Minesweeper

Perhaps my score of 4 is a bit generous. All I know is that this isn't the sort of film I'd heartily recommend, as it's pretty dull and pretty cheap.

The film begins with Richard Arlen traveling the rails. He's a hobo with a secret--and a very patriotic hobo at that. It's just after Pearl Harbor and Arlen has a fight with his fellow 'bos about the war and volunteering. Soon, Arlen meets up with Guinn Williams (in one of his better roles) and the two go off to volunteer with the US Navy. Williams was a retired navy man and Arlen seems to have some knowledge of the navy BUT he also has a secret. What it is and why he's posing as someone else is something you'll have to see for yourself---if you care.

The film is only occasionally entertaining, but to me finding out Arlen's secret wasn't worth time I invested in this WWII propaganda film. Aside from Williams' nice part, the rest of the cast just seemed pretty dull and the story was, at best, lackluster--showing the earmarks of a B-movie produced by a third-rate studio.

The version I saw on TV was very dark, even with exterior scenes or were they also shot in the studio? And with poor sound so either a poor copy, many around it seems, or the film has degraded over the many years.

Not as good as expected as we could have done with seeing more of the training and more mine sweeping work. There was no explanation as to how the sweeping was actually organised, a serrated cable between two boats? This film probably did the job at the time as a flag waver and it would have been an acceptable offering in 1943.

One of the poorer film made during the war as a morale booster.

Minesweeper is a product of the Paramount B picture unit where producers William Pine and William Thomas did things on an Assembly line basis to provide second features for Paramount's big budget items like the films Cecil B. DeMille did. They got the best training because William Pine served as an associate producer with DeMille for years before branching out on his own.

A cursory list of their credits show that their early films either starred Richard Arlen, Chester Morris or both. Minesweeper stars Arlen as a former Navy officer who deserted because of a gambling problem and who comes back to enlist under an alias as a seaman when World War II breaks out.

Arlen and Russell Hayden have a friendly rivalry for Jean Parker who is the niece of CPO Guinn Williams who lives with Parker and her mother/his sister Emma Dunn. Both Arlen and Hayden get assigned to, what else, duty on a Minesweeper.

Discovering this film was a bit of a revelation since the only well known film dealing with a minesweeper is The Caine Mutiny. But the action in that film takes place years into World War II when the USS Caine was sweeping mines away from landing areas. This minesweeper is dealing with them right outside San Diego harbor.

Arlen enlists in the navy to redeem himself and as this is a B film about a romantic triangle I think you can figure out how this will end.

Robert Mitchum has a tiny bit in this film and Mitchum completists might want to check this out. As it is Minesweeper is a curiosity flag waving film of the times.

Unlike most war movies, you'll find no real "battles" being fought in "Minesweeper." For that, I actually give it some credit. It pays tribute to the crew of minesweepers - those who helped take care of Japanese mines laid at the mouths of US harbours. That's not especially glamorous, so I applaud whoever decided to make this movie. It's an important job, and not all the honour should go to those who are face to face in combat with the enemy.

The star of this is Richard Arlen. He plays an officer who deserted from the Navy years before, and then re-enlists under an assumed identity once Pearl Harbour is attacked. So part of the movie is spent wondering whether he's going to get caught. The dangers of this type of service are well documented, and there's a tragic incident as the movie nears its end. The cast is decent enough.

The basic problem with this is that it spends far too much time emphasizing the somewhat unbelievable romance the develops between "Tennessee Smith" (as Arlen's character was known) and Mary (Jean Parker.) Given that Mary was apparently already almost engaged when Tennessee showed up, I found it rather difficult to accept that she'd get caught in this romantic triangle, and I thought it weakened the movie.

This certainly isn't a high profile war picture, nor does it appear to have had much of a budget. It's not bad; it's an appropriate tribute. I just wish it had stayed a bit more focused on those to whom it was paying tribute and to the service they were offering. (4/10)

From the man that would have brought you the Navy Way came a film that, towards the end of the second world war, seemed determined to get those young men in army or navy uniforms to fight for their countries.

So, the story of a deserting Navy captain with a gambling problem who decides to join the troops again, even as a lowly minesweeper and seaman, is perfectly politically correct for the blossoming of the US involvement in the world's biggest monetary conflict to date a.k.a. WWII.

It's obnoxious. The storyline is predictable. The characters are caricatured. People, including myself, are always ready to shoot on Micael Bay's awful Pearl Harbour, but that is nothing more than a film like Minesweeper with a much bigger budget. In the end, it's all about God, country, killing those Japs, and if you die, you die a hero, and everyone is proud of you, cos you were a good kid.

But what can you do? The film isn't laughable, and it's made in a straight forward way that means no harm. As a product of its times and indoctrinations, it can be forgiven, but as a poor film, it cannot.