Mister Roberts (DVD)

ESSENTIAL MOVIE!!! Henry Fonda finally returned to the silver screen after an eight year absence to star in Mister Roberts. The movie is an adaption of the Broadway play in which he portrayed the same role. Mister Roberts takes place in the closing months of WWII but it's as much a comedy as it is a drama. John Ford directed some of the film & was replaced by Mervyn LeRoy who finished it. Lt. Doug Roberts (Henry Fonda) is the chief cargo officer of the Reluctant, a supply ship in the U.S. navy, a true derelict of a ship if there ever was one. He's anxious to get transferred to another ship so that he can get combat duty. All of his requests for transfer are denied by the Captain (James Cagney) because he views it as an insult to his less than illustrious record. Cagney is absolutely superb in his role. The entire crew despises the Captain while they adore Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts is constantly looking out for the crew which causes the Captain to countermand every order or allowance given by Mr. Roberts. Ensign Frank Pulver (Jack Lemmon in an Oscar winning role for Best Supporting Actor) almost steals the movie. He's served on the Reluctant for over a year & has never come face to face with the Captain. He's the laundary officer & he's done his best to avoid any & all duties & especially not ever being seen by the Captain. When they finally meet the Captain asks him who he is & what he does. Pulver tells him & the Captain can only tell him to use a little less starch. William Powell, in his final role (best known for his Thin Man movies), is Doc, an older naval officer just trying to get to retirement. Doc is the father-figure for Mr. Roberts, the one he turns to for advice, much as thecrew does to Mr. Roberts. In one of the film's classic scenes we see Doc, Mr. Roberts & Pulver "mix" up some Scotch. After they sample is Roberts says it doesn't taste right & adds that Scotch tastes a lot like iodine. So Doc adds a dash of real iodine & the concoction is complete. Finally, after much scheming, Mr. Roberts gets his transfer to combat duty & we never see him again. Before he leaves, the crew makes up an award, the Honor of the Palm Leaf (referring to the Captain's beloved palm tree), & bestows it on Mr. Robeets. There's an occasional letter from him which the whole crew wants to hear. Then , in one of Hollywood's greatest heart-touching scenes, comes a letter telling them of Mr. Roberts death in combat. The entire crew, except for the Captain, mourn his passing away. In a moment of sheer inspiration, Ensign Pulver deigns to be the Captain's new nemesis. He throws the palm tree overboard & the Captain now knows he has another "Mr. Roberts". The cast is star-studded including Ward Bond, Nick Adams, Ken Curtis, Philip Carey, Patrick Wayne, Tige Andrews, Harry Carey, Jr. & Martin Milner. Mister Roberts had three Academy Award nominations: Best Movie, Best Sound & Best Supporting Actor (the only win). This is one of Hollywood's greatset productions & should be enjoyed by all generations.

It's great when a film considered one of the great classics of its decade holds up as well now as it did in the mid 1950's when it was released. It was wildly popular in its day, ending up the second-biggest box office film of 1955. it was nominated for three Academy Awards and won one for newcomer Jack Lemmon's supporting performance as Ensign Pulver. Originally it appeared as a novel of short vignettes by Thomas Heggen that was a best seller (selling over a million copies) in 1946, Heggen was 24 when he signed up after Pearl Harbor and was a Lieutenant on supply ships in the Atlantic and Pacific and knew what he was talking about; he basically was the Henry Fonda character. Heggen and Joshua Logan (w that ho would later co-write and direct south Pacifc) adapted it into a long-running Broadway play that won them tony Award's. Mister Roberts was played by Henry Fonda and it became his signature role. Though Fonda was a natural choice to play Roberts, Warner Brothers was afraid he had been out of movies too long since Mister Roberts had run for seven years on Broadway. Director John ford insisted on him because he and Fonda had worked on films together in the past. Fonda was the only Broadway carry-over but group of actors assembled for the film was flawless. James Cagney handled the difficult role of Captain Morton with all the expertise of his long career. The Captain (actually Lieutenant Commander) was a cruel, slave-driving martinet, selfish and ambitious, almost pathologically so yet he couldn't be allowed to become a cartoon villain or a too serious Captain Queeg type. Lemmon played Pulver with just the right mix of laziness, insouciance and fear of even meeting the captain. William Powell was the warm center of the film, a truly wise ship's doctor who gives good advice and is pretty good at mixing up some fake Scotch whiskey. Most of all he tells Roberts he's as valuable on a supply ship with all of its boredom and monotony as he would be if he was on a fighting ship, a lesson that really hits home in the end. This was Powell's final role on film. Frequently this means an actor died soon after but Powell, already 60, lived to be over 90 in comfortable retirement. The rest of the cast were as good in their roles as the principals. Mister Roberts was the first film about the war that was as much a comedy as it was a drama. This would seem risky, but audiences had warmed to the book in 1946 and the play in '48, so there didn't seem to be a big taboo over this (though funny Nazi's would have to wait until mid-60's TV). What it didn't do was try to mix it with action, the usual subject of war films, which would have made it too serious for the comedy.The film stayed pretty close to the play with almost everything happening on the small set of the ship. The only attempt to open it up was a brief visit to the island hospital and a big scene of Polynesians rowing out to greet the ship when it arrives in a Tahiti-like place. From its appearance you would never suspect this was a troubled production but it vas very troubled indeed. John Ford was a difficult man to get along with and here he was at his worst, getting into fights and arguments with everyone, even Fonda. In interviews, Cagney called him "A truly nasty old man". He was fired when he punched Fonda in the jaw and almost simultaneously had a gall bladder attack requiring immediate surgery. The film was finished by Mervin Leroy, who tried to follow ford's intentions (there's still a lot of Ford's traits in the film) and an uncredited Joshua Logan. Mister Roberts is rewarding to watch today, mostly for its fine acting. Just remember that it is a character driven comedy-drama and not your typical action-packed war film.

