Watch In the Navy For Free

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I saw this first when young so maybe my rose-tinted specs are kicking in, but I still really like this film. Just as Britain's box office no. 1 George Formby was enlisted by the movie industry to help the War effort with a string of "service comedies" so were Abbott & Costello, America's no. 1 cinema attraction at the time. And same as Formby, keeping the same formula but with varying results. Universal were also cashing in on the previous hit Buck Privates – for speed and cheapness most of this film was shot in front of a back projection of stock footage and on a handful of sets. Hold That Ghost had already been finished but had to wait while In The Navy had its day in the Sun first.Bud and Lou are a pair of ordinary gobs, Dick Powell is an idolised crooner who wants to escape the attention to become an ordinary gob but is hounded by Claire Dodd ace reporter, while Dick Foran had his gob shut for most of the picture. Powell might have considered himself a "Forgotten Man" in 1941 but he still got equal billing with the boys. The farcical but at the time controversial nautical climax (without it being only a dream) was lifted from Jack Ahoy with Jack Hulbert from 1934, but I've no doubt it was lifted for him as well. The songs by Don Raye and Gene de Paul were hit and miss, the best being the lovely Starlight, Starbright (for Powell) well up their usual lustrous Wartime Universal mark, and the peppy Gimme Some Skin and Hula Ba Luau (both for the Andrews Sisters). Patti must have been standing in for Martha Raye – who came back for Keep 'Em Flying one year later. Foran for all of his fine singing voice was slightly in the way here and only got to do a bit of A Sailor's Life For Me. Favourite bits: The Condos Brothers dance routine – I feel my ankles cracking just recalling it; Find the submarine; genuine fun with the Sons of Neptune initiation ceremony; Powell's efforts to thwart the photographer; There's a second chance a few years later to check it out in Little Giant but no matter which way you look at it – 7 x 13 = 28!Not quite up to Buck Privates, but still with that unique Universal atmosphere pervading and thus one of my favourites from the boys.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello work up to a goofy stride in "In the Navy," their second feature film and also the second in which they're in the service. Having left the Army for the Navy, their misadventures continue with Abbott still the money-hunting con artist and Costello his sidekick and, usually, patsy.An A & C skit is the highlight of every film they made and here Abbott's blatant cheating at Three-Card Monte, played with produce, is very funny.The score is so-so. Jerome Kern composed the music for "Buck Privates." The composers here weren't in Kern's league.Supported by the ever fine Andrews Sisters and Dick Powell as a famous crooner running away from fame to seek anonymity by serving his country, "In the Navy" has a stronger national defense message than its G.I. predecessor. We were getting closer to war. "Keep your ship afloat," intones an officer at a recruit graduation ceremony. Sadly, the magnificent but obsolescent battleships shown at the beginning and end of the film and in quick shots within the story are the very vessels that suffered the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.The movie is dedicated to the navy personnel at the San Diego and San Pedro bases from which the Pacific Fleet deployed to Pearl Harbor in 1941 at President Roosevelt's express orders.7/10

Plot is not really a crucial element of this type of picture ,and it comes as no suprise to learn it is pretty skimpy.A radio crooner (Dick Powell )is tired of the pressure of fame and enlist incognito in the US navy .A zealous reporter (Claire Dodd )sets out to expose the truth ,even resorting to stowing away on board ship to break the story. It is really the excuse for a variety of set pieces -musical from the Andrews Sisters and comedic ,from Abbot and Costello ,following up their earlier forces comedy "Buck Privates"(acknowledged in a brief gag over the opening credits) These are varied in the amusement value--I loved the scene where Bud demonstrates that 13 multiplied by 7 equals 28 ,and the "bunco game "scene with lemons is a minor classic but much of it is unsubtle clowning.As a memento of the more innocent age of cinema it is endearing and will still generate a few laughs along the way.

The duo's second service comedy of 1941 is also one of their best films. The humor abounds, especially in the sequence where Costello tries to impress the Andrews Sisters by captaining the ship. The comic highlights of the film are the "Lemon Bit" (watch as the boys try to keep a straight face) and Costello's efforts to get into a hammock.The romantic subplot isn't bad, either, as the always excellent Dick Powell croons his way into Claire Dodd's heart. One may find themself wrapped up in this plotline, unlike most romantic subplots in A&C's films.Funny material, the Andrews Sisters, a decent plot and an appearance by the one and only Shemp Howard make "In The Navy" an A&C treat. 8 out of 10.