Minesweeper

Early B-movie WWII movies were foten hard to watch and not worth the time. Having said that, they do give our historical view of what everyone was thinking at the beginning of the WWII. Notable as it was one of the only U. S. Naval movies about minesweepers, but it didn't go over much of the detail of daily naval duties. The diving was interesting but not much detail either.

Although this is an old in-theater movie, not television, this is the kind of thing Frank Loyd Wright had in mind when he said "television is chewing gum for the eyes." If you're looking for a captivating war movie watch Twelve O'Clock High. This movie is exactly what it was intended to be: a short movie before the main feature back in the days when there were news reels, cartoons, and "warm-up movies" before the main feature showcased box office stars of the day. I won't bother restating the plot, plenty of other people have summarized that. I'll simply say was a fine way to kill an hour on a lazy Sunday morning. PS-Another entertainingly corny performance by well-known character-actor Guinn "Big Boy" Williams

This is the story of a man who tries to make amends for past misdeeds in the service by reenlisting under another name, and whose experience in the service gives him an edge in the disarming of water mines. It is a well written story, with interesting characters all around, including the minor ones. Everything is very believable, not just by film standards, but by normal standards. However, I gave this only a ranking of 6, which is still above average, because for me it was painful viewing. It is not because of a bad story, but because it shows the pain involved with gambling addiction in a true light, which means it will be difficult to watch. This is still quality work, and if you aren't afraid of the pain, this may be the film for you.

Any film that tries to make its audience believe that the military could't identify an AWOL soldier through fingerprints and would simply let someone slide through just because there was a war going on must think its audience was pretty dumb. Richard Arlen was one of Hollywood's oldest action heroes when he took on this low-grade war drama, and his age definitely shows. Jean Parker , another long-time ingenue, is the nominal leading lady. I felt that the premise kept me from being totally engrossed in the action, and having seen many war propaganda theme films of the era on every war subject, this one had to rank low on the rating scale. Good intentions don't always make for a good movie, and this one is as close to a bomb as the target of the aging heroes job.

The navy must have been really desperate for men after Pearl Harbor to be prepared to enlist paunchy, middle-aged Richard Arlen with a history of desertion and problem gambling. (Maybe they should have considered his friend's big-haired, shoulder-padded little sister Jean Parker instead, since she proves herself a true daughter of Uncle Sam by immediately whipping out a gun when she takes Arlen for a burglar.) Strictly a back-production and stock footage endeavour, it's surprisingly ruthless in killing characters off, and to describe the plot (it ends with the hero going down in a diving suit to defuse a mine, for example) makes it sound far more interesting than it is. Once again the most interesting cast members are a couple of unbilled youngsters: Bob Mitcham in a non-speaking bit pulling oars, and a typically garrulous Dub Taylor.

Richard Arlen is a hobo looking to join up to fight in the just started WW2. He meets up but Big Boy Guinn who is in the Navy Reserve and who manages to get Arlen into the service. What know one knows is that Arlen was an officer who went AWOL several years before and now is trying to hide his identity. Good, "rah rah" war effort film about the men who seek to defuse mines. A bit soapy at times with the tales of lost loves and noble sacrifice, this the sort of thing they don't make any more for a good reason, it can seem awfully silly. Running just over an hour the film moves along at a good clip and never over stays its welcome. Worth a look if you run across it and are in the mood for a wartime programmer.

MINESWEEPER is a just-about-watchable WW2 flick from America. It seems to have been made on a tiny budget so the naval scenes aren't too convincing. What makes this watchable at all are some likeable performances from the chief characters, best of whom is the utterly goofy and endearing Big Boy Williams, playing the unlikely monikered Ichabod 'Fixit' Smith. Richard Arlen plays a navy deserter who decides that the best thing to do with his time is to re-enlist in the navy and start again from the ground up. His reasons for this bizarre behaviour do become apparent later on but it's not really very relevant to the main story. There are a few suspenseful bits, some unwanted romance, and an early bit part for Robert Mitchum.