MISTER ROBERTS
US, 1955, 123 minutes, Colour.
Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond, Phil Carey, Harry Carey Jr.
Directed by John Ford and Mervyn Le Roy.
Mister Roberts marked Henry Fonda's return to the screen after an absence of eight years. Fonda had established himself as a serious actor during the '30s and '40s but returned to the stage for a long period. Since 1954 he has made numerous films as well as stage appearances. One of his celebrated stage performances over several years was in the play Mister Roberts. He joined with John Ford who had directed him in several films including The Grapes of Wrath and Young Mr. Lincoln but they differed strongly on the interpretation of the character. Ford directed some of the film but it was then taken over by Mervyn Le Roy.
The play and the film captured the atmosphere (exploited in the musical comedy South Pacific and films derivative of South Pacific) - sentiment about world War Two, the war in the Pacific, patriotism. This was a theme that appealed to John Ford with his westerns and such films as They Were Expendable. However, there is a tone of black comedy about Mister Roberts which anticipates such films as M*A*S*H. Made in Cinemascope and colour, the film is very much that of the play. The performances contribute most - Fonda as his sturdy embodiment of the American ideal, James Cagney using his fast-paced delivery for an eccentric captain, William Powell with his pipe-smoking reflective Doc and Jack Lemmon in his first Oscar-winning performance as Ensign Pulver. There is music by Franz Waxman. Enjoyable, particularly for American audiences but reflecting a world that has long past and to many would seem very dated.
1. The classic status of the play and the film? The popularity of the play in the '50s and Henry Fonda's presence? Immediate memories of the war? Involvement in the South Pacific? The blend of the comic and the serious, the sentimental and the patriotic? The underlying black humour?
2. Cinemascope, colour? The atmosphere of the South Pacific? Most of the action on the ship? The musical score and its moods?
3. The adaptation of the play for the screen? Much talk, confined sets? The issues and characters? The change of directors? How much of its period does it seem now?
4. The stars and their performances and acclaim? American types of the past? embodiment and feel for this kind of character?
5. The focus on Doug Roberts and Henry Fonda's personification of him? The ordinary well-educated American? His critique of authoritarianism? Popularity with the men? His bonds with Doc and Pulver? The critique of the Captain, his constant anger, his letters of resignation? The Captain's blackmailing him? The leave for the crew and his joy at their unity? His growing unpopularity? His fearing that the war would end without his personal involvement? His wanting to fight, the throwing of the palm into the sea to celebrate the end of the war in Europe? The men understanding this after overhearing the Captain attacking him, forging his signature on the transfer? The farewell the pal emblem. the letters and the news of his death? The manner of his death? What did he stand for as an American type?
6. Doc and his support, wise observer, his work on the ship. involvement with the crew, expressing his views, his gentle antagonism towards the Captain, his supervising the forging of the signature?
7. Ensign Pulver - Jack Lemmon's comic style, cynical and lazy and exploitive young man, talk, women? His admiration for Roberts? but lacking the courage of his convictions against the Captain? The celebration at the end of the war and the explosion in the laundry? The farewell to Mister Roberts? His receiving the letter and his receiving the news of Mister Roberts' death? The final sequence and his becoming the new Mister Roberts for the Captain?
8. The drawing of the Captain? James Cagney's style and its being transferred into this obsessive authority figure? His continued announcements, attitude towards rules, success, recognition of the work of his ship with the potted palm, his harshness? His humiliating Mister Roberts? His getting a hold over him? His long speeches and his expression of his anger and discontent, lack of opportunity and education, his being pushed round, his wanting to get his turn to push people round? The interrogation about the palm and his apoplexy? His allowing Roberts to go? His final reaction to Pulver?
9. The sketch of the crew, the work, pressures, detail of life and work on the ship, recreation? their leave and enjoyment of it? Their scorning of Mister Roberts and changing in attitudes? Roberts' praise of them? The heroics of the average American man?
10. War and its artificial society, men grouped together, acting like boys? The leave and the drinking, the pranks? Forging a united spirit for the crew? Women at war and the minor glimpses of them? Authority and the ordinary sailor?
11. The role of the supply ships for combat? Roberts and his desire to be part of combat?
12. The M*A*S*H.-type humour and the culmination in tragedy? The picture of war, the critique of war? The listening to the end of World War Two in Europe by the men in the South Pacific? Changes? Death?
13. A satisfying piece of popular Americana of the '50s?
