hawaii-204-126801 There are references that Cagney joins the Navy to have a rematch brawl with O'Brian, a Naval officer. In fact, O'Brian is *not* a Naval officer. He is a non-commissioned Chief Petty Officer. A lot of difference between the two. For one, non-commissioned petty officers do not rank a salute. Also, if you note, the black sailors are relegated to the mess as cooks and helpers. When I was in the Navy 22 years after the making of this film, some changes had been made but still most of the mess cooks were still black. This movie was made in part on board the USS Arizona. Many of the extras were real sailors and one wonders how many of them were on board that fateful day seven years later.

calvinnme With the birth of the production code, the fun pre-code frolics of Cagney and Joan Blondell were at an end. Thus Warner Brothers came up with a new dynamic screen team - James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. This is the first of the films they did together. Prior to the production code, O'Brien often played the same kind of roles that Cagney played - the fast-talking smart guy with big ideas and a big dose of attitude. Since you can't have two of these in the same picture, O'Brien was generally promoted to being the more traditionally respectable of the two in their films together, and such is the case here.The film starts with construction worker Chesty O'Conner (James Cagney) and naval officer Biff Martin (Pat O'Brien) trading at first verbal barbs and then punches. Chesty gets fired from his job because of the time he takes off recovering from the fight, and decides to go another round with Biff. Unfortunately, Biff's ship has put out to sea, so Chesty thinks the solution is to join the navy and get assigned to Biff's ship. He actually does wind up on Biff's ship, but soon learns he can't take to punching out officers whenever the mood strikes him. To complicate matters, Chesty takes a shine to Biff's sister, Dorothy (Gloria Stuart), and this just inflames matters more as Biff wants his sister to have nothing to do with Chesty. Warner contract player Frank McHugh provides the comic relief as Droopy Mullins, Chesty's stalwart friend and shipmate.The film works better than most made right after the production code, primarily because the teaming of Cagney and O'Brien worked so well. By turning down the volume a bit on O'Brien's screen sauciness and turning up the volume on Cagney's, the two play off of each other's dynamism perfectly. This film is also interesting for historical reasons - it was filmed on and around the U.S.S. Arizona, one of the ships that sank at Pearl Harbor seven years after this film was made.

windtar im a big fan of cagney and i enjoy o'briens work also.that being said, and it seems i will be the first reviewer to think this film was nothing special. i say this for future people who come to IMDb for a quick overview to see if i want to watch over something else like i do.granted its a very early film, with good actors and a a few good supporting actors, but that being said, my opinions are based on the acting and script writing parts.yes cagneys known for the little tough guy, but his character went far beyond tough guy to obnoxious and kinda mean.cagney in this early movie is not the 'loveable' tough guy he's known for. he is quite annoying and deserves every punch and punishment he gets.o'brien on the other hand did a great job acting as the fair and respected character.cagney in blackface is kind of funny posing as a black man, funnier yet is his buddy yelling = way to go chesty = as he is escaping on a turned down leave.until i read the others reviews, i didn't know the 2 ships used were destroyed in pearl harbor. that i agree is a very historical memory the film offers.it's worth a watch, but is no highlight of anyones career.i have to admit i was kinda disappointed in this movie because i am a fan of old cinema, but sadly i just think cagney character wasn't likable, and the movie tried to portray him as such.

Arthur Hausner Besides James Cagney and Pat O'Brien, there's also beautiful Gloria Stuart (63 years before her triumphant return to the screen in Titanic (1997)) as the love interest, and Frank McHugh providing comedy centered around his mother's false teeth. In a fight over a girl with Navy man O'Brien, Cagney is knocked out when his girl distracts him. And when O'Brien later steals his girl, Cagney is so angry he joins the Navy with the hope of getting even. Talk about holding grudges! After 3 months of basic training (shot on location at the Naval Training Station in San Diego, California), Cagney is assigned to the battleship U.S.S. Arizona, the ship O'Brien is on. The Navy allowed location shooting on the actual ship, which is the same one sunk at Pearl Harbor and is now in the harbor as a memorial. It's an impressive ship with unbelievable firepower and we see the big guns being loaded and fired in maneuvers. Meanwhile, Cagney had met and wooed Stuart, but she turned out to be O'Brien's sister! And O'Brien caused a rift, another reason for Cagney to get even with him. Because of a bad attitude problem, Cagney eventually is transferred to the dirigible U.S.S. Macon at Sunnyvale, California. Again, the actual airship is used and it is an awesome sight as it is pulled out of its hangar, dwarfing everything in view. As luck (and the script) would have it, the ship tries to land in windy weather but aborts, with O'Brien hanging on to a mooring line as it gains altitude. Cagney disobeys orders and climbs down the rope with a parachute to try to save the man he doesn't yet know is O'Brien.