Thu 28 May 2015
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: AWAY ALL BOATS (1956).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , War Films[6] Comments
AWAY ALL BOATS. Universal International, 1956. Jeff Chandler, George Nader, Lex Barker, Julie Adams, Keith Andes, Richard Boone, William Reynolds, Charles McGraw, Jock Mahoney, John McIntire, Frank Faylen, Clint Eastwood (uncredited). Based on the book by Kenneth M. Dodson. Director: Joseph Pevney.
With a solid cast including Jeff Chandler, Lex Barker, Jock Mahoney, Richard Boone, and Charles McGraw, Away All Boats had the potential to be a much better film than it turned out to be, at least from the vantage point of 2015. It’s not so much that the acting is bad or that the movie lacks action. It’s just that it comes across as a bit too preachy, a bit too melodramatic and innocent, even for its time.
Directed by Joseph Pevney, this Universal International project features Chandler as Jebediah S. Hawks, captain of the Belinda, an amphibious attack transport ship. Captain Hawks is determined to make the Belinda the best ship of its kind, even if it means alienating himself from his crew.
Chandler is perfectly competent here, a solid presence through and through. Although it’s by no means one of his best war films, he does portray Hawks with nuance. He’s a character who, despite his somewhat aloof nature, really does want the best for his men under his command.
Despite some unnerving scenes in which kamikaze pilots attack the crew’s ship, and scenes in which the crewmen go a bit stir crazy, the film feels as it were just a bit too eager to provide the American movie going public with a somewhat sanitized view of war. This is especially the case when compared with some of the significantly more gritty war films that were released in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In conclusion, while Away All Boats isn’t by any means a poorly constructed film, it just doesn’t have all that much to set it apart from the many other average studio war films from the same era.
May 28th, 2015 at 6:10 pm
So far, I’ve liked Pevney’s 14 episodes of Star Trek, much more than any of his work on theatrical films. And I’ve never been able to get a clear grip on his style or filmmaking approaches.
It looks as if they put every leading man type on the Universal lot in AWAY ALL BOATS. It’s a film I’ve never seen.
May 28th, 2015 at 6:55 pm
The movie doesn’t do the book justice presenting the Classics Illustrated version of the bestseller, but the cast is good. Basically this is a minor variation on THE CAINE MUTINY without the nerve to go that far.
The best thing about the movie is the cast doing their best with mediocre material and lackluster direction.
May 28th, 2015 at 9:09 pm
Most, if not all, Universal product of the period can observed as Classics Illustrated version of whatever story they are attempting. That in itself presents no problem, that they were not all that effective as entertainment certainly does, and it can be said that this product line epitomizes just that, the realization of a marketing plan, and nothing else. Mike is quite right, any actor with a few days or weeks available on the lot was thrown into the mess. As for Pevney’s style, or lack of it — this is beyond analysis and not at all required. The fascination with directorial vision is both a relatively modern and definitively foreign concept. They did what they did for a fee, with material, cast, cinematographer, composer, editor, wardrobe, chosen as part of a team. This guy is the over romanticized Lew Landers on a larger budget. And that is not intended to be hostile or criticism but a fact of life at that time in that place (studio).
May 28th, 2015 at 9:31 pm
Jeff Chandler gave his usual well above average performance, I thought, but also as usual, Richard Boone made his small role into a distinctive one, as an officer who eventually changes his mind about the captain.
As for Julie Adams, she must have had a good agent to get herself billed third in the cast listing. She has no more than five minutes of screen time as a newly wed wife back on the home front, mostly in flashback.
I agree with Jon about the effectiveness of the kamikaze attack. The best part of the movie!
May 28th, 2015 at 10:13 pm
Steve,
Julie Adams in all probability did not need an agent to go to bat for her. Universal was building as a star, so she had the time, and the cost was zero to put her name up and make this film look a little more important to the exhibitors. Usually an all star cast mean one star surrounded and supported by recognizable names. The High and The Mighty is a fine example of this manufacturing ploy. John Wayne, and people who were successful in the past, or for whom there was hope remaining. Whereas in something like Island In The Sky, filled with recognizable names, but chosen, not for marketing but in a more effective and down to earth manner. Same star, and a pretty good one.
April 7th, 2021 at 7:33 pm
This is the movie which for a long time turned me away from Jeff Chandler. It was just too … ‘gung-ho’. But I now realize my mistake in shunning him.