This Man's Navy

Chief Petty Officer Wallace Beery is in the Navy Dirigible Corps. He wrangles with fellow CPO James Gleason, virtually adopts crippled Tom Drake, shepherds him through a romance with Jan Clayton, gets his legs fixed and a a Naval commission, then turns around into setting up a base in India and bs-ing his way into a rescue of Drake, who has gone down while flying over the Hump. All while Luftwaffe and Japanese planes punch holes in his dirigibles.

Every branch and sub-branch of the service got at least an Oscar-nominated short subject during the Second World War, and this is the Dirigible Corps' moment in the sun, quick, before the War is over. It looks dorky to the modern audience. Nowadays we think of the Goodyear Blimp, and that's it. But the Navy didn't retire its last dirigible until 1962. Of course, the Navy keeps a small forest in Indiana for wood to replace parts of the U. S. S. Constitution, so take that for what you will. If you're going to enjoy this movie, it will be for Beery's trademark aw-shucks charm, a chance to see his brother, Noah Beery Sr., in the same movie, and surprisingly, a charming performance by Selena Royle as Drake's mother. With Henry O'Neill, Steve Brodie, George Chandler, and Dell Henderson.

This wartime film follows a formula that MGM used on quite a few Wallace Beery films. Once again the over-age and over-weight Beery is supposed to be a career military guy. However, the big difference in this film is that his Navy man is with the Lighter Than Air service--balloons that were used for submarine patrols. I can't think of another movie that dealt with this important branch of the Navy--even though 12,000 men served with this service and they were incredibly successful.

Beery plays Ned Trumpet--a guy who is pretty much the same as he played in other films of the genre. He's got a heart of gold but also lies like a rug--and when his friend/rival Jimmy (James Gleason) talks about the exploits of his son, Ned talks all about his as well. The problem is that Ned NEVER was married nor has any kids! So, after meeting a nice young man, Jess (Tom Drake), he decides to unofficially adopt him and begins telling his friends about how great 'his boy' is! What Ned doesn't know is that Jess is disabled and cannot walk--and Ned's plans for Jess following him into the LTA service appear impossible. But, thanks to a nice-guy doctor who thinks he can cure Jess, the man is able to join the service. This only takes us to about midway through the film--what happens next is for you to see for yourself. Rest assured, however, that like most of these other films, it involves redemption and incredible coincidences!

Overall, like all the Beery military films, it's high on propaganda but also on entertainment. Sure, it does follow the formula, but it's well made and enjoyable throughout.

By the way, I read up on this and found that during WWII there was a single case where a blimp that was sunk by a sub. They lost one crew member in the attack. Otherwise, the blimps were incredibly successful and had a huge advantage over the subs and lost hardly a ship during their escort duties.

"This Man's Navy" is, as other comments have indicated, a rare and well-filmed look at Navy lighter than air (LTA) activities. The LTA crews were justly proud that the convoys they shadowed never lost a ship to submarine attack. And the filming at the various NAS locations give a valuable glimpse at a type of aviation that is long gone. However, the first half of the movie is all about Beery, his relationship with his service pals, and him meeting the Tom Drake character and his mother, and getting Drake's leg fixed. Only then does the second film start. The second film is mostly LTAs in action, taking on a surfaced sub, guys get killed and much damage is caused. The look is fairly gritty and realistic, I imagine. Then we shift to Southeast Asia. Did the Navy have LTAs there? Never mind, this part is really wild, with a blimp being used to extract some downed aircrew from the jungle. And the Japs are shooting like mad. Shades of Vietnam, except the getaway is oh, so leisurely. This is a blimp we're talking about. In the end, a feel-good WWII drama about a very unusual part of the war.

This film was very enjoyable because it deals with Naval Blimps and shows how they are launched and the methods used to secure them to the ground. Wallace Beery, (Ned Trumpet) plays the role of a Chief Petty Officer with plenty of service along with James Gleason who is his co-pilot. There is plenty of action with Japanese Planes attacking the blimp and also comedy and romance. Jan Clayton, (Dorothy Cortland) is introduced to Tom Drake, (Jese Weaver) which was arranged by Ned Trumpet who wanted his adopted son to meet an attractive young gal. Ned Trumpet had a bad habit of telling so many lies that all his friends were doubtful about anything he said. Wallace Berry & James Gleason both gave an outstanding performance and made this into a great film to watch and enjoy. William A Wellman the director was one of the first director's who was able to create classic airplane films dealing with actual stunt-men flying the planes. Enjoy.

Talkative Navy balloonist Ned Trumpet (Wallace Beery) falls out of his basket into the middle of nowhere. He befriends farm boy Jess Weaver. He has been telling tall tales about his fictional son which gets more and more elaborate. In reality, he never got himself a family. He tries to recruit Jess into the service and then Jess reveals a lame leg. He introduces unsuspecting Cathey Cortland (Jan Clayton) to Jess. Before he knows it, he has his fictional family.

This is Wallace Beery being Wallace Beery in a lower level wartime war movie. The family story is sentimentality mixed with Beery's sweet brutishness. I'm perfectly happy with that part. The war fighting is less convincing and the military drama is less engaging. It's fine for some wartime fare.