The Midshipman

Typical MGM star vehicle of the period allowing, in this case, the great Ramon Novarro to play moments of high drama and comedy while being gorgeously photographed. He even gets a shirtless fight scene to show off his fine physique. The plot is slight, involving the tribulations of a new trainee at the US Naval Academy, and is well filmed on location in Annapolis. It also features an early uncredited appearance by Joan Crawford, as a girlfriend of a midshipman surprised by an inquisitive dog while making out with her beau. But the film is all about Novarro, at the height of his beauty, demonstrating why he was such a great star. The film deserves a full restoration and rediscovery.

A silent movie of which the Nimitz Library at the Naval Academy has a copy on DVD, and which I have not found anywhere else. My desire to see it came from an eagerness to see all the movies made at the Academy, where I graduated in 1972. This one isn't very good; none of them are very good except maybe _Shipmates Forever_. This one does have the famous silent star Ramon Navarro, whose character's naval father was killed in action (the filmmakers faked a memorial tablet and stuck it on a monument in the middle of the Yard), and he is reluctantly filling his destiny by signing up to USNA. He catches on that he can do a good job if he tries. Complications ensue when a plebe's sister becomes the object of his affections, but she is engaged to a civilian cad who is eager to sabotage Navarro's midshipman career to eliminate competition. You can guess how it ends. It was, of course, fun to see the Academy of almost a hundred years ago, and the cast who dressed the same way we used to, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There was no football in this movie; that was a surprise.