Thunder Afloat

Wallace beery had already won his oscar for the champ back in 1931. Chester morris was nominated for Alibi in 1929. And virginia grey, of course, was Pat in The Women. Here, Thorson and Blake (beery and morris) are arch rivals in the tug boat business. This was made over the summer of 1939, as world war two was hitting europe; this story actually takes place during world war one, as the card at the very beginning tells us. The U. S. wouldn't be yanked into world war two for another two years. When Thorson bumps into a german sub, they sink his boat. This prompts Thorson to sign up, and join Blake, who is already in the service. Can they take on the germans and keep the east coast waters safe? They certainly butt heads, at least at first. Thorson's daughter Susie (grey) wants Blake to take special care of her dad, but we know there's going to be a showdown at some point. Written by Ralph Wheelwright and Harvey Haislip. Directed by George Seitz. He directed a bunch of the andy hardy films. Died young at 56, morris will go on to be boston blackie in many of the chapters. This little film isn't bad! Covers a lot of ground. One question.. did they really have listening sound tubes to listen for subs in 1918? Maybe...