Here Comes the Navy

1934 Directed by Lloyd Bacon

James CAGNEY - Pat O'BRIEN And The Whole U. S. FLEET!

A cocky guy joins the Navy for the wrong reason but finds romance and twice is cited for heroism.

James Cagney Pat O’Brien Gloria Stuart Frank McHugh Dorothy Tree Robert Barrat Willard Robertson Guinn Williams Howard Hickman Maude Eburne George Irving

Alternative Title

Aí Vem a Marinha!

drama war

87 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by trey northcutt ★★½

Outside of the impressive battle sequence in the last third, there isn't a lot to stand out here. Gloria Stuart and James Cagney are lovely as always, though.
Review by russman ★★

It sinks
Review by Luke Thorne ★★★

Lloyd Bacon’s Oscar-nominated romantic comedy drama in which an arrogant guy (James Cagney) joins the Navy for the incorrect reason but finds love and two times is named for bravery.
The story concerns a boastful naval cadet who disagrees with an old friend serving with him. Although on a tour of the naval yard, officer Biff Martin (Pat O’Brien) gets into a quarrel with non-combatant iron worker Chesty O'Conner (James Cagney).
James Cagney gives a good performance in his role as Chesty O’Conner, one of the sailors involved who joins the Navy for the wrong excuse but finds romance in the process.
Elsewhere, Pat O’Brien is decent in his role as Biff Martin, the officer who has an argument with…
Review by PUNQ ★★

James Cagney does his best to be as obnoxious as William Haines as the cocky Navy recruit. At least he treats his girl better ten Haines ever would! I enjoyed parts of this. The rivalry between Cagney and Pat O'Brien has it's moments, but gets old fairly quickly, especially in the latter stages of the movie when it becomes all random. Frank McHugh had some good lame jokes. So it passes the time even if it's far from any of these guys best efforts. Oddly enough this earned a Academy nomination for Best Picture!
Review by tipsfromchip ★★ 1

Man, watching Flirtation Walk (1934) and this film back to back was not a good idea. They are both pretty much the same story - asshole gets pissed off and decides to join the military for completely stupid reasons. In this film's case it's the Navy. James Cagney plays the kind of guy that would probably end up getting shot by "friendly fire" at some point in his military career just because he's such an asshole. He's also so stupid that to try to get to an officer he fought with he joins the Navy, goes through training, gets assigned to the same ship, and only when he gets there realizes that he's a Yeoman and has to follows whatever…
Review by Ripplin ★★★½

Lots to like about this one! O'Brien doesn't get to do as much as I might've liked, but Cagney sure does, playing a hothead who becomes a reluctant hero. An interesting and slightly unusual story, impressive sea and aerial footage and some good laughs (including the end!) make this a really fun package.
Review by WildcatPhoenix ★★ 1

Not even Jimmy Cagney can save this one. The only thing even remotely interesting about "Here Comes the Navy" is that two vessels which were famously lost (the battleship USS Arizona and the airship USS Macon) feature prominently in the story.
Otherwise it's just another weak entry in a weak year of a weak decade of Best Picture nominees.
Review by Cole Duffy ★★

It’s creepy to watch this take place on a ship that would be destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor less than a decade later.
Review by David Gilbert ★★★★

Another Best Picture nominee off my list.
Being the son of a Navy man, it was thrilling to watch all of the navy ships.
Review by Brett Doze ★★

Yet another film that may not be outwardly terrible, but just doesn't offer up much. James Cagney is pretty much himself in the lead role, and Pat O'Brien is stiff as the guy he goes toe-to-toe with. I did like Gloria Stuart though, and it was funny to see her in a film that partially takes place on a ship 63 years before Titanic. I think I just found the plot a bit too ridiculous for me. A guy joins the Navy to get back at a guy who stole his lover and ends up fighting with the guy over control of his little sister.
Also, content warning, there's a scene of blackface in this.
Review by Nathan ★★★

