By
Ed Garea
In
the Navy (Universal, 1941) – Director:
Arthur Lubin. Writers: John Grant (s/p), Arthur T. Horman (s/p and
original story). Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Powell, Claire
Dodd, The Andrews Sisters, Dick Foran, Shemp Howard, William B.
Davidson, Billy Lenhart, Kenneth Brown & The Condos Brothers.
B&W, 86 minutes.
After Buck
Privates surprised the studio by becoming a mega-hit,
Universal was eager to capitalize on its success. The next film in
the can to be released was Hold That Ghost, but at the
last minute the studio withheld it to add in musical acts and In
the Navy was released instead.
In
the Navy doesn’t differ all that much from Buck
Privates. The plot, as with all Abbott and Costello films, was
simply a hook on which to hang a few musical numbers and their
patented routines. The studio upped the budget for this one, allowing
cinematographer Joseph Valentine and set decorator R.A. Gausman the
leeway to create a lush studio-set depiction of the tropics, which is
used in the film to represent Hawaii and would be used thereafter in
numerous studio productions, including Abbott and Costello’s Pardon
My Sarong. It was also leased to various Poverty Row productions
for their jungle movies. Still unsure whether Abbott and Costello
could carry a picture by themselves, Universal signed Dick Powell as
the romantic lead for 6 weeks at $5,000 per week. Granted he was on
the downswing in his career, but he was still a more recognizable
name than Lee Bowman in Buck Privates, who was better
known as a supporting villain. The film’s title was then changed
to Abbott and Costello and Dick Powell In the Navy,
before being shorted to merely In the Navy upon
release.
Powell
plays heartthrob crooner Russ Raymond, the idol of devoted female
fans across the country. After his latest coast-to-coast show on
radio station WGAB he pulls a disappearing act. This generates
national headlines and sets reporter Dorothy Roberts (Dodd) on his
path. In reality, Russ has enlisted in the Navy under his birth name
of Tommy Halstead and traveled incognito to California to report for
duty.
At
the same time sailors Smokey Adams (Abbott) and Pomeroy Watson
(Costello) have been dispatched to deliver a letter containing his
enlistment papers. Disguised as a maid, Dorothy sneaks into Russ's
hotel room and photographs him while he shaves off his mustache, but
Russ catches her, exposes the film, and takes a photo of himself
giving her a spanking.
Eight
weeks later, pretending to be a Navy publicist, Dorothy sneaks onto
the United States Naval Training Station with the Andrews Sisters. As
the sisters perform for the recent naval graduates, Dorothy looks for
Russ. Meanwhile, The Andrew Sisters are looking for Pomeroy, who
described himself in his letters to Patty Andrews as "tall, dark
and handsome." They immediately recognize Russ, and Dorothy
snaps the quartet. Russ manages to destroy Dorothy's negatives once
again, then points out the real Pomeroy to the sisters.
As
described by chief petty officer Dynamite Dugan (Foran), Pomeroy is
"pretending to be a sailor,” while in reality he’s a pastry
cook who has never been to sea. The only reason he wasn’t washed
out is that the admiral likes his cream puffs. Later, Pomeroy, Smokey
and Russ go to a San Diego dance hall to see the Andrews Sisters
perform and Pomeroy finally gets a chance to dance with Patty
Andrews. However he accidentally starts a brawl which lands him,
Smokey and Russ in the brig and later transferred to active duty on
the battleship U.S.S. Alabama, shipping out to Hawaii.
Dorothy
stows away in a storage locker on the Alabama. Pomeroy
discovers her there, but she coerces him and Smokey into keeping
quiet. (“We’re going to Hawaii! … With a tomato in the potato
locker.) In the middle of the ship’s voyage Russ discovers Dorothy,
and warns her of the trouble Pomeroy will get into if she is caught.
When
the ship arrives in Hawaii, the sailors go to a nightclub to see the
Andrews Sisters. While Russ is watching the show, Dynamite, in
cahoots with Dorothy, hits Russ in the face with a pie as
Dorothy snaps his picture. The photo makes its way across the country
and a huge mob of women storm the ship on visitors' day in
hopes of seeing their idol.
Afraid
that the Andrews Sisters will discover that he is only a pastry cook,
Pomeroy and Smokey hatch a scheme where Pomeroy will give the captain
a sleeping potion and impersonate him for the benefit of the ladies.
Smokey, working to fix the intercom system, pretends to take orders
from Pomeroy while talking through a vent. But Dugan grabs Smokey for
other duties and the captain’s nephews (Lenhart and Brown) fix the
intercom, with the result that Pomeroy is unknowingly speaking to the
bridge. The Alabama is ordered to give a
demonstration of its maneuverability, and at first, Pomeroy's
commands enable the ship to put on a brilliant display. But Pomeroy’s
scheme unravels when he looks out the porthole and discovers he
really is in command. In his panic, issuing and
rescinding orders he manages to ram the Alabama into
the admiral’s flagship.
