Minesweeper (1943)

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.

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.

Unlike most war movies, you'll find no real "battles" being fought in "Minesweeper." For that, I actually give it some credit. It pays tribute to the crew of minesweepers - those who helped take care of Japanese mines laid at the mouths of US harbours. That's not especially glamorous, so I applaud whoever decided to make this movie. It's an important job, and not all the honour should go to those who are face to face in combat with the enemy.The star of this is Richard Arlen. He plays an officer who deserted from the Navy years before, and then re-enlists under an assumed identity once Pearl Harbour is attacked. So part of the movie is spent wondering whether he's going to get caught. The dangers of this type of service are well documented, and there's a tragic incident as the movie nears its end. The cast is decent enough.The basic problem with this is that it spends far too much time emphasizing the somewhat unbelievable romance the develops between "Tennessee Smith" (as Arlen's character was known) and Mary (Jean Parker.) Given that Mary was apparently already almost engaged when Tennessee showed up, I found it rather difficult to accept that she'd get caught in this romantic triangle, and I thought it weakened the movie. This certainly isn't a high profile war picture, nor does it appear to have had much of a budget. It's not bad; it's an appropriate tribute. I just wish it had stayed a bit more focused on those to whom it was paying tribute and to the service they were offering. (4/10)

Perhaps my score of 4 is a bit generous. All I know is that this isn't the sort of film I'd heartily recommend, as it's pretty dull and pretty cheap.The film begins with Richard Arlen traveling the rails. He's a hobo with a secret--and a very patriotic hobo at that. It's just after Pearl Harbor and Arlen has a fight with his fellow 'bos about the war and volunteering. Soon, Arlen meets up with Guinn Williams (in one of his better roles) and the two go off to volunteer with the US Navy. Williams was a retired navy man and Arlen seems to have some knowledge of the navy BUT he also has a secret. What it is and why he's posing as someone else is something you'll have to see for yourself---if you care.The film is only occasionally entertaining, but to me finding out Arlen's secret wasn't worth time I invested in this WWII propaganda film. Aside from Williams' nice part, the rest of the cast just seemed pretty dull and the story was, at best, lackluster--showing the earmarks of a B-movie produced by a third-rate studio.