Mister Roberts (1955)

This was actually an interesting film. Sure, interesting is a cop-out. But this film demonstrates the loyalty a crew can have and how important morale is to save the troops from boredom and monetony of everyday life aboard a cargo ship.
Henry Fonda is the title Mr. Douglas Roberts and he is a deck captain, in charge of cargo and the men. But he is not the captain. The captain (James Cagney) is not a nice man. He could care less about the fact that his men haven't had a liberty is about a year. They need other human contact. He ignores Doug's requests for a transfer. But Doug can have the upper hand. He persuades the admiral to send the ship to a port so they can finally get a liberty. But Captain denies it so Doug strikes a deal. He will obey everything the captain says and will stop asking to be transferred. He agrees and soon the crew no longer likes him, as he is following every order to the letter.
However, he does get revenge. He throws the captain's beloved palm tree overboard and he throws a fit. Over the loud speaker, all is revealed. About what he did for the men. The men risk jail time by writing another letter asking him for a transfer and forge the captain's signature. Which works. Doug gets reassigned and the men honor him with a special medal they designed themselves. He accepts the honor with extreme gratitude. The film ends sort of as I figured it would, Mr. Roberts dies in an airstrike by the Japanese. It is devastating.
Now, I didn't mention another main character, Ensign Frank Pulver (Jack Lemmon) is a lump and a ladies' man. He is lazy and has no backbone until the final when he is so furious and upset at Doug's death that he finally shows some real emotion and snaps at the Captain. He throws overboard the new palm tree and storms in to tell the Captain and wants to know about why there won't be a movie showing that evening.
William Powell is also great as the ship's loyal doctor, who can make vodka out of ordinary alcohol, in a great scene when Frank persuades a nurse to come aboard, but she doesn't come alone so he gets no private time with her.
Though the plot is simple, and at times, thin, this film is still very good and the scene where the palm tree is thrown overboard (both of them) is well worth the wait. The performances are good though I don't know if Lemmon deserved the Oscar, despite him being a great actor, this role wasn't that much special. It is shame that this would be William Powell's final film. This film has good scenery and the score is truly memorable. Grade: A-