|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
Mister Roberts | Year: 1955 Classification: Comedy Directed: - Joshua Logan - John Ford - Mervyn LeRoy Actors/Actresses: - Henry Fonda - James Cagney So Many Favourites In One Film!! Henry Fonda stars in one of his most famous roles as Mr. Roberts, an officer on board a cargo ship, a man who underestimates his importance and the respect he is shown by an appreciative crew. The reason they admire him so much is because he stands up to their dictatorial captain, played ferociously by James Cagney. Fonda brings a lot of dignity and quiet strength to his character. The great William Powell is Fonda's confidant and ship's doctor, and Powell plays him with wisdom and class. Jack Lemmon, as Ensign Pulver, gets many of the film's best laughs, as he broadly plays the officer who is a lot of talk, but not much action. Mister Roberts combines humour, honesty, and drama very well, giving the viewer a real sense of the camaraderie onboard the ship. We also see how the human spirit can triumph under difficult conditions. And it's also a great chance to see four of Hollywood's greatest actors in one film, each one showing what they did so well. This is one to watch. From boredom to hilarity and nobility Watching this again many years after I first saw it, I expected to be disappointed. After all, the great films of our youth sometimes turn out to be something less than we had imagined. But Mister Roberts does not disappoint. This is one of the gems of the American cinema, a poignant comedy featuring a multitudinously clever and delightful script by Frank Nugent and Joshua Logan from a novel by Thomas Heggen made into a play by Logan and Heggen that ran for many years on Broadway. The movie features sterling performances from Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell and Jack Lemmon. Fonda is particularly brilliant in the kind of role from which legends are made. (He also played the part on Broadway.) You can take all your John Wayne classics and toss them overboard with the Captain's palm tree. Henry Fonda as Lt (j.g.) Doug Roberts, cargo officer of the USS Reluctant, shines forth as the noblest hero of them all. He is a quiet, strong, fair, courageous man in a story sure to mist up your eyes even if you're watching it for the twentieth time. Jack Lemmon won a supporting Oscar for his performance as Ensign Pulver, a kind of lazy, but slyly resourceful Walter Mitty type who talks a great game but never follows through... James Cagney is the Captain, a sour, resentful man who mercilessly badgers Mister Roberts and grossly neglects the morale of his crew. He is just perfect. The way he bellows "Mister Roberts!" or way he trembles out the line, "Mister...Mister...this time you've gone too far" delights the audience. William Powell, in his last film, plays the ship's wise and ever diplomatic doc with graceful precision. Marty (1955) starring Ernest Borgnine, a kind of politically correct (for its time) love story about ordinary folk, won the Academy's honor for best picture in 1956, the year Mister Roberts was nominated. Henry Fonda, in perhaps his most beloved and certainly one of his finest performances, was not even nominated. Incidentally, Hollywood legend John Ford directed, but fell ill and Mervyn LeRoy--no slouch himself (e.g., The Bad Seed, 1956; No Time for Sergeants, 1958, etc.)--finished up. There are a number of memorable scenes in the film, the kind recalled with delight. My favorite involves the crew, their binoculars and the nurses. I also loved the careful concocting of the "scotch whiskey" by Doc. The weekly letters requesting a transfer, the Hoot Gibson films we (thankfully) never see, the ever worshipful palm tree, Pulver's marbles in a tobacco tin that he shakes in Roberts's face, vowing to prove his manhood by putting them in the captain's overbin, his "firecracker," his "If I could be with you/One hour tonight/To do the things I might/I'm telling you true/I'd be anything but blue," the giddy nurses, and the infamous liberty are other unforgettable bits. But more than anything, what makes this a great movie, are the indelible characters so very true to our experience, and how nicely they meld and contrast. Th Review is of DVD - Not the movie Given the "classic" status of this movie, it seems meaningless to discuss the content for this review. Thus, I will stick to reviewing Warner Brothers DVD release of the film. First, I commend them for the inclusion of the excerpt of an Ed Sullivan "Toast of the Town" (1948) tribute episode featuring the movie's stars. This was really interesting viewing. However, for the movie itself....this is the worst Warner release I have seen since "National Velvet". The picture frequently becomes out of focus, and the picture is often very undefined throughout the whole movie. There are a couple of places in the movie where the picture jumps, as if the film from which the transfer was taken "skipped a sprocket". Overall, this is an embarassing release of a classic movie....despite the great extras which are included. Warner needs to go back to the drawing board on this one. Buy Mister Roberts at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Mister Roberts Search with the Priority Search Engine on Mister Roberts This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