Temi que al no tener subtitulos en espanol tuviera problemas para entender pero los subtitulos en ingles los suplieron, nostalgia en el buen sentido de la palabra, con un elenco admirable desde los actores principales y los asi llamados secundarios, dialogos inteligentes y dos momentos a senalar como william Powell y Henri Fonda ensenan a Jack Lemon como preparar un whisky y la escena final.

Awesome.

This is a brilliant war-time comedy with some more serious elements included towards the end. Below more of my impressions, with some limited spoilers. 1. Origins "Mister Roberts" was first a novel, written in 1946 by Thomas Heggen, a young veteran of Pacific War, just discharged after serving succesively on board of two auxiliary warships, attack cargo ship USS "Virgo" and cargo ship USS "Rotanin". This brilliantly written and hilariously funny book became instantly a bestseller and in 1948 was adapted into a Broadway play, already with Henry Fonda in the main role. The production run for 1157 performances and finally in 1955 Hollywood produced a film version. 2. The film. I do not want to reveal too much about the story, so let's just say that everything happens on board of a cargo ship requisitioned for duration of war by US Navy and named USS "Reluctant" - quite obviously in reality there never was a US Navy ship carrying such a name... The commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Morton (James Cagney) is a petty tyrant, of limited intellect and ability and as ridiculous as he is vicious, but certainly decided to make the life of everybody on board a living hell, when in the same time obsequiously crawling in front of any superior officer. Morton relies for most of real work on his very able executive officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Douglas Roberts (Henry Fonda), whom everybody adresses with the utmost respect as "Mister Roberts". Two more characters are important - an annoying, slightly pathetic slacker and self proclaimed Casanova, Ensign Frank Pulver (Jack Lemmon) and an aging medical officer, a Lieutenant we know only as "Doc" (William Powell). The role of Ensign Pulver brought to Jack Lemmon his first Oscar (Best Supporting Role) and this character is certainly something you don't see every day...))) Two more things play an important role in this film: a palm that Morton received as trophy from the Admiral for delivering "more toothpaste and toilet paper than any other cargo ship in the whole Pacific theater" and Mister Roberts repeated, daily requests for a transfer to a destroyer, as he simply cannot stand anymore to stay on board of the USS "Reluctant" and delivering toilet paper when a real war is fought by others... 3. My impressions This is a masterpiece of comedy, subtly mixed with some drama. Watching it was a delight and I guarantee that quite soon in the film you will get emotionally involved: you will root for Mister Roberts, the "Doc" and the whole crew, you will want to bitchslap a couple of times Ensing Pulver and you will certainly want to STRANGLE Morton - if possible after sticking his infamous palm tree up his bum...))) The humour shown in this film is very, very superior to most of things we can see nowadays on the screen as it relies mostly on brilliant dialogs, avoids foul language and is especially very humane and much gentler than what we can see in so many modern "comedies" - even the abominable Morton is more a moron than a monster and at some moments we are more enclined to feel pity for him than pure hatred... The best comic moments are those during the liberty granted finally to the crew on a French controlled tropical island - believe me, you WANT to see this part! Towards the end the film becomes for a moment more serious - and actually that only adds to its charm... Bottom line, this is a GREAT moment of cinema! Grab some popcorn in one hand and Morton's palm tree in the other and sail with USS "Reluctant" to the Pacific to travel "from apathy to tedium with occasional side trips to monotony and ennui", when in the same ROARING with laughter. Enjoy!

La calidad de vídeo no se corresponde a un Blue-Ray sino a un vulgar DVD, dudo que sea HD. Me ha parecido vergonzoso ver como la imágen se pixela por falta de definición. Un timo.

Meravigliosa commedia commovente e, se vogliamo, comica, targata Warner Bros. e soprattutto John Ford (con l’aiuto di Mervyn LeRoy). Ambientata nel 1945, alla fine della Seconda Guerra Mondiale sul fronte del Pacifico, Henry Fonda (Tenente Douglas A. 'Doug' Roberts) e il suo equipaggio di una nave da carico nelle retrovie, devono fare i conti con la noia e un dispotico comandante della nave James Cagney (Capitano Morton). William Powell (Tenente 'Doc'), guida spirituale e dottore di un sacco di marinai ‘malati immaginari’ che non hanno voglia di lavorare con a capo Jack Lemmon (Ens. Frank Thurlowe Pulver). Ward Bond (Chief Petty Officer Dowdy) sempre presente. Due ore di risate ma anche momenti drammatici e, alla fine dell’opera, di eroismo. Pezzo da collezione imperdibile.