Mister Roberts (1955)

At the center of Mister Roberts, nominated for Best Picture of 1955, is a palm tree. It is carefully watered and tended by the captain of the U.S.S. Reluctant because it was given to him in honor of the hard work that he and the ship's crew provide to the rest of the Navy. Capt. Morton (James Cagney, using to full effect the lifetime of tough guy roles he'd perfected) wants a tight ship even if it is only a cargo ship that brings supplies to the warships actually doing battle in the Pacific Ocean during the waning years of World War II. Unfortunately, the men on the Reluctant, particularly the title character of Lt. JG Doug Roberts (Henry Fonda), have been trapped on board without liberty for too long. They need a break from all the work they've been doing, but Morton is adamantly opposed, wanting the men to concentrate solely on their duties.

Every infraction gets attention from the captain. If someone puts out a cigar butt in his beloved palm tree, the movie for the evening is cancelled. No one is allowed to be on deck without a shirt on. The rules are seemingly endless and frequently pointless, and Fonda's Roberts is tired of loading and unloading cargo; he wants to see some of the action on a destroyer. He longs to make what he considers to be a real contribution to the war effort. Each week he submits a request to transfer, and each week the captain forwards it without his approval, dooming it to failure. Roberts, frustrated in his efforts, has the support of the crew, though. They all want him to be happy because he has frequently demonstrated--and publicly, I would add--that he does not approve of the captain's bullying tactics or methods for keeping order.

Roberts makes a deal with Morton. In exchange for liberty for the men on board, he will stop writing his weekly letter and will follow whatever command Morton gives him without question or contradiction. It doesn't take long before Roberts becomes the face of the enemy to the crew, and they begin to shun him the way that they have tried to avoid the captain. Eventually, Roberts breaks and throws overboard the palm which Morton has so deeply prized. What follows is the revelation of the deal Morton and Roberts struck, and the men on board devise a way to get Roberts transferred to another ship so that he can actually serve in battle.

Made ten years after the end of World War II, Mister Roberts is not exactly a war movie. It's more of a gentle comedy about the rigidity of military command and about the lengths to which we will go in order to find some measure of happiness and peace of mind. There are, of course, serious moments here, particularly when the men are under the impression that Roberts is following Morton's orders in order to be promoted, but much of the film is rather good-natured fun.

Fonda is perfectly cast here. He was so talented at playing men who face those decisive moments in life, those moments when must confront life's divisive issues. He's forced here to choose the kind of man he is going to be: someone who follows the chain of command regardless of what those in command do or say or someone who's going to do what is the right thing regardless of what those in command think or believe. No one was better at serving as a moral compass than Fonda.

As I already mentioned, Cagney plays to his type here. He was perhaps always best as a tough guy, someone with ambition who knew what it would take to make it to the top. The scene where he takes out an admiral's cap and explains to Fonda's Roberts why the lieutenant must follow orders is an actor's exercise in restraint. Also along to play to his strengths is William Powell as the ship's doctor. Powell had a light comedic touch, and he was a master of timing and phrasing, both of them put to good use here. As Roberts' confidante, Powell shines in what was to be his final performance on film.

And then there's Jack Lemmon. Lemmon plays Ensign Pulver, an opportunist who takes advantage of every chance he gets to bypass his duties as laundry and morale officer (an odd combination, to say the least). Pulver has big plans to upset the captain, but he never quite sees any of this plans through to fruition. His plan to collect marbles and put them above the captain's bed so they disturb his sleep yields only five marbles. A huge firecracker needs to be tested first and destroys the laundry room. Pulver, of course, has no material to make another one. He even tries to smuggle a nurse from a neighboring island on board, only to see his plans fall apart when all of the nurses show up and expect a tour. Lemmon was playing his first major role on the movie screen and was chosen Best Supporting Actor for 1955. I would argue that he wins the award just for the closing line of the film. For how many great closing moments in film is Jack Lemmon responsible: Mister Roberts, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment...?

The film version of Mister Roberts was based upon the play in which Fonda had been starring for several years. It's still somewhat stage-bound, restricted as it is to the cargo ship for almost all of the action that takes place. Even the night the crew receives liberty, nothing is shown of what they do to the island. We hear that there is a lot of drinking and fighting and destruction of property and even the theft of a goat, but we are told all of this, not shown it, just the way it would have been handled on stage. Nevertheless, the film still stands on its own as solid entertainment. The stellar cast alone is worth watching, and the emotional impact of the final sequence, where Lemmon reads a series of letters to the other men on board, is powerful indeed.