Shipmates

It seems like if you have the name of John Paul Jones you are destined for nothing but a navy career and such is the case with Seaman Robert Montgomery who'd be very happy to spend his entire career on the refueling tender that never leaves the harbor. This is the Depression and many would have envied Montgomery having three squares a day and a place to sleep. But when the admiral's flagship is short a complement of sailors he gets abruptly transferred there with his buddy Cliff Edwards where Montgomery has already made an enemy of Chief Boatswain's Mate Ernest Torrence.

Montgomery and Torrence fall into a rivalry that if this were done over at Warner Brothers a bit later on James Cagney and Pat O'Brien would have fallen into these roles. In fact the plot here is not dissimilar to those other Warner Brothers classics Flirtation Walk and Shipmates Forever which had Dick Powell in them.

It's the flagship so you are constantly reminded that you have to be more Navy than usual. Do you doubt that Montgomery will show he has the right stuff?

After over 80 years Shipmates holds up well as entertainment. I think sailors everywhere will identify with those usual situations even in today's atomic fleet.