑ “MGM's Navy Blue and Gold prettily dresses up some of the oldest cliches in the 'military cadet' movie genre. [...] Many of the plot devices and stereotypical characters in Navy Blue and Gold would continue to resurface in similar films for the next five decades - even in the R-rated Officer and a Gentleman (1980). " Hal Erickson , cf. omovie.com