Pot boiling melodrama that is nominally about the Civil War clash of Ironclads but is really about the struggle for redemption by a naval officer with a crush on his best friends sister.
James Dunn plays a a naval officer who refuses to burn the ship Merrimac when the war between the north and South breaks out. Dishonorably discharged he tries to make his way back into the fight while wooing the sister of his best friend who's gone to fight for the South. A chance for redemption comes when he and his uncle come upon the idea for the design of the Monitor.
I don't know what to make of this film. Much of the film is talky romance or stiff historical discussion about the war and the film flounders around like a beached whale. The film doesn't really come to life until the ironclads finally show up some fifty odd minutes into the film. While the battle sequences are great and almost make up for the rest of the film, they still aren't enough to save the rest of the film. You'll remember the ships but little else
James Dunn plays a a naval officer who refuses to burn the ship Merrimac when the war between the north and South breaks out. Dishonorably discharged he tries to make his way back into the fight while wooing the sister of his best friend who's gone to fight for the South. A chance for redemption comes when he and his uncle come upon the idea for the design of the Monitor.
I don't know what to make of this film. Much of the film is talky romance or stiff historical discussion about the war and the film flounders around like a beached whale. The film doesn't really come to life until the ironclads finally show up some fifty odd minutes into the film. While the battle sequences are great and almost make up for the rest of the film, they still aren't enough to save the rest of the film. You'll remember the ships but little else