Boredom is one of the most dangerous enemies, because it not only makes your life monotonous, but it deprives you of the meaning of your life, because it involves no development. The most hurtful thing is when you try to break out of this web, but someone or something holds you back and plunges you deeper into this quagmire. However, boredom must be dealt with in every available way. This is the meaning of the comedy drama “Mr. Roberts”.
Synopsis Spring, 1945. Before the end of the Second World War is a few months, and while somewhere in the Pacific ocean sails a military ship carrying cargo from island to island. One of the crew members, Lieutenant Douglas Roberts, has long dreamed of breaking out of this cage to get into a real sea battle, rather than languishing among boxes of oranges, toothpaste and toilet paper. However, he is hindered by the tyrant and madman Captain Morton, with whom Mr. Roberts has long been engaged in a secret confrontation.
Game of actors To be honest, this is perhaps the only really positive side of the film, and it is not surprising, because the film involves real stars of old Hollywood. First of all, I would like to mention the magnificent Henry Fonda, who played the role of Mr. Roberts, a transport ship officer, who dreams of breaking out of this toxic routine and rushing into real battle. I also liked the famous American comedy actor Jack Lemmon, who played Lieutenant Palver, a lazy talker who, however, managed to prove to the entire crew and, most importantly, to himself that a real fighter for justice lives in him. I was surprised that the members of the American Film Academy ignored James Cagney, who embodied the gloomy and insidious image of Captain Morton, for whom this miserable ship is the only “real success” he managed to achieve in life, and therefore this success is in every possible way tries to preserve. Finally, it is worth noting the legend of old Hollywood William Powell, who played a rather funny role of the old wise doctor, who constantly distributes useful advice to the crew members, and prefers to spend his free time in the company of hot drinks.
Directorship Still, the fact that the film was shot by three different directors could not but leave its mark. The film opens in the form of a deep psychological drama that is inherent in the director John Ford (acquainted with the film Stagecoach and How Green Was My Valley), who pays attention to the confrontation of human natures based on their own values and pursuing their own special goals. When the director's chair passed to the other two directors, the film moves to another plane - a classic old Hollywood comedy. I mean, any picture has to have some kind of coherent reaction. In the case of Mr. Roberts, you don't know if you're laughing or if you shouldn't? Save, perhaps, the ending, which reminds us that the action takes place against the backdrop of a bloody war.
Scenario Honestly, I’ve always been wary of American military-themed movies, especially comedies, but it’s a subject that’s just unseemly to laugh at. However, I would call Mr. Roberts a comedy drama in which comedy is only secondary. As mentioned earlier, the action of the picture develops in the last months of the Second World War. However, the viewer sees the everyday life of not a warship, but a cargo ship that delivers supplies for the army and navy. Throughout the war on this ship continues the confrontation between Lieutenant Roberts, dreaming of transferring to a warship, and Captain Morton, who in ordinary life no one, and here became the captain of a warship, for whom the preservation of this situation by all truths and untruths becomes the only goal in life. It is not difficult to guess how this confrontation will end, but the authors still remind us in the end that the war is still ongoing, which the heroes have forgotten about.
“Mr. Roberts” is one of those films that leaves incomprehensible feelings. It has a lot of positive aspects, but there are also small disadvantages. However, this movie is considered a classic, and for a reason, because the focus of the film is not war, but the conflict of two personalities, each of whom tries to prove that there is a higher purpose in this life. That’s probably the only thing I have in this movie.
7 out of 10