In it's frequently blotchy Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center restoration and missing the big sea battle, this is still one of the more entertaining silent action melodramas of its day.
Frequently shirtless O'Brien is in a more vicious Flag & Quirt relationship with leading man of the previous decade Russell - as naval stokers, competing for a winning young Gaynor and leading post war street gangs who combine to blow up a dope smuggler's submarine, before punching it out in the ring under the supervision of Salvation Army officer Edeson and joining the American legion together.
The idea content is occasionally alarming but bits are better than the formulaic plot line and it's a first airing for a number of ideas Ford uses in later films - SEAS BENEATH's submerging sub, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE's speeding boats or DONOVAN'S REEF's brawling ex navy men.
Frequently shirtless O'Brien is in a more vicious Flag & Quirt relationship with leading man of the previous decade Russell - as naval stokers, competing for a winning young Gaynor and leading post war street gangs who combine to blow up a dope smuggler's submarine, before punching it out in the ring under the supervision of Salvation Army officer Edeson and joining the American legion together.
The idea content is occasionally alarming but bits are better than the formulaic plot line and it's a first airing for a number of ideas Ford uses in later films - SEAS BENEATH's submerging sub, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE's speeding boats or DONOVAN'S REEF's brawling ex navy men.