OPERATION PETTICOAT (1959)

Mildly amusing tale of a WWII submarine captain who, due to some extraordinary circumstances, is forced to allow five Army nurses to catch a ride onboard his sub.  Naturally this causes chaos among the all-male crew and gives the writers reason to unleashes all kinds of G-rated sex jokes, like the ship's mechanic saying "A woman just shouldn't mess around with a man's machinery." or when a female who's climbing down a ladder asks "Am I going down alright?"  Hardy-har-har.

Innocent story, corny humor, Joan O'Brien stretching that shirt for everything it's got, a couple of tattoos on sailors in the background, numerous vintage military ships, airplanes and, of course, the sub.  Also, this is yet another movie where the singing of "Auld Lang Syne" is quickly followed by disaster.  It'd be interesting to see exactly how many movies feature a similar situation.  I'm pretty sure it also happened in THE APARTMENT and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.

Anyway, despite the dated humor, I still enjoyed OPERATION PETTICOAT.  It's not really funny at all, but both Cary Grant and Tony Curtis are a pleasure to watch together.  And audiences agreed because this was the number 10 biggest box office draw back in 1959.

If you need me, I'll be in my room watching MISTER ROBERTS.

THE ATOMIC KID (1954)

Two dummies, I'm talking DUMB AND DUMBER dumb, are wandering around out in the desert looking for uranium when they stumble across a house out in the middle of nowhere.  The house is fully furnished, but it only has mannequins in it so they think that it's a model home.  Yeah, in the middle of the desert.  The one dummy (Robert Strauss) takes the car to go into town to go find help while the other dummy (Mickey Rooney) stays at the house.  Why?!  Why don't they both go?  Anyway, the house is actually at the location of an atomic bomb test that's about to take place. 

The bomb explodes and despite Rooney only being a few hundred yards away from the explosion he somehow lives.  He's taken to a military hospital for treatment and observation.  Naturally his beautiful nurse (played by Rooney's real-life wife at the time...he's had eight total!) falls in love with him, but they have to take it slow because anytime they start to get down to knockin' boots his Geiger counter/watch starts clicking and he might explode.  Hardy-har-har.  But that's not all of the excitement!  Oh no.  There's also a Russia spy out to get information about Rooney.  Hilarious.

Maybe back in 1954 this was a real side-splitter, but I doubt it.  It wasn't funny then and it's even less funny now.  The only giggle I got out of the entire movie was the ridiculously over the top scream Rooney did when he got hit by the kitchen door.  Other than that I was pretty bored.

Not a bad film, but the story is so lazy and juvenile that it was completely lost on me.  Elaine Davis was very beautiful though.

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)

At the end of WWII, three men with three very different lives come home.  Fredric March was a platoon Sargent in the South Pacific.  He's a banker with a loving wife (Myrna Loy) and two teenage children, including Teresa Wright.   Harold Russell (a real life Army veteran who lost both his hands in 1944) was a seaman who lost his hands in an explosion.  He lives with his parents and has a fiancee.  Dana Andrews is an Air Force captain and bombardier married to nightclub waitress (Virginia Mayo).  And she's been living the party life while he's been gone.  The three men's lives might be different, but all three face the same problems with readjusting to civilian life and putting the demons of war behind them.  That's all you really need to know about the story.

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES rightfully won a wheelbarrow full of Oscars, but I think it should have won two more.  Most notably Teresa Wright for Best Supporting Actress.  I thought she was absolutely stunning in her performance of a young woman tormented with her emotions.  Anne Baxter's performance in THE RAZOR'S EDGE (she did win) was good, but not as impressive as Teresa's performance.  Also it should have won for Best Cinematography.

Also, Dana Andrews should have won over Harold Russell for Best Supporting Actor.  Russell was good and he did get an honorary Oscar for his brave performance, but as far as acting skill goes Dana Andrews turns in one of the best performances of his career in this film.  And with as many outstanding performances as he had, that's saying something.

Side note: IMDb lists Joyce Compton as "Hat Check Girl (uncredited)" but I don't see her anywhere.