From directors John Ford (My Darling Clementine, The Quiet Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance),Mervyn LeRoy (Little Caesar, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang) and uncredited Joshua Logan (South Pacific, Camelot, Paint You Wagon),it was purely because I found out that one of the leading actors won the Oscar that I watched this, but I hoped it would be great too. Basically the USS Reluctant, nicknamed "The Bucket", is the World War II re-supply ship serving in the South Pacific, and working on the ship is cargo officer Lt. JG Douglas A. 'Doug' Roberts (Henry Fonda). The war is coming to an end since the Germans have signed the surrender, but in the ocean the war seems to keep going, and Roberts feels that it is passing by and he will never see any action. Wanting to feel like he is worthwhile and experience new things he constantly requests Capt. Morton (James Cagney) to be transferred to a combat ship, but the Captain knows he cannot let one of his best officers in his crew. Roberts has a strong friendship with many of the zany members, including Ens. Frank Thurlowe Pulver (Oscar winning, and BAFTA nominated Jack Lemmon) and Lt. 'Doc' (William Powell),and he also helps them cope with the Captain's very strict commands, including not letting them ashore for almost a year. Eventually Roberts does manage to persuade Capt. Morton to let the men go ashore, but in return he must carry out orders without comment or objection, and obviously he may consider a transfer. The men do think that Roberts has given in to the Captain's reign, but they do find out what he was able to do for them, and they return the favour, meaning that by the end of the film he is able to go his own way, and Pulver becomes the new pain in the Captain's neck. Also starring Betsy Palmer as Lt. Ann Girard, Ward Bond as Chief Petty Officer Dowdy, Philip Carey as Mannion and Nick Adams as Reber. In the title role Fonda is really good at being both laid back and objectionable to the thundering moments from Cagney, and of course Lemmon nearly steals the show with his fantastically Oscar winning eccentric physical and vocal laughs, I will admit there were moments where I lost track of the story, but the actors and characters were great, the Second World War setting and stuff is interesting enough, the visual and dialogue based jokes are funny, and overall it is an enjoyable comedy drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Sound. Jack Lemmon was number 43 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars. Very good!

Through the collaborative efforts of John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy, Joshua Logan and Henry Fonda the film version of Mister Roberts finally got made. As in Spartacus a lot of creative differences were aired and there was animosity, but the thing got made and got made well.

The film Mister Roberts is the screen adaption of a play that ran on Broadway from 1948 to 1951 for 1157 performances. It was based on the novel written by Thomas Heggen and was directed by Joshua Logan. It marked a return to the stage for Henry Fonda who for the rest of his life shuttled back and forth between Broadway and Hollywood. Mister Roberts became his career signature part.

According to the book In the Company of Heroes by Harry Carey, Jr., Henry Fonda because this was his signature part, the part that won him a Tony Award on Broadway, he had a certain proprietary interest in seeing a faithful adaption was done for the screen.

John Ford however wanted to put his own individual stamp on the picture as he always does. Fonda and Ford had done six films together before 1948 and Fonda was a willing pupil. But after the acclaim he got for this play Fonda was no longer willing to respond to Ford's direction dutifully. This led to an ugly clash on set and Ford leaving the picture. The direction was taken over by Mervyn LeRoy officially, but Joshua Logan came over from Broadway and in the background Henry Fonda himself directed some of it.

There are certainly enough Ford touches to recognize the film as a Ford product. But Fonda kept the essence of Doug Roberts as the average man doing a disagreeable task, serving as a buffer between the crew and the tyrannical captain. He makes life somewhat bearable for the crew of the cargo ship he's the executive officer. And like James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life, Fonda also has to be shown just how important his contribution to the morale of that ship is.

And what a boss they have. The role of the Captain is a very difficult part. Though there are certainly elements of comedy with the captain, James Cagney never allows the captain to become a figure of burlesque. It's a very difficult tightrope to walk, but Mr. Cagney brought over 30 years of professionalism to that part. During the scene of the cabin confrontation with Fonda, Cagney does go into his background, going to sea as a kid, doing a lot of menial jobs and rising through his own efforts in the Merchant Marine. We get to understand Cagney, but we never sympathize with him.

