Mister Roberts (1955) on Netflix
Lt. Doug Roberts serves on the Navy cargo ship Reluctant in the South Pacific, away from the fighting. He requests a transfer to a combat vessel. Captain Morton will not endorse it.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.6/1019,843 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
In the last months of World War II, the Navy cargo ship Reluctant works the South Pacific, far from enemy action. Lt. Doug Roberts is its executive officer and cargo chief, and he shields the crew from Captain Morton, an exacting and tyrannical man. Morton keeps on the foredeck a palm tree given to him for the ship's past success in cargo supply. Roberts wants to see combat and repeatedly requests a transfer, which Morton will not endorse. Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver serves as laundry and morale officer and stays out of the captain's way.
Cast
- Robert Roarkas Insigna
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mister Roberts (1955)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- John Ford was replaced as director by Mervyn LeRoy after he apparently punched Henry Fonda in the jaw during a heated argument, and after a gall bladder problem that required emergency surgery.
- Henry Fonda was not Warner Bros.' first choice to play Mister Roberts; the studio considered William Holden or Marlon Brando, thought Fonda was no longer a box office draw after seven years off screen, and hired him only because John Ford insisted.
- John Ford warned James Cagney at the airport that they would "tangle asses"; when Cagney arrived slightly late on set and Ford exploded, Cagney invited the fight, Ford backed down, and the two had no further conflicts during the shoot.
- Mister Roberts was William Powell's final film and final acting appearance, although he lived nearly another 30 years and died at age 91 in 1984.
- Mister Roberts was James Cagney's last movie for Warner Bros., the studio that had made him a star in the 1930s and held him under contract for most of his career.
- For the film the ship's palm tree was placed on a "deck" built by extending the small deckhouse of the AKL, with movie set ladders built to the bridge and main deck.
- Jack Lemmon and James Cagney met while traveling to Midway Island to film Mister Roberts; Cagney asked whether Lemmon was still fooling people into believing he was left-handed, and a strong friendship was born.
