Away All Boats

Away All Boats is a nice war picture about the captain and crew of a Navy transport ship in World War II. Jeff Chandler is all navy and the total professional as he takes command of the USS Belinda and whips the crew and the ship into professional fighting trim.

But command is a lonely business and the captain is slowly broken down both physically and mentally. In a way, Chandler's Jebediah Hawks is the antithesis of the Captain in Mister Roberts. Chandler is also in one of the less glamorous parts of the Navy, but even as a disciplinarian, he commands respect in a way that James Cagney in Mister Roberts never could and never will.

Chandler gets good support in this film from the rest of the cast which includes such professionals as Richard Boone, George Nader, Lex Barker, and Charles McGraw.

Good war picture, I highly recommend it.

One of the best WW2 films. There are several reasons why I rate this as only just below the top notch WW2 films. The special effects for the period are excellent, particularly during the kamikaze attacks. You only need to look back to WW2 films from a few years before this (They Were Expendable, Guadalcanal Diary etc) to see the advances that were made in special effects over a short period. The fact that it is not based on one of the more high profile naval vessels such as aircraft carrier, submarine, battleship is also a bonus. The purpose of the transport ships was to land the troops safely at a given point at a given time. They were not glamorous but were critical to the success of island hopping in WW2. The film also shows human frailties as well as strengths such as incompetence, poor officers, even cowardice is hinted at.

The story develops well, and shows the moulding together of a crew to become an effective fighting force. How realistic it is I don't know, but it looks good on film. The fact that there are several character actors well known at the time such as Richard Boone is a bonus.

Some of the scenes are a bit over the top and detract slightly from the quality, but I think this is pretty typical of films from this era. Not sure the scenes between George Nader and Julie Adams add much to the film, but I suppose they do demonstrate that many of the crew were family men and that sacrifices were made by all, not just those directly involved in the war.

Altogether very good though, and a film I shall enjoy watching frequently.

AWAY ALL BOATS differs from a lot of war movies at the time . It's shot in colour ( Don't forget that many prestigious war movies from the mid 1950s were still being done in monochrome )and doesn't suffer from the seriously deadpan pseudo intellectualism of many other war films of that period

The setting for the story is on the USS Belinda , a navy transport ( Assualt ? ) ship in the Pacific campaign . It should be pointed out that AWAY ALL BOATS is also a film that doesn't concentrate on action , so don't go into this film expecting massive explosions all the way through because it's a much more thoughtful film than that . We see why discipline is needed , why it's a bad idea to wax a floor on a ship and why aircraft identification is very important , it was very rare in those days for Hollywood to show a friendly fire scene and after seeing this movie you'll feel as though you've just served alongside Captain Hawks

A war film that's possibly more informative than it is exciting but one that has merit

Jeff Chandler's portrayal of Captain Jeb Hawks was an example of just how aloof a captain must be during a time of war. A captain's decision must not be made from friendship but what is best for the ship. Captain Hawks only real companion was a monkey. The men on the ship were almost all rookies that had never fought in a war. Hawks had to prepare them for "life and death" but made many enemies out of the crew because of his harsh techniques. The actual war scenes were very realistic. Overall a fine film to watch.

The ship that served as the "Belinda" in the movie was a sister ship to the one I served on in the Pacific Amphibious Force in the 1960s. She is a World War II Victory Class Attack Transport who main battery, as the Captain said, are her boats (we carried 26). The ships in one of the scenes with the sailing craft were all Atlantic Amphibious Force ships. The USS Sandoval (APA-194) was the "Belinda". The five inch gun, seen firing in the air attack scene, is at the USS Alabama (BB-60) Memorial along with the five inch guns off of other attack transports. When I see this movie I can see my own ship of so long ago. I hope those who see this movie will understand a little better what was involved in the over-the-beach invasions during World War II. Jeff Chandler did a good job of portraying a Captain who's job it was to put a new ship into commission and get the crew prepared for combat. A great many of the officers of these ships were Naval Reservists, some with merchant marine background as is the 1st Lieutenant in the movie, so many of them had years at sea and had commanded ships of their own. Thrown into active naval service they sometimes, as shown, hold a little resentment at being told what to do. The Executive Officer was shown to be, at best, lazy or uninterested. He comes around and volunteers for a hazardous duty which earns the admiration of the 1st Lieutenant. Overall, the movie was well done and, for the reasons stated above, believe it would be worth viewing by the younger generation.