Search - In the Navy on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Movie Release: 1941 DVD Release: 08/26/1998 Format: DVD Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 25 mins Studio: Universal Studios Members Wishing: 8 Genres: Comedy, Slapstick, Military Comedy

The third of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's starring films, In the Navy was released second; Universal had just made a bundle off Abbott and Costello's Buck Privates, and the studio wanted another "service" comedy put into circulation in a hurry. Abbott and Costello share over-the-title billing with Dick Powell, who plays a popular radio singer. Eager to avoid his screaming fans, Powell enlists in the Navy under an assumed name, hoping to serve his country incognito. Girl reporter Claire Dodd chases after Powell, hoping to secure a photo of the fugitive "idol of millions." So much for the "straight" plot; what are Abbott and Costello up to? Well, Costello plays a ship's cook who wants to impress Patty Andrews of The Andrews Sisters. With his pal Abbott's help, Costello poses as an admiral -- and in so doing nearly destroys the entire American fleet. This climactic sequence ran into trouble when the U.S. Navy decided that it didn't want to be held up to ridicule by showing the bumbling Costello ordering its ships around. To save the climax -- the most expensive portion of the film -- the scriptwriters wrote a new coda, passing off Costello's "admiralty" as a dream sequence. The best Abbott and Costello routines have little if anything to do with the plot: our favorite (indeed, everyone's favorite) is Costello proving to Abbott that 7 X 13 = 28. Those viewers who prefer music to comedy will be thoroughly satisfied by the vocal contributions of Dick Powell and The Andrews Sisters, as well as a lively dance number offered by the Condos Brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bud Abbott - Smokey Adams
Lou Costello - Pomeroy Watson
Dick Powell - Tommy Halstead/Russ Raymond
Claire Dodd - Dorothy Roberts
The Andrews Sisters - Themselves

In the Navy was their second release, but it was actually Abbott & Costello's third starring movie -- following Buck Privates, they'd made Hold That Ghost, but the first movie was so phenomenally successful that the second was held back by Universal Pictures, which rushed them back to make In the Navy. The Andrews Sisters were back and did some acting as well as singing this time, and the others aboard include Dick Powell in the kind of light leading man acting role that he had before Murder My Sweet, Dick Foran (himself a singer and light leading man) as the duo's foe -- a short-tempered CPO, and Shemp Howard back in a small comic support part. This movie has even less "plot" than Buck Privates -- singing star Powell tries to escape his fame and lack of a personal life by enlisting anonymously in the Navy, where he crosses paths with Abbott & Costello while trying to avoid a pursuing reporter (Claire Dodd. The comedy isn't as inspired as the best moments in Buck Privates, but it's enough to entertain for 85 minutes. Some of the humor relies on language and slang that's been lost over the decades -- when Costello gets a cable from his girl telling him she's taking "the Clipper" (meaning the Pan-Am air clipper) to Hawaii, he's upset because he thinks he's been thrown over for a barber.
The DVD is a direct transfer from the MCA laserdisc master, very slightly sharper than the image on the latter and with decently robust sound. There are no extras and the 16 chapter breaks, amazingly, don't include references to each of The Andrews Sisters' numbers (which include the bouncy "Hula Ba Luau," the rousing "You're Off to See the World," and "Gimme Some Skin, My Friend") or the other musical numbers featured. Watching the movie today, one must concede, it is possible to feel a mild sense of foreboding -- In the Navy was released in the late spring of 1941, five months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, but a key plot point concerns doubts about the maneuverability of battleships, the very factor that would doom that part of the fleet at Pearl Harbor. It's a very innocent film, and it was perhaps the last light-hearted look that pop culture would take at the Navy for the next five years. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide