Masterful Movie

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Three young men (James Stewart, Robert Young, Tom Brown) who enter the Naval Academy became fast friends. Each one is a different clichéd character. Brown's the naive kid, Young's the cynical tough guy, Stewart's the nice one with a mystery. Brown and Stewart play to type well but Young steals the show as the hard case with a hidden heart of gold. We follow the ups and downs of each of these men at the academy, leading up to the big Army-Navy football game that they all play in.There's nothing really new here, even for 1937, but it's undeniably enjoyable due to the generally upbeat tempo and likable leads. Nice supporting cast includes Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Florence Rice, and Samuel S. Hinds. Dennis Morgan has a cute scene dancing with Burke. Sentimental, patriotic, and fun movie. Really hard to dislike this one.

I love sports films and this is one of the best: Spoilers ahead. My favorite scenes are where a teacher calls John Cross's (James Steart)dad, a coward and you can really see the anger when it wants him to take it back (Of course, his dad eventually gets exonerated, and Stewart helps beat Army and gets the girl Pat (Florence Rice)and when Rog (Robert Young) gives up ringing the Victory Bell so that "Skinny" Dawes (Lionel Barrymore) could ring it perhaps for the last time. Now it really helps to be a fan or attended Navy (or Army) to understand this. But years ago, when Napoleon McCallum volunteered to come back and do an extra year at Annapolis (Naval Academy), and set a rushing yardage record, and gave the game ball to the Academy Superintendent, and the Admiral broke down and cried. Of course, this is not the only film Stewart and Barrymore did together ("Its A Wonderful Life" & "You Can't Take It With You" are the others where Stewart was a decent man facing adversity). However, this film is the first film where we saw the Stewart that most of us know. Prior to that we saw some strange casting choices like ""Rose Marie" and "Another Thin Man" (Stewart as the killer in both films does not work), and in some cases after "No Time For Comedy"( His worst by far) comes to mind as does "Its A Wonderful World" (Although I liked that one despite the fact he was playing a Bogart-type Detective with a mustache no less)). For sports and Stewart fans this should be a must see.

Intellectually speaking, this is a very clichéd film. So many of the typical 1930s and 40s gimmicks for this sort of movie are all present...ALL. Yet, despite this, I really had a hard time disliking the movie. It was highly entertaining and the actors really made it shine.The film is about three roommates who all have just been admitted to the prestigious US Naval Academy. They are all stereotypes, but the most ridiculously stereotyped is the guy played by Robert Young. I am surprised they didn't nickname him 'Blackie', as he was the archetypal dishonorable bad guy who just doesn't understand or want to understand the importance of teamwork and humility. He's an exceptional football player (despite Young being 30 at the time he played this part) and knows it...and doing it for anyone but himself is out of the question. Tom Brown plays the sweet rich guy who is the embodiment of niceness and pluck--sort of like a Horatio Alger character who is ALREADY rich. He gives up his wealth and status to serve his country--and women who went to see this film must have all felt a tremendous urge to hug him! The final guy is played by Jimmy Stewart. Like Brown, he's an alright guy and gained admittance to the Academy through the ranks--and he's got a secret that comes out late in the film. While receiving second billing, I think this film did a lot more for Stewart's career than for any other in the movie. I thought Brown was also very good, but today he's an all but forgotten actor--and that's a shame.The film has it all...lots of sentiment, a strong dose of patriotism, an old man who just happens to be on the brink of death when the big game comes up with Westpoint, you name it! In many ways, the film seems even more clichéd and prototypical for a college football film than even "Knute Rockne, All-American"! But, because the dialog, characters and direction are all so good, you can accept the huge doses of sentiment, schmaltz and all the familiar (very familiar) plot devices. Very well done and a must-see for fans of classic films.

I just saw this film recently and can't remember ever having seen it before. A lot of talent in front of and behind the camera on this production. It's the story of three young men who come to the Naval Academy for different reasons and have little in common with each other except that they share the common denominator of being on the football team but they strike up an immediate friendship and become roommates. It has a story so it's not a silly comedy and despite not a lot of depth and a fairly predictable storyline it moves along at a good pace with no boring lulls thanks to the excellent direction of Sam Wood who had been making films since the silent era and had success with the Marx Brothers films and the drama Madam X just before this production and he would go on to direct such films as Goodbye Mr. Chips, Kitty Foyle, Kings row, Pride of the Yankees, for Whom the Bell Tolls and Our Town. Cinematographer John F. Seitz had photographed the string of Shirley Temple movies before this film and he would enjoy respected success for such films as The Lost Weekend, Double Endemnity, This Gun for Hire and Sunset Boulevard. A lot of exterior scenes at the Naval Academy and it's midshipmen. Good football scenes with a seamless blend of actual game footage and the actors as players. Robert Young is the more establish actor here and in 1937 at the age of 30 he seems a little old for the role. It's early in the career of the less established James Stewart and despite being 29 he looks so youthful he fits the role. Tom Brown at 22 is about the right age for the role but looks almost too young. Veteran actor Lionel Barrymore plays the role of a man about a dozen years older than Barrymore actually was. Billy Burke, two years shy of her famous role as Ginda in the Wizard of Oz is here and girl-next-door wholesome role actress Florence Rice is here as the love interest of Young and Stewart and the sister of Brown. It's appropriate for her to be in a football picture being the daughter of the famous sportswriter Grantland Rice. I had no intention of watching the entire movie but before I knew it I had. I would give this a 7.5 out of 10 but Stewart shines and you can tell he was going to become a big star someday.