Excellent but underrated film

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, Charles Laughton, and Walter Brennan "Stand by for Action" in this 1942 WW II drama.Laughton appoints Ivy League Navy man Taylor as executive officer of a World War I warhorse, The Warren, commanded by Donlevy. It's an old ship and needs a lot of repair work, but there are people who believe in it, most notably, Yeoman Henry Johnson (Brennan), who was with the ship in WWI.En route to meet the convoy led by Laughton, the ship picks up survivors from a Hawaiian hospital - twenty babies and two pregnant women.I'm pretty sure "Stand by for Action" was supposed to be a stirring propaganda drama, but once the babies come on board, it sort of becomes a comedy. Two different movies and one confused script. Some of the action was good, though.I tend to watch Robert Taylor films as an homage to my late mother, who loved him. He always reminds me of her - after all, I knew his real name when I was still in grade school. It always cracks me up that he does roles like the Harvard grad in this, or the title role in A Yank at Oxford. He was a Nebraska farm boy who loved the outdoors and horses, something he shared with his first wife, Barbara Stanwyck. But he sure looked debonair. He did make some very fine films, my favorite being Escape, one of his best performances. After the war, he played villainous roles - go figure.Charles Laughton is great as usual as a commander with a desk job dying to get back to active duty; Brian Donlevy is good as captain of The Warren, and Walter Brennan gives a sympathetic performance as Yeoman Johnson.This movie needed to stick to one thing - resuscitating this barge and putting it into battle, or taking care of babies and pregnant women.

I love Charles Laughton as Admiral Thomas in this movie. He pulls no punches when it comes to throwing barbs at his former aide and then to his own personal military doctor when it comes to dealing with childbirth. I wonder how did the American military let Laughton wear a Medal of Honor on his uniform? Back in those days, it was taboo to wear a medal like that let alone a ribbon.The only thing I didn't like was about the commanding officer of the Warren coming up from the ranks because I wondered how many enlisted men between the First and Second World Wars actually made officer rank? America's officer corp was pretty much like the German Junker military officer corp and British officer corp where the upper middle class, rich class, and aristocracy class dominated the officer corp, and they were very conservative. The National Guard was like a social club for America's upper crust from the books that I had read. Otherwise, I would have given the movie a perfect 10.All in all, it was a very enjoyable movie. I wish it was on DVD.

The story is fiction but the war was very real when this movie was made. While not intended to be a comedy, it has it's moments of humor. I heard it said this was to be a British movie but was switched to Hollywood because Britian was in deep straits and under attack at the time. Whatever the reason, it plays pretty well except for the old US 4 piper destroyer sinking a modern Japanese battleship (not a Japanese destroyer) . Not very likely, but that's Hollywood for you. However, the acting by Charles Laughton is classic. He does indeed steal every scene he's in and that takes some doing when one of the other actors is Walter Brennan. Laughton's John Paul Jones speech to the ship's company is superb and stirring even 60 years later.-BullMoose

WW II Propaganda film, good entertainmentThis is the story of a young officer (Taylor) dismayed to be deployed on an old ship, a WW I destroyer with convoy escort duty. Even worse, he has to contend with a Skipper (Donlevey) who runs the ship by the book but with unseen compassion and talent. Laughton plays the fleet commander, a crotchety admiral who soon realizes the true caliber of Donlevey tho he is frustrated by the tactics Donlevey takes.If you like WW II movies this is definitely "OK+"... not great, but entertaining throughout.Chill Wills and Walter Brennan add to the story with both comic and tradgic portrayals.Some very good action scenes as well.I'd Check it out if you enjoy WW II sea stories.