Even though Mister Roberts is a military setting, the themes are universal and that is why I think it got the popular acclaim it did. I think most of us in our lives as workers have occasionally had to work in settings where the boss was a tin pot dictator, using and abusing his position of authority. And maybe we've also had immediate supervisors who did buffer between the employer and the workers. I'm sure that applied to just about anyone who ever had any kind of work history.

What allows Cagney to become the little martinet that he's become is the fact that the cargo ship is in the backwater of the war. You do kind of wonder what might happen if the ship was ever a target of some Japanese submarines or airplanes. He and the man are bored, but he's in the position of authority. Mister Roberts is the only film I know that ever made boredom a component of a successful production.

William Powell who was a player for over 40 years on stage and screen put a cap to his career as Doc, the ship's medical officer and confidante of Fonda. John Ford never met a doctor he didn't like and I'm sure that part might have attracted him to the play. From Arrowsmith to Stagecoach to Seven Women, Ford's doctors are all kinds of characters, but they are all wise and offer good counsel on all subjects, not necessarily medical.

And the collaborative efforts of the creators netted for Jack Lemmon his first Oscar as the Best Supporting Actor of 1955. Lemmon is a nice man of admittedly limited character as Ensign Pulver. But his stay on the ship shows a dramatic growth in character as we see in the finale.

The crew is populated by a mostly Ford stock company characters. In fact the only other player besides Fonda from the original Broadway production to repeat his part is Tige Andrews as one of the crew. It's with them that we see the real Ford touches. Note that horse whinny that Ward Bond uses when the visiting nurses led by Betsy Palmer come to the ship at "Captain" Lemmon's request. Bond did the same thing in My Darling Clementine to a passing Linda Darnell.

Despite a difficult birthing, Mister Roberts has become an American classic and will be so as long as we have a planet.

"Mr. Roberts" was originally a Broadway play and it was amazingly successful--running for well over 1000 performances. While today this may not seem so amazing, back in the late 40s and 50s, this was almost unheard of and kept its leading man, Henry Fonda, very busy. Oddly, however, when it came to filming this story, the studios fought the original director (John Ford) because they didn't want Fonda. While he was arguably too old for the part, the studio's first choice (Marlon Brando) seems today ludicrous. It's ironic that although Ford insisted on Fonda for the film, Ford himself would be taken off the project due to his totally unprofessional and sadistic treatment of Fonda.

The film is set aboard a very unimportant cargo vessel stationed in the Pacific in the latter portion of WWII. It's Captain (James Cagney) is a dictatorial little tyrant who seems to enjoy making the crew miserable--probably due to his own inadequacies. His first officer is Mr. Roberts--a man frustrated to serve under such a man and because he desperately wants a transfer to a ship that has some chance of seeing action. Other important characters on the ship are Ensign Pulver (Jack Lemmon)--a wimpy upstart who talks big but refuses to do anything as well as the Doc (William Powell)--a sympathetic but passive ear for people on board. Pulver is clearly intended as comic relief and spends much of the film hiding from the Captain--who, after fourteen months aboard, doesn't even recognize Pulver as a member of his crew! And, for this memorable role, Lemmon received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

As for the film, it lacks the excitement of many war films and often has to do with the mundane and petty activities on such a ship. In many ways, it plays like "Operation Petticoat"--but with even less action and a bit less comedy. It can also be compared to "The Caine Mutiny", though this film is definitely grittier and totally unfunny compared to "Mr. Roberts". In "Mr. Roberts", most of the film is a power struggle between this second in command and the Captain. The crew love Roberts and cannot stand the Captain--and it's easy to see why. The result is generally funny but with some very poignant moments (such as the very downbeat ending). Not a great film...but very, very good.

Reading IMDb's trivia further solidifies in my mind that although John Ford was a masterful director, as a human being...he wasn't. If it's true that he slugged Henry Fonda, it would fit in with a lot of the information I read about him. Despite today being admired as a great man, he was a horrible person. Apparently, he was so nasty and dictatorial with his family as well. Try doing more than watching the glowing documentaries on the gifted but very flawed man--it makes for fascinating and rather sad reading.