FIGHTING SEABEES Movie Review

1944 Edward Ludwig

This furious, frivolous propagandistic potboiler has virtually nothing to do with the realities of the war in the Pacific, but it is one of John Wayne's major contributions to the cause. For that, if nothing else, it's worth a look because he turns in the familiar swaggering, bellicose performance that his fans love, and he even dances a brief jitterbug.

Wayne plays Wedge Donovan, the larger-than-life boss of a construction crew that's just finished a costly job for the Navy in the Pacific. When his men return home, he finds that several of them have been killed by the Japanese. According to Eddie Powers (William Frawley), they'd have been fine if the Navy had let them use weapons. Donovan is incensed until Lt. Cmdr. Yarrow (Dennie O'Keefe) explains why civilians in a combat zone cannot be armed. Then Yarrow asks for his assistance in creating a construction division for the Navy. Donovan agrees, but since he is “a hot-headed ape with a hair-trigger temper,” it doesn't take long for him to become impatient with Navy regulations. Further complicating things between Donovan and Yarrow is reporter Connie Chesley (Susan Hayward), who's attracted to both.

Most of the plot, then, is a highly stylized version of the creation of the Navy's construction battalion, the “Seabees.” Once the scene moves back to the Pacific Theater, the emphasis shifts to the “Fighting” part of the title. In that area, it is strictly a back-lot formula picture from the studio assembly line; lively enough, but not particularly involving. It's also casually racist, with moments that will set feminist teeth on edge, though it is pointless to be overly critical in that department. Virtually all of the characters—both the heroes and their enemies—are stereotypes. Donovan's men, for example, are a bunch of Irish brawlers who might have been left over from a lesser John Ford film. The exception in the group is Johnny Novasky (Leonid Kinskey, Sascha the bartender in Casablanca) , who's tossed in for diversity. In essence, good guys are good guys and bad guys are “Tojo and his bug-eyed monkeys.” Another character says, “We're not fighting men any more, we're fighting animals.”

The romantic triangle is handled with the same broad brush strokes and lack of realism. The contorted plotting manages to place Donovan, Yarrow and Connie on the island in the middle of a Japanese attack, and the various “death” scenes leave no cliche unclutched. That said, liberated from the constraints of realism, writers Borden Chase and Aeneas MacKenzie manage to provide surprises right up until the end, and journeyman director Edward Ludwig never lets the pace flag. For undemanding nostalgic entertainment, Fighting Seabees isn't bad.

Cast: John Wayne (Wedge Donovan), Susan Hayward (Constance Chesley), Dennis O'Keefe (Lt. Cmdr. Robert Yarrow), William Frawley (Eddie Powers), Grant Withers (Whanger Spreckles), Tom London (Johnson), Wally Wales (Seabee), Paul Fix (Ding Jacobs), William Forrest (Lt. Kerrick), J.M. Kerrigan (Sawyer Collins), Leonid Kinskey (Johnny Novasky), Duncan Renaldo (Juan), Addison Richards (Capt. Joyce), Ben Welden (Yump Lumkin), Crane Whitley (Refueling officer), Charles Trowbridge; Written by: Borden Chase, Aeneas MacKenzie; Cinematography by: William Bradford; Music by: Walter Scharf, Roy Webb. Producer: Republic. Awards: Nominations: Academy Awards '44: Best Original Dramatic Score. Running Time: 100 minutes. Format: VHS, Closed Caption.