In one of the most implausible scenarios ever concocted for a motion picture, James Cagney joins the navy just so that he can have an opportunity to get back at an officer (Pat O'Brien) who beat him in a street fight. Things get complicated (as such things do) when Cagney finds out the girl he has the hots for is O'Brien's sister. Predictably, he and O'Brien form a sort of prickly friendship over the course of the film, which culminates in Cagney saving O'Brien's life as he's dangling from a blimp (don't ask).
What a goofball movie this is. There's nothing very memorable about it, but it's also completely entertaining. Cagney is a force to be reckoned with in any movie, and he sells it here just as he sold any number of otherwise disposable films over the course of his career. In a bit of a head scratcher, the Academy decided to nominate this movie for Best Picture in 1934. Though they also nominated 12 movies for the big prize that year, so it's not like they were super selective.
Grade: B+
What a goofball movie this is. There's nothing very memorable about it, but it's also completely entertaining. Cagney is a force to be reckoned with in any movie, and he sells it here just as he sold any number of otherwise disposable films over the course of his career. In a bit of a head scratcher, the Academy decided to nominate this movie for Best Picture in 1934. Though they also nominated 12 movies for the big prize that year, so it's not like they were super selective.
Grade: B+