Stand by for Action

Not long after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. scrambles for ships to put to sea - ships like the dry-docked WWI destroyer Warren. An "old Noah's Ark," scoffs Lt. Gregg Masterman (Robert Taylor), a Harvard-schooled Bostonian ensconced in a cushy desk job. Care to guess who will be volunteered to be the aged ship's executive officer? the character of a callow young man who ultimately proves his worth is one Taylor had played before, notably in a Yank at Oxford and Flight Command. A stellar cast - Charles Laughton, Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan - joins him in a tale that veers into comic waters (the crew become awkward caretakers of a bevy of infants rescued at sea) before steaming full ahead into the strategies and salvos of fiery battle action in the Pacific. Taylor would actually serve as a Navy Air Corps flight instructor during the war. Lovely Marilyn Maxwell, who debuts here, would entertain troops as a member of Bob Hope's USO tours.

Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Producer: Orville O. Dull
Producer: Robert Z. Leonard
Actor: Robert Taylor
Actor: Charles Laughton
Actor: Brian Donlevy
Actor: Walter Brennan
Actor: Marilyn Maxwell
Actor: Douglass Dumbrille
Actor: William Tannen
Actor: Douglas Fowley
Actor: Tim Ryan
Actor: Dick Simmons
Actor: Byron Foulger
Actor: Douglas Dumbrille
Actor: Henry O'Neill
Actor: Marta Linden
Actor: Chill Wills
Actor: Richard Quine
Actor: Hobart Cavanaugh
Actor: Inez Cooper
Actor: Ben Welden
Actor: Harry Fleischmann
Actor: Theodor Von Eltz
Actor: Robert Kent
Actor: Bea Nigro
Actor: William Roberts
Actor: Douglas Wood
Actor: Elizabeth Russell
Actor: Oscar "Dutch" Hendrian
Actor: Spec O'Donnell
Actor: Harry Wilson
Actor: Billy Bletcher
Actor: Pat West
Actor: Frank Hagney
Actor: Duke York
Actor: Will Armstrong
Actor: Ernie Alexander
Actor: Ralph McCullough
Actor: Hal Le Sueur
Actor: Calvin Emery
Actor: James Davis
Actor: Wally Cassell
Actor: James Millican
Actor: Frank Whitbeck