29 Aug Hellcats of the Navy
(1957) Ronald Reagan is the commander of the USS Starfish, and Nancy Davis is his love interest in this WWII submarine film. Ms. Davis was actually Regan’s wife! They had been married since 1952, and this was the only film they did together.
Hellcats of the Navy was based on a 1955 nonfiction book, Hellcats of the Sea, by Admiral Charles A. Lockwood and Hans Christian Adamson. In 1942, World War I fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker was sent on a tour of airbases in the Pacific. His bomber got lost and ditched in the ocean. He and his friend Hans Christian Adamson, along with the crew drifted at sea for twenty-four days before being rescued. After retiring, Adamson wrote a series of books. The one he wrote in 1946 was titled Eddie Rickenbacker.
Now that story is more interesting than the one about the submarine.
Seriously, about halfway through Hellcats I was ready to call it quits, but things picked up again. At the beginning of the story, Reagan’s character has to make a very difficult decision, one which was bitterly criticized by his executive officer. The ending of the story was all about lessons learned.
Gotta say it. Ronald Reagan’s role was a familiar one, a confident leader. There was very little chemistry between his and Nancy’s characters. She made it clear by her words that she was in love with him, but he only gave her a quick kiss good-bye when he was headed off to sea.
I remembered they had been married for four years. The honeymoon was over.
Watch movie clips on the TCM website.
Hellcats of the Navy at amazon.com
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