5 Classic Navy Movies

There's nothing like a classic movie and a bowl of popcorn to get you in a sea-like mood.  We actually wanted to know more about top sailors of all time, but ended up with moving-picture stories instead.  These movie picks were published by the Huffington Post back in 2012, and considering this classic line-up, these old timers are still goodies for anyone today in 2017. 

So here is a snippet of, "The Best Navy Movies of All Time."

#1 - Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - In late 18th-century Great Britain, sadistic Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) commands the HMS Bounty on a long voyage to Tahiti to collect food supplies. When Bligh’s cruelty towards his crew goes beyond reasonable limits, second-in-command Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) faces the fateful decision of whether to seize control of the ship. MGM’s adaptation of the famous book by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall is given top shelf treatment here, with a sneering Laughton the definitive Bligh, and the studio’s biggest star, Gable, playing Christian with gusto (and, notably, without either a British accent or his trademark mustache). But never mind — this is still grand, sweeping entertainment, suitable for the whole family. And Laughton is truly brilliant in the most unsympathetic of roles.

#2 - In Which We Serve (1942) - With Britain in the pit of the Second War, playwright Noel Coward was desperate to develop a morale-boosting film, and this was the inspired result. Based on the wartime exploits of his friend Lord Mountbatten, co-director/writer Coward (in a most atypical role) plays Captain Edward Kinross, commander of the destroyer HMS Torrin, which is sunk by the Nazis. As Kinross and his small remaining crew cling to a small raft in hope of eventual rescue, we experience the recent lives of each survivor via flashback; notably, Kinross himself and one Seaman Shorty Blake (John Mills). The normally effete Coward is appropriately “stiff upper lip” as Kinross, and a young Mills stands out in a first-rate ensemble cast which also includes Bernard Miles and Celia Johnson as Coward’s wife. (Also look fast for a young Richard Attenborough!) With Coward at the helm as writer, star, and even score composer, David Lean handling most of the direction (and editing), and future director Ronald Neame the cinematography, the result is one of Britain’s very finest war films, which accomplished everything Coward set out to do.

#3 - Destination Tokyo (1943) - Still smarting from the Pearl Harbor attack and subsequent Japanese victories, seasoned submarine captain Cassidy (Cary Grant) helps the allies go on the offensive in the Pacific in the thick of the Second War. His daring mission: to plant his sub right smack in Tokyo Bay, get a landing party ashore, and bring back vital intelligence vital to the success of a major upcoming air engagement. Notwithstanding some explicit anti-Japanese sentiment, crew roughhousing and longings for home that feel a trifle sappy in today’s more unsentimental world, Destination stands as a first rate propaganda picture, released at a time when we needed it most. (Cassidy’s tender thoughts of his wife and son as he heads his sub towards Japan served then as a potent reminder of what we were fighting for — always a good question to ask during wartime). Grant is fabulous playing against his usual well-tailored image in a modern war movie, one of his few. His Cassidy is steady but human — a born leader. His crew is also tops, with young star-to-be John Garfield a standout as a female-crazed sailor aptly dubbed “Wolf.” And the movie only improves the closer we get to Japan, and the outcome of the sub’s perilous assignment.

#4 - They Were Expendable (1945) - This is the story of the PT boats in the tough, early days of World War II in the Pacific. Skipper John Brickley (Robert Montgomery) and his right hand man, Rusty Ryan (John Wayne), have difficulty convincing the navy brass of the PT boats’ value to the war effort. They must work to prove it, and do. Eventually, these nimble craft will play a vital role in turning the tide in the Pacific, allowing General MacArthur to fulfill his famous promise to return there in glory. Director John Ford delivers a powerful human tale of faith and hope sustained during the darkest days of the war for the Allies. Montgomery (father of Elizabeth from TV’s Bewitched, and an actual decorated PT boat captain during the conflict) is superb as the embattled but stoic Brickley, and the Duke is also in fine form as Ryan. Donna Reed makes for a bewitching love interest as the nurse who falls for Rusty. One of Ford’s more under-exposed gems.

#5 - The Caine Mutiny (1954) - Based on Herman Wouk’s sprawling novel, this film centers on the neurotic, inflexible Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart), a career naval officer whose men relieve him of command when Queeg supposedly falters in guiding his ship through a perilous typhoon. Once on terra firma, Queeg ensures the men get court-martialed for mutiny, and as the trial progresses, the sad truth is gradually revealed. But is justice really done? Edward Dmytryk’s stunning production remains one of our best war films — and (incidentally) courtroom dramas. A trio of outstanding performances distinguish it: an Oscar-nominated Bogart in one of his best turns as the embattled Queeg; Jose Ferrer, who almost steals the picture as whip-smart defense lawyer Barney Greenwald; and finally, Fred MacMurray, poignant in the unsympathetic part of a cowardly lieutenant. All hands on deck for this one.

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