Shipmates Forever

While this film has a few very familiar clichés and Dick Powell is way too old to play a college freshman, it is an enjoyable film....and one I recommend.

When the film begins, Dick (Dick Powell) is visiting his father, the Admiral (Lewis Stone). Their meeting is a bit tense, as the Admiral longs for his son to join the Navy and make a man of himself. Dick is more content to be a successful singer. Additionally, Dick's lady (Ruby Keeler) likes that Dick isn't in the Navy, as her family has a long naval history...and she's lost a couple close loved ones during the war. Inexplicably, Dick suddenly reverses himself and joins the Naval Academy!! This DEFINITELY came from out of no where and soon he's in Annapolis doing everything but going to classes. Like most college films of the era, they never show any of the men going to classes! Instead, Dick is hazed and he remains aloof from the other cadets. After all, he has no intention of staying in the Navy for long. And, not surprisingly, the Admiral is ashamed to call him his son. Can Dick redeem himself and gain a sense of camaraderie? Or will he remain a bit of a butt-head? What do you think?

This film follows a very familiar pattern seen in many film (such as "A Yank at Eton" and even "A Chump at Oxford" to an extent). But it manages to do it very well...better than I'd expected. Much of this is due to Powell's nice performance and much of it is the nice location shooting...aboard ships and at the Academy. Worth seeing even if the picture is a bit dated and predictable.

In New York, popular crooner and radio star Dick Powell (as Richard "Dick" Melville) meets tap-dancer Ruby Keeler (as June Blackburn) at a Navy celebration. As you would expect, they are mutually attracted. Helping the relationship considerably is the fact that both Mr. Powell and Ms. Keeler have soured on their US Navy connections. Powell wants to continue his singing career and resists Navy admiral father Lewis Stone (as Richard Melville), who wants his boy to continue a long family tradition. Having lost both a father and brother to Navy service, Keeler agrees Powell should keep his distance...

In order to prove he can make the grade, Powell predictably applies to the Navel Academy at Annapolis. Though he intended otherwise, Powell eventually joins the Navy as a midshipman. Keeler makes a few appearances, coming to terms with her family tragedies through Powell's experience...

Director Frank Borzage and the Warner Bros. team are equipped with plenty of location and stock footage, but too much of it is padding; this film's appeal would be greater with some trimming. Helping the formulaic Delmer Daves story is a colorfully introduced trio of "Shipmates Forever" - Ross Alexander (as Lafayette "Sparks" Brown) from Arkansas, Eddie Acuff (as Lincoln "Cowboy") from Texas and John Arledge (as Johnny "Coxswain" Lawrence) from Arizona. Robert Light (as Ted Sterling) is also on board. Best supporting actor is Mr. Arledge, who gets the best-written role and sails away with the film.

****** Shipmates Forever (10/12/35) Frank Borzage ~ Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, John Arledge, Ross Alexander

I first saw this film over 40 years ago and viewing it again it was as good as I remember it. The team that brought you Flirtation Walk, director Frank Borzage and stars Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler did even better in my opinion with their film about a Naval Midshipman at Annapolis and his lady love.

Like Flirtation Walk, both Powell and Keeler come from service families. But Powell's a disappointment to his father, Admiral Lewis Stone. He's a crooner on the radio and from what we see is making a pretty good living at it. Still a combination of persuasive techniques by Stone and Keeler get him to follow in the Naval tradition of his family.

For reasons I don't understand Ruby did not dance a step in Flirtation Walk, but she makes up for it here. It was a weakness in the other film that is now remedied.

Dick Powell got two lovely ballads to sing, I'd Rather Listen To Your Eyes and I'd Love to Take Orders from You. Possibly because he was changing record companies from Brunswick to Decca in 1935 he didn't record either of those songs commercially. That's a pity because he does them so well.

What he did record was the song Don't Give Up the Ship with an orchestra and choral background. That song had a lot of popularity, so much so that the Naval Academy at Annapolis adopted it as their official song, something I'm sure Dick Powell and songwriters Harry Warren and Al Dubin must have been proud of.

Like he did with Flirtation Walk, Frank Borzage got to do some location shooting for Shipmates Forever at Annapolis and on the battleship, USS Pennsylvania. It certainly made for a far more realistic setting than in most Thirties films.

Unlike Flirtation Walk which was more upbeat, Shipmates Forever has the death of one of Powell's classmates which certainly lent a somber, but more realistic note to the proceedings.

Ross Alexander, Eddie Acuff, and John Arledge play Powell's roommates and all do good jobs in roles they are usually typecast in. Shipmates Forever is one of Dick Powell's best Warner Brothers musicals from the Thirties and its charm is eternal.

first movie i ever saw in person. i was very impressed and, although only five, i was ready to enlist in the navy. i have seen it several times since then and still think it is a good movie. although some might think it dated and anachronistic it still has a good deal to say about duty and honor. those things are in short supply today.

An enjoyable if slightly sappy movie with a fairly standard plot line.

Notably, the song from this film "Shipmates Stand Together" is still performed as part of a medley by the US Naval Academy Men's Glee Club.

Speaking about the music from the film, the US Military Academy's Alma Mater (that's Navy's gridiron rival West Point!) is used as background music at least three times, including in the closing scene.

Interesting goof, possibly intentional?

The scenes dealing with the upperclassmen "rating" the Plebes are fun; they are different in detail but not in quality from what goes on at the Academy even today.

Of the movies available on VHS or DVD about the Naval Academy, I would rank this about in the middle:

1. Navy Blue and Gold (1937) 2. Midshipman Jack (1933) 3. Shipmates Forever 4. An Annapolis Story (1955) - pretty bad. 5. Annapolis (2006) - truly dreadful.