Coast Guard

Coast Guard (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Typical love triangle about Coast Guard friends Thomas (Randolph Scott) and Raymond (Ralph Bellamy) who have a falling out once Ray falls in love with Nancy (Frances Dee) but of course she prefers Thomas. The two become rivals but they must put that behind them when Ray goes missing in the Alaskian wilderness. COAST GUARD follows pretty much every cliché that you'd find in this type of film but thankfully the cast is terrific and we're given some wonderful visuals as well. Again, if you've seen any love triangle picture from this era then you're not going to see anything new or original here. In fact, the entire love story plays out just as you'd expect it to but I must say that the screenplay didn't do any favors to the Nancy character. During the opening scene she's a sweetheart falling for Ray. The next scene she's a cold-hearted woman going with Thomas. Then, when Ray is in danger, she's back to the sweetheart so the screenplay would have done better to keep her at one level or another. Still, the main reason to watch this is for the performances with Scott coming across extremely fun and especially early on when he plays the womanizer. The scenes of him doing whatever it takes to flirt with some nurses was quite funny but of course he's also believable once the action starts to take place. Bellamy is reliable as always but man this guy can't catch a break with the women. Dee is also good in her supporting part as is Walter Connolly in his small role. The film also offers up a couple terrific rescue scenes. The first happens during a violent storm at sea and the second is the climax during the rescue in Alaska. Both of them are quite exciting and well-shot considering the film had a low budget.