Uneven peacetime war movie with lots of drop-of-a-hat fistfights whose tone is hard to figure; it's too wacky to be a drama and too infatuated with its characters' machismo to be a comedy. James Cagney is a diminutive local tough who joins the Navy explicitly to get revenge on a random guy who slighted him once, in what may be the pettiest scheme ever recorded in a Hollywood picture. The film's engaging enough due to Cagney (though his blackface scene is... regrettable), and an interesting snapshot of its time thanks to the conspicuous participation of a pre-war U.S. Navy, but it's just too silly to carry much weight and its Best Picture nomination is hard to swallow. I don't want…
Review by ennaih ★★

That was the most weirdly anti-Navy piece of naval wartime propaganda I've ever seen. But I did so very much enjoy Cagney's belligerence and too the gorgeous Orry-Kelly fashion, bless him.

Recent reviews

Review by joe2d2 ★★

i had higher expectations for a cagney character named 'chesty.' realized that kate winslet's boarding the titanic scene is possibly an homage to a very similarly shot scene of gloria stewart boarding the aircraft carrier. oh and there's a deeply gross blackface scene. best pic nom at 7th oscars.
homophobic moment: after his best friend blows a kiss to cagney, a sailor says, 'what are you two, a couple of violets?'
Review by AlexDaily ★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

The lousy depiction of the only Black character as a simpleton, and James Cagney putting on blackface for a gag are bummers in what is otherwise a perfectly middle-of-the-road romcom, if low on the rom.
The use of real ships and a huge cast of extras make it feel big and real on a scale I've not seen in these Best Picture nominees since Wings.
Review by Cole Duffy ★★

It’s creepy to watch this take place on a ship that would be destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor less than a decade later.
Review by Lmirish ½

I stopped watching it when James Cagney does a scene in black face.
Review by spuddups ½

Turned it off when the blackface scene came up. Thats a big "hell no" from me.
Review by David Gilbert ★★★★

Another Best Picture nominee off my list.
Being the son of a Navy man, it was thrilling to watch all of the navy ships.
Review by Gabriel Guarin ★★½

Not sure what the point of this was, besides James Cagney acting like a jackass and somehow wooing Gloria Stuart.
Review by Kendoval ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Pat O'Brien and James Cagney were both excellent actors, and the two of them were also lifelong friends. The two of them were even part of a group of Irish-American actors that would often hang out together which the media called the Irish Mafia. The two had met in 1926 and had remained friends up until O'Brien's death in 1983. Cagney would not long outlive O'Brien, dying in 1986. The two of them starred in a total of 9 films together, including the absolutely legendary film, Angels with Dirty Faces, which Cagney received an Oscar nomination for.
But their first film together was the 1934 military comedy, Here Comes the Navy, which was nominated for Best Picture at the 7th…
Review by Brett Doze ★★

Yet another film that may not be outwardly terrible, but just doesn't offer up much. James Cagney is pretty much himself in the lead role, and Pat O'Brien is stiff as the guy he goes toe-to-toe with. I did like Gloria Stuart though, and it was funny to see her in a film that partially takes place on a ship 63 years before Titanic. I think I just found the plot a bit too ridiculous for me. A guy joins the Navy to get back at a guy who stole his lover and ends up fighting with the guy over control of his little sister.
Also, content warning, there's a scene of blackface in this.
Review by Mike Myers ★★½

So, I've seen this and (the superior) This Man's Navy...are there any other military dirigible/blimp movies out there?
This one was pretty mediocre, story-wise, but worth watching for the presence of the USS Arizona and USS Macon.
Review by Irvin Malcolm ★★

A hot-headed construction worker impulsively joins the Navy just to get back at a guy. But manages to be a hero and get himself a girl. This is actually little more than a recruitment infomercial for the United States Navy (made in 1934, just before World War II). James Cagney stars in it and I have to say if he wasn't such a compelling actor who can sell the material, this would've been more of a drag. He manages to get a few chuckles in this otherwise meh film (though word of warning: one bit will raise eyebrows in our woke culture which is probably why this film isn't talked up much). It's a Best Picture nominee for some reason but it's skippable.
Review by David ★★

Very choppy and occasionally flimsy storytelling. I thought the cast was great, and it was still a pretty fun watch.