"THIS MAN'S NAVY" Tonite on TCM

[DiggerWW2]

Gang, There's a very rare 1945 "Brown Shoe" Navy Film on TCM tonite (Dec 26th) called "THIS MAN'S NAVY".
It airs at 9:15pm (Eastern). Wallace Beery Stars as "Old Gas Bag" the Navy Line Chief.
This Movie is all about the WW2 U.S. NAVY AIRSHIP Training School at Lakehurst, N.J. William Wellman directed this film & had full cooperation of the U.S. Navy. Some scenes were shot at the WW2 Airship Base in Santa Ana, Ca. Most of the film concerns Training antics, etc, leading up to a Japanese Sub Seek & Destroy Mission.
It's very realistic & apparently a REAL Airship was deflated over the sea!!

Someone should let the Lakehurst Airship Historical Society know that this Movie is on tonite, or make a DVD copy of them.
It's only 1 Hour & 45 Minutes long:

http://www.nlhs.com/

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1022/direct.html


ALSO, "THE DIRTY DOZEN" airs tonite at 8pm (Nationwide) on AMC. Here's some "Dirty Dozen" Film Clips. The new "Dirty Dozen" Special Edition DVD is very good. It has one of the BEST WW2 U.S. Airborne Documentaries I've ever seen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ_OZbIr_rE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJJHSsLh ... re=related

"This Man's Navy" airs tonite (Dec 26th) at 9:15pm (Eastern) on TCM.
Adjust Your Own Time Zone Accordingly... Digger

Last edited by DiggerWW2 on Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Robbie Stuart]

Thanks for the 'heads up" on this one. I don't think I've ever seen it.
Robbie

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

The rescue scenes ,supposedly in the CBI, in it were obviously shot in miniature on a sound stage. Still a fair film for the day.

[Jack Cook]

I only saw the first part. Did the kid with the bum leg ever walk right? Did he get the girl? and did the old Chief ever shut up

[DiggerWW2]

Scheeeesh!! I screwed everything up...
First, It was a Kraut Sub, not a Japanese Sub that the Blimp sank. They later got transferred to the CBI. My mind mushed everything together with time. I fell asleep during the lousy "poor crippled kid" scenes, I think they just needed a cheap storyline to fill time...

The ending was very bizarre & involved the Airship rescuing a downed Ambassador or something. It was interesting to see the Airship used to rescue the downed Aircrew in the dense, overgrown jungle, while the Japanese were closing in. Much like a Huey Rescue during Vietnam. I wonder if these Airship Jungle Rescues ever really happened during WW2?? ...

(I was hoping this thread would quietly fade away) Oh well...

Sorry for the mis-info... Digger

[Chris Brame]

I only saw the first part. Did the kid with the bum leg ever walk right? Did he get the girl? and did the old Chief ever shut up

Yes, yes, and no. And you could play a pretty good drinking game with every time he used the phrase "this man's Navy" . Later scenes had different Navy SNBs (AT-11 glass noses, one with a dorsal plexiglass dome, one without) and at least one P-40F in the background.

[FG1D Pilot]

I thought I had seen all of the old war movies, but this was the first time for me. I thought it was enjoyable, for a period film. A little silly at times. But fun to see the blimps in action.

[The Inspector]

If you were paying attention towards the end of both films you can see flying footage of the non turbo 'b*stard Lightnings, in TMN, on shot had between 10 and 12 in echilon formation as they saved the blimp from the nasty enemy P-36's

[Stoney]

I recorded it, but we had a snow storm and when I went to look at it the pix had all those wierd lines thru it and screwed up sound, oh directv darn

[Pat Carry]

My wife who was born on the base at Lakehurst (there is a blimp on her birth certificate) really enjoys the part where they open the huge hangar doors to let the dog inside!

[RickH]

Great old period movie. I loved it when the blimps " scrambled' ! Wallace Beery, the old Chief, can't get him out of my mind as Long John Silver. Probably his best role. The K gondola they have at Pensacola is really cool, there are about 4 more at AMARC, they were saved from a scrap yard at the last minute. The last scens of the new M class were unexpected, never new they existed and that they carried an L bird ala Sparrowhawk.

Now there's a replica someone should build ! With only one surviving F9C ( you can't count the ones that are being stored with the Macon on the bottom of the Pacific ) a build project is definitely needed. Should be fairly straight forward when compared with the more complex types already completed.