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A very entertaining and rousing film, with a large part of it dedicated to a comedic angle. With a cast of Laughton, Donlevy, Taylor, Brennan and others, you could not go wrong. Sure....a destroyer trading gun fire with a battleship won't have a Hollywood ending, but still, it is an enjoyable film, and you won't go wrong killing some time enjoying it! I have always been a fan of Laughton..such a skilled actor and he pulls off his role as a seasoned admiral with skill and quite a bit of humor. Brian Donlevy always carried off his roles of authority...a currently under-appreciated actor. Robert Taylor....handsome as ever and good as the "go to" type of guy. The rest of the roles are filled with good characterizations.

Clearly, a war time film, as the U. S. had just been pulled into the war, after the bombing of pearl harbor. So the various military branches are revving up for action. Charles Laughton is the admiral who assigns Roberts and Masterman (Brian Donlevy and Robert Taylor) to an old creaky ship from the LAST war. They are not happy about this, but will do as told. Walter Brennan, who was in everything from westerns to Have and Have Not, is in here as the Yoeman. Similar to Universal's Operation Petticoat from 1959. It's pretty good. The usual shenanigans of trying to carry on while keeping the ship held together, under fighting conditions. Directed by Robert Leonard... he was nominated for Ziegfeld and Divorcee.

This film starts very strong with Robert Taylor playing a Ivy League-trained Reserve Navy Officer who so far during WWII has become accustomed to serving duty in an assignment on the fringe of the war as an Admiral's aide where he enjoys plenty of hobnobbing with females at Washington DC social events. His commitment is put to the test when his boss assigns him as Executive Officer of a rusty WWI Tin Can that he must now man and ready for deployment. Brian Donlevy is solid as always as the Tin Can's skipper and given our current Middle East military call-ups, the film points to some interesting issues regarding the Reservist Taylor serving on active duty in wartime. A film worth watching, but ultimately, however, it saps itself too deep in corny WWII patriotic sentimentality, thereby missing an opportunity to become one of the better war films.

What saves this routine film is the sharp sudden comic turn when the babies show up. It is at this point when Charles Laughton shows his mettle. From the beginning of the film, I thought that Laughton had been terribly miscast. While Brian Donlevy is in solid form, kudos must go to Robert Taylor, especially when he is confronted with the infants on board. Until the arrival of the babies, the film was quite dull at best. Walter Brennan plays his usual role as a dedicated enlisted man. Amazingly, he recovered real fast to sink that Japanese ship. What weakens this film is that there is no really romantic interests in it. Yes, we could have had it despite the misery that World War 11 brought as well as the human sacrifices that had to be endured.

The nation is rallying after Pearl Habor. All the girls love the dashing Navy Lt. Gregg Masterman (Robert Taylor). He's an entitled Harvard guy from a privileged well-connected east coast family. He's an aide to Rear Admiral Stephen Thomas (Charles Laughton). Hard working Lieutenant Commander Martin J. Roberts (Brian Donlevy) is desperate to get back out into the seas. Unlike Masterman, he's had to fight all the way up from his humble beginnings. The Admiral assigns him as the new captain to an old destroyer from the first World War. I expected more war action from this wartime propaganda film. It takes a baby detour in between the explosions. It has fine old-style action but the kids do get into the way. I get the premise of equating convoy duty to safeguarding innocence but it complicates the suicide run. I don't mind the baby rescue but maybe the rescued should be all put on another ship. All in all, it's a fine film for the war effort.

The description of the movie was correct with one exception. The Japanese ship that was sunk by torpedoes was a Battleship, not a destroyer. While this may seem to be only a slight detail, it is most important in the significance of our hero saving the entire convoy from eminent destruction. This movie was typical of the war era movies in that heroic Americans always overcame overwhelming odds. A real moral builder. The movie was broadcast on TCM cable channel, on May 27th as part of its salute to Memorial Day. I was glad to Robert Taylor, who I met during World War II, in Dallas when he was in the Navy. He was in is Navy uniform and looked every bit the person he played in "Stand by for Action"