Here Comes the Navy is a 1934 film directed by Lloyd Bacon.
"Chesty" O'Connor (James Cagney) is a riveter at the San Pedro, California shipyard. He randomly exchanges insults one day with a Navy chief, Biff Martin (Pat O'Brien). At a steelworkers' dance, Biff cuts in on Chesty's dance with his date, the two argue, and they wind up fighting in the alley. Chesty loses the fight when he's distracted by his girl, loses his girl to Biff, and then loses his job as a riveter when he misses a few days at work due to his injuries.
Chesty swears revenge on Biff. So he does what any sane, rational man would do when looking to beat up a Navy chief in a fight: he joins the Navy. Fortunately for Chesty's plans of revenge, he gets assigned to Biff's ship instead of, say, any other ship in the fleet. Unfortunately for Chesty's plans of revenge, he's in the Navy, which actually expects him to work and obey orders.
Chesty sees Biff embracing a very pretty woman aboard the ship, and decides to get some revenge by romancing her. He meets the woman, Dorothy (Gloria Stuart—yes, the old lady in Titanic), only to find out that she's Biff's sister, not his girlfriend.
Much of the movie was filmed aboard a real US Navy battleship. Namely, the USS Arizona, which was blown up and sunk at Pearl Harbor seven years later, with the loss of over 1100 lives.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Gay: Droopy has a souvenir life preserver made for Chesty when the latter is transferred to another ship. He waves goodbye. He cries as the shore boat takes Chesty away. He blows a kiss!Other sailor: What are you two guys, a couple of violets?
- Blackface: Chesty is denied liberty, so he gets his black friend Cookie's liberty pass, and coats himself in blackface so he can impersonate Cookie in order to get off the ship. Gets even more racist when he meets Dorothy on the pier and the real black sailors goggle at Chesty walking off with a hot white lady.
- Boot Camp Episode: Chesty makes a friend, "Droopy", at boot camp. Chesty and Droopy then get assigned to the Arizona together.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: A Running Gag has Droopy trying to raise the money to get his mom a new set of false teeth, which she needs to keep her job in a choir. When Droopy's mom sings at the wedding at the end she is revealed to be a hideously bad singer.
- Manly Tears: Droopy, who is very attached to Chesty, cries a little bit when Chesty gets transferred.Chesty: What's the matter, you got a cold?
Droopy: No, it's my voice; I think it's changing. - My Sister Is Off-Limits: Biff is probably even angrier than he would have been if Dorothy had been his girlfriend. He refuses to permit her to see Chesty, which of course does no good.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: How Chesty's girlfriend Gladys dresses for the ball. She is coded to be a lot sluttier than Dorothy, his next girlfriend.
- Sophisticated as Hell: This happens when Chesty, criticizing Droopy for being too obedient to superiors, uses a too-fancy word.Chesty: You're just the kind of guy that would acquiesce.
Droopy: Huh?
Chesty: Acquiesce, agree, become a partner to, give it the nod!
Droopy: You mean, say yes. - Stock Footage: All the clips of the Arizona at sea. They are notably grainier than the rest of the movie.
- Taking the Fight Outside: When Chesty and Biff are about to brawl at the dance, a spectator says "There's an alley for this sort of thing!" Sure enough, they fight in the alley behind the dance hall.
- Technology Porn: A long sequence in the movie, where the Arizona goes out on maneuvers, is basically dedicated to showing how cool a battleship is. So we see the big guns being loaded and fired, torpedoes being launched, and biplanes leaving the deck to drop bomb loads. When a fire breaks out in Chesty's position in the forward gun turret, we see damage control sailors in space suits come barreling in to put it out.
- Too Dumb to Live: The USS Macon, a Navy dirigible—that is, a big-ass blimp—is unexpectedly carried away by a change in the wind. Biff, who is holding one of the mooring lines, tries to hold the blimp down all by himself. Naturally, he is carried up into the wild blue yonder, requiring Chesty to shimmy down the rope and rescue Biff with a parachute.
- Uncle Tomfoolery: The one black sailor aboard the ship is "Cookie", a racist caricature who talks in an unsophisticated Stepin Fetchit-style accent, and for some reason calls Chesty the junior seaman "sir".note
- Wedding Finale: Ends with Dorothy and Chesty getting married, as well as Chesty gleefully telling Biff that Chesty has been promoted and now outranks Biff.
