We Are in the Navy Now

After this feeble comedy Kenneth More didn't make another film for 2 years.There are a number of theories why this happened.After all other contemporaries managed to maintain their careers for years to come.He must have reached slightly desperation stakes to accept this role.It starts off reasonably amusing whilst the film focuses on the British Navy.However when the script takes him to the American navy.Clearly an attempt to sell the film to American distributors highlighted by the parachuting in of two American actors.The only diversion is seeing so many familiar character actors in small parts.The problem for Kenneth More was that he was a one part actor.So when that part disappeared,so did his career.

"This is the worst run Revolution I've ever saw." So says someone in this very bizarre, convoluted comedy about the British Navy becoming involved in the bizarre goings on of a non-existent country in the middle of Revolution and how it interferes with what the Americans are doing down there. This farce goes overboard in trying to spoof 60's global interference in what was going on in third world countries, and ends up being a very messy and ultimately unfunny and overwrought romp where grooans replace laughs and confusion replaces realism. I don't think I laughed once at the goings on here, although there was some merit in the performances of Lloyd Nolan as the naval commander and the aging Mischa Auer as the befuddled dictator. But for leads Kenneth More, Jeremy Lloyd and Joan O'Brien, the results are not so good, and in spite of a color production, the film is very colorless and flat and sadly pointless. I blame this on a week script, poor direction and a rushed production, overwrought and overconfident performances, and a pacing that in spite of what the filmmakers were thinking during the rushes fails to keep the viewer's attention. This is badly dated and often obnoxious in its attempt to parody World interference where it doesn't belong, and I couldn't wait for this even before it hit the 90-minute mark. This is a sinking ship from start to finish, like sleeping on a submarine with the windows open. It's a film that the government and the audience could easily have agreed that treason was being committed.

As a fan of old British comedy films I have to say this one fails to float my boat. With its Eastmancolour production and a number of familiar British stars, it looks and feels like one of those mildly amusing Betty Box/Ian St John films from the late 50's, and the whole thing is weak and lacking any punch. It is episodic and relies to a great extent on nice scenery and sunlit japery for its appeal. It's a very average 5 from me.

It's not every day you see a film starring Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan and Mischa Auer (the latter playing a double role)! Directed by a woman, scripted under a pseudonym by a blacklistee from a 1959 novel by John Winton that vouchsafed a few home truths about Naval Intelligence, set against the backdrop of a revolution abroad and released the month after the Cuban missile crisis. It it all sounds fascinating on paper, but evidently wasn't considered any threat by the authorities since the makers were permitted the use of the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth and had the money to lavish upon widescreen & colour location work in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

With Easter coming up,I started looking for movies to watch with my dad over the season. Reading old issues of Empire,I noticed a review for an all-star British Comedy that I've never heard of before!,which led to me joining the navy. View on the film: Bringing the film into shore,Network land with a very good transfer,with the audio being clean and the picture only having a few specs of dirt. Made with the British navy,director Wendy Toye & cinematographer Otto Heller tour the ships in wide shots that show of the high seas location. Stuffing the movie with cameos,Toye does very well at keeping a distance and allowing the viewer to enjoy the moment. Going to sea as a UK/US co-production, Howard Dimsdale adaptation of John Winton's struggles with the market both sides are after,as the happy chappy British Comedy beginning is brushed away for a muddle daring do spy tale,which stops this ship becoming a luxury viewing.

Kenneth More was a great actor. I also have a feeling he was a brave man, bravely looking life in the face and despite physical suffering towards the end coped with everything that was thrown at him. Who could object to the fact that both he and Kay Kendall made an admirable acting couple in ' Genevieve ' ? It surely must make one of the finest pairings in film comedy. He is good in ' We Joined the Navy ' but he deserved a better film. And yet despite the inferior material he shines. Worth watching him and yes there are certain parts of the scenario to enjoy. A film for grown up boys of the early 1960's.

Found this film absolutely hilarious when I saw it in the cinema aged 9 or 10. Like most films of its time it hasn't aged well. Compare with most of the terrible Carry On films. Rating is for its value as a period piece.

Kenneth More plays a naval officer on board an American ship and with his small coterie of hapless English seamen, whose incompetence, silly antics and adolescent behaviour never manages to raise a laugh. Watching dim - witted English seamen engaging in puerile frolics, with Kenneth More, whose acting can only be described as wooden, makes this film a tedious experience! It's a very forgettable film and I'm not surprised that Kenneth More's film career went into reverse! This film sadly is a real yawn!