Murder in the Fleet

The plot is ordinary, but the movie has snappy dialogue, excellent as opposed to wooden acting, good direction and a great cast, including Robert Taylor, Ward Bond, Una Merkel, Jean Hersholt, and Nat Pendleton. It pulls off the comedy part very well. I always like 30s movies because of the witty dialogue and fast-paced, sly insults. Watch it for that if not for the story. It's the combination of acting and dialogue that shines. Many comedies of this or any other era just don't pull it off. The quality of filming is also very good. Look for other familiar faces among the actors. You can see them while they're relatively young.

This film, made in 1935, is a true reflection of the time. There was something for everyone in this picture: patriotism, a bit if romance and romantic comedy (Una Merkel) and some slap stick. All of the actors performered well and you do find yourself wondering "who done it". OK, I could have done without so much slapstick but I recently saw a film with Crawford and Gable that had The Three Stooges! Robert Taylor, only, 24 years old at the time, was very fine, as always. He made many pictures in 1935, at the time when the studios could roll them out like hot cakes. Some, like Camille, are very famous. He was not in these films only bc he looked good. A number of other commenters here heavily panned RT. For those folks, please remember that what you see on the screen is not the persona of RT but the character he is portraying. This was not an Oscar worthy PART but he does it with such great ease you have no idea he is acting. Part of what made him so exciting on the screen was his extraordinary good looks BUT it is his acting that is the most important. Had he been a total dud in Camille, he would not have continued to have an acting career of more than 30 years....maturing as an actor as he aged, prematurely dying at age 57.

If you enjoy such WWII promotional movies as "Your Navy At Work Today" (hypothetical title), you will enjoy this movie. Otherwise, you probably won't.

There are only two things that raise it even slightly out of the muck: Nat Pendleton and the girl he is chasing, Una Merkel.

Nat Pendleton, of whom I am a fan and have enjoyed as the dumb cop in many other films, is funny here, but not given much to work with, even though his part is bigger than usual. Mostly he grumpily gives orders to the enlisted men. His "repartee" with Ted Healy is without exception annoying. In fact, the main idea of "comedy" in this movie seems to be sailors yelling at one another, something that happens again and again.

Una Merkel, who was wonderful in The Bank Dick (1940), is the other highlight, although she is quite different here from the sweet innocent she played in that film. Her rough, low-life character is not particularly likable (although it is very enjoyable to watch), and she has too little on-screen time to come anywhere near saving the film.

Robert Taylor, at the peak of his youthful handsomeness, doesn't do much except stand around looking macho and break up the sailors who are yelling at each other. His girlfriend, played by Jean Parker, is repulsive throughout. I couldn't imagine what he saw in her. Money, I guess.

Arthur Byron is also good as the captain, but it is barely more than a cameo role. He does manage to give the spoiled Jean Parker a good lecture, though.

Taylor doesn't solve the case. He literally stumbles on the perp, who, to my sorrow, turned out to be one of the only other likable characters in the film.

A few great wisecracks from John Hyams as a fed-up husband. He has the only line in the whole movie that made me laugh out loud.

All in all, not worth the time it takes to watch it.

Robert Taylor after a few loan outs and small parts got his career launched in this entertaining film about some murders done on a naval vessel. Someone will stop at nothing to see that the Navy does not carry out some tests of a new naval gun.

Frank W. Wead who was the subject of John Ford's Wings of Eagles wrote this story and while there's no threat to Agatha Christie posed by Wead, still it is a most entertaining story.

There are enough red herrings in this story to be a catch for a whole fishing trip. One of the better suspects was Mischa Auer, made up as an Oriental, to play the part of a visiting Asian dignitary. No names mentioned, but he looks very suspiciously like one of the Japanese diplomats photographed at places like the London Naval Disarmament Conference. I think Spig Wead was trying to tell us something there.

We've also got a reporter who can't file his story, an industrialist trying to bribe Taylor, his girlfriend who wants Taylor to leave the Navy, and a few more. When you reach the end it won't be who you might have thought.

Murder in the Fleet was a B picture, running only 70 minutes. Very soon Taylor would be an A list star. With those looks, how could he miss?

This movie makes me wonder anew how it was that Robert Taylor became such a star. It has to be his looks as his screen persona is, to me, always bland. That said, I'm glad I saw this movie. I found the best part to be the verbal sparring between Nat Pendleton and Ted Healy. Although I recognized many in the cast (especially fun seeing Keye Luke and Ward Bond), I missed reading the opening credits and quite frankly did not recognize Ted Healy and even had I seen his name, I would not have recalled the Three Stooges connection. I remember thinking during the movie "Gee, this guy is really good." So my favorite part of the movie is the one another reviewer found most annoying. Una Merkel as Toots was good but too overtly grasping and Jean Parker was inadequate to the task. I liked Parker in the Kitty O'Day movies but not in this one. The mystery itself is uninspired and basically uninteresting – the culprit was unexpected but logical.