Though only four years younger, M-G-M had been toying with slotting Robert Montgomery in for fading fave William Haines since LOVE IN THE ROUGH/’30, a Talkie remake of Haines’ SPRING FEVER/’27. The switch completed here in a typical Haines vehicle (arrogant youth with wiseguy attitude loses best pal, gets into trouble with love & authority, proves worthy in the last half-reel) not only going to Montgomery after Haines’ M-G-M split, but bumped up to major release with tougher dramatic edge, longer running time & stronger cast. The bifurcated story has stunning action out at sea (mostly submarine POV) and soggy romance ashore (illicit love shadowed by crippled husband in the background). Fortunately, most of the time we’re on water, playing into the considerable strengths of M-G-M utility man Jack Conway, showing major action chops in some beautifully staged set pieces, superbly lit by Harold Rosson (wooing fiancée Jean Harlow at the time, the guy must have been exhausted!) with smash editing from Hal Kern (later David O. Selznick’s cutter of choice). Walter Huston is exceptional as the new sub commander Montgomery chafes under while making love to his daughter (an unhappy perf from Madge Evans, but with a great meet-cute: air-raid interrupted Ferris Wheel ride). Ship-shape support from Robert Young, Eugene Pallette, Jimmy Durante, Sterling Holloway (in a haunting death bit), plus an extremely fit John Lee Mahin, script co-author, as Lieutenant ‘Speed.’ Second-unit man John Waters, presumably behind the superior tech work, won an Oscar® next year for VIVA VILLA!, again for Conway as well as initial director Howard Hawks. Barring a few rough process shots, hard to explain why the tech work is so much better than usual for M-G-M at the time.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: The script must have been loaded with spicy Pre-Code dialogue, now lost thru little trims removing the offensive lines, presumably for a post-‘34 Production Code re-release.
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