It
is then that Smokey brings Pomeroy around and we learn that he has
accidentally doped himself and it’s all a dream. That night,
Dorothy apologizes to Russ, then proposes marriage, telling him his
fans will not chase after a married man. Russ agrees, then joins with
the others to put on a show to celebrate the end of the ship's
voyage.
Afterwords
Ironically,
the film ran into major censorship trouble – and it wasn’t from
the Breen office. According to author Thomas Schatz is his
informative book on the history of the studios, The Genius of
the System (pp. 342-48), a copy of the script was
submitted to the Breen office and the Department of the Navy in early
March 1941. The studio planned to begin filming on April 8 with a
budget of roughly $335,000 and a shooting schedule of 23 days. But on
March 14 the studio heads received a letter from Commander Bolton of
the Naval Department informing them that naval cooperation and
approval “would not be forthcoming on material of this sort” as
the picture “would not reflect credit on the service and do the
Navy some tangible good.” He also sent along a number of script
changes that would allow the film to win Naval cooperation. The
scenes he specifically objected to were Costello doping the captain
and running the ship, and the brutality of the shore leave brat in
San Diego.
Universal,
which desperately needed Naval cooperation, took immediate action on
Bolton’s suggestions, ordering a rewrite of the script. They also
enlisted the cooperation of the Breen office to smooth things over
with the Navy. The brawl was toned down and the scene with Costello
running the ship was revealed to be all a dream. The revised script
was finished on May 17, the revised scenes shot the next day, and the
picture recut on May 19. On May 20 the revised film was flown to
Washington for screening. On the following day the Navy Department
sent Lubin a wire informing him that “Your picture passed 100
percent. Have accomplished three weeks work in one day,
Congratulations.” Commander Bolton was so pleased that he wrote
Cliff Work, the studio’s vice president of production, that the
film was “delightful,” adding: “The ingenious twist of having
Costello drink the sleeping potion eliminated the only possible
objectionable material.”
As
with Buck Privates the musical numbers were
carefully interspersed with Abbott and Costello routines, though the
numbers took up 35 minutes of the 85-minute release version. (The
numbers in Buck Privates only took up 20 to 30
minutes.) The original music, from Don Raye and Gene de Paul,
included “Starlight, Starbright,” sung by Powell, and a snappy
number from the Andrews Sisters, “Gimme Some Skin, My Friend.”
The title tune, “We're in the Navy,” was sung aboard the ship and
during the end credits.
John
Grant supplied the special material for Abbott and Costello, which
includes the "Lemon Bit," a crooked shell game routine; the
math routine, "13x7=28"; and "Buzzing the Bee"
(aka "Sons of Neptune"), an initiation routine where one
tries to trick the other into asking to be sprayed in the face. While
filming this sequence, Costello began laughing and spit his water on
the deck, but director Lubin loved it so much he kept it in the
finished film.
The
biggest challenge for the film was the climatic scene with Costello
running the ship. It required a complicated blending of stock footage
with live action and miniatures. Special effects wizard John P.
Fulton, the man who made Claude Rains and his successors invisible
put the scene together magnificently and it works quite well. We can
easily buy into it as it unfurls.
The
acting is good, thanks to professionals like Powell and Claire Dodd
as the romantic leads. For Dodd playing comedy – and playing it
well – was quite unlike her former roles in the ‘30s where she
whether played a moll, a home wrecker, or some other type of
nefarious character. (I had to chuckle, though, during the scene
where she tells him he could have avoided all the crazed female fans
if he got married. I can almost picture him saying, “What? Instead
of enlisting in the Navy I could have avoided all this by marrying
you?”) Dick Foran and Shemp Howard provide their usual fine
support.
But
it’s Powell who intrigues us. Who could have predicted at the time
that Powell, an actor on a downward spiral, would stage a huge
comeback, and not in a musical, but a film noir of
all things?
All
things considered, In the Navy, while not as good as Buck
Privates, is nevertheless a decent mix of music, comedy, and
romance, with classic Abbott and Costello routines, including the
unforgettable 13x7=28. However, let’s face facts. With Abbott and
Costello there is no middle ground. One either loves them or hates
them. Those who hate them will avoid this film while those who love
them will consider it hilarious. That’s just the way it is.
Trivia
Bandleader
and clarinet virtuoso Artie Shaw must have seen this film, for later
in 1941 he quit his band and enlisted in the Navy.
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