Mister Roberts (1955)

"...this film was a pure delight and one everyone can enjoy.  Crazy for Cinema
"Moving, funny film version of the play.  Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress

Editor's Note The film represents Henry Fonda's return to the screen after an absence of seven years, part of which was spent playing the eponymous officer in the immensely successful stage version of Thomas Heggen's novel. As cargo officer and second in command on a supply ship during World War II, the easygoing Lt. Doug Roberts is excluded from a much desired combat role while playing whipping boy to dyspeptic tyrant Captain Morion (James Cagney). Ensign Frank Pulver (Jack Lemmon), a brash yet cowardly wheeler-dealer, entertains Roberts with his elaborate pranks while the fatherly Doc (William Powell in his last screen appearance) offers advice. The young crew tries every available means of killing boredom, including eyeballing the nurses on a nearby island through a telescope, and Roberts does what he can to get them the R and R they badly need. The film had a troubled production history, mostly because of conflicts between Fonda, a friend of author Thomas Heggen's, and Ford, who wished to make changes that Fonda disliked. Shortly after physically attacking Fonda, Ford suffered a ruptured gallbladder and was replaced by Mervyn LeRoy. Fonda is excellent, and Lemmon gives an inspired, Oscar-winning performance in a film that flows evenly from the comic to the tragic and stands among the best World War II films produced in the 1950s.

	Henry Fonda
	Jack Lemmon
	James Cagney
	William Powell
	Frank S. Nugent - Screenplay
	Franz Waxman - Original Music By
	Jack Murray - Editor
	John Ford, et. al. - Director
	Joshua Logan - Screenplay
	Leland Hayward - Producer
	Thomas Heggen - Based On Novel By
	Winton C. Hoch - Cinematographer

The crew of a World War II cargo ship comes to rely on the genial Mister Roberts to mediate the tantrums of an unqualified captain. DVD Verdict 9 of 10
Given that this movie was itself based on a long-running Broadway production (with Henry Fonda in the title role there, as well), it should not come as much of a surprise that this movie is a pure acting gold mine. If I have to convince you, I should only have to say the names Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, James (Jimmy) Cagney, and William Powell and note that in Mister Roberts they are all in fine form...On the screen, the crew's cast of characters provides a vibrant human canvas for our central players to work upon, along with a variety of others (notably the contingent of distracting nurses and a laconic shore patrol officer who hails from Alabama). - Nicholas Sylvain