Historical circumstances sometimes make a movie more prominent well after its release. A classic case is July 1934's "Here Comes The Navy" with James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. On the face of it, the movie about a hot-head ship riveter joining the Navy to annoy a chief petty officer was known as one of twelve Academy Award's Best Picture nominations for the year. But the poignant facts of the motion picture's filming on the USS Arizona gave the Warner Brothers film a historic relevance of importance on December 7, 1941.
The United States Navy fully cooperated with the studio to use their shipyards, their battleships and a dirigible in the spring of 1934 to produce "Here Comes The Navy." The USS Arizona served as a backdrop for the two-week shoot where much of the action took place on the 1916 commissioned vessel. The California-based USS Arizona served as a training battleship between the wars before assigned with the rest of the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1940. The attack by the Japanese on the Naval harbor sunk the USS Arizona, killing 1,177 officers and crewmen. A magazine explosion sent the ship to the bottom of Pearl Harbor, and today stands as a memorial to those who lost their lives from the surprise attack. From a specially-built platform over it, the outline of the sunken battleship can be seen. Film reviewer Glen Erickson notes upon seeing the Naval vessel's distinct features in the movie, "The ship's giant masts, huge guns and wooden deck are instantly recognizable to 1950s kids taught to worship the ill-fated craft."
Later in "Here Comes The Navy," Chester O'Connor (Cagney) is transferred to the US Naval Air Service and assigned to the USS Macon airship. The movie offers a rare look at the pre-war dirigible and its storage facility in Hanger One at Moffett Federal Airfield in Santa Clara, California. The hanger containing the USS Macon was one of the world's largest freestanding structures in the world, measuring over eight acres. The USS Macon, sister ship to the ill-fated USS Akron (which crashed on April 4, 1933, killing 73), was the largest flying structure in terms of volume of any nation. As seen in the movie, the Macon was designed to carry five biplanes for aerial scouting. The airship was lost on February 13, 1935, a few months after filming concluded when a storm off the coast of California collapsed the structure. Miraculously only two died from the crash; the rest of the crew was rescued by nearby ships. Its remains lie on the bottom of the Monterey Bay seabed, and is protected as an underwater sanctuary.
Added to the historical footnotes of "Here Comes The Navy" was actress Gloria Stuart, who plays Cagney's love interest, Dorothy Martin. Stuart had filmed several scenes on the USS Arizona. Years later she earned an Academy Award acting nomination for her role as Roe DeWitt Bukater in James Cameron's 1997 epic "Titanic." Stuart was 87 when she appeared on the deck of an exploration ship examining the Titanic below the surface, 63 years after she was on the real deck of the the USS Arizona.
"Here Comes The Navy" failed to garner a win in its only Academy nomination. But the movie holds the distinction as the first United States Navy-based film to be considered for Best Picture. In addition, long-time pals Cagney and O'Brien, in their first picture together, would be paired in nine films, the last in 1981's "Ragtime."
The United States Navy fully cooperated with the studio to use their shipyards, their battleships and a dirigible in the spring of 1934 to produce "Here Comes The Navy." The USS Arizona served as a backdrop for the two-week shoot where much of the action took place on the 1916 commissioned vessel. The California-based USS Arizona served as a training battleship between the wars before assigned with the rest of the Pacific Fleet to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1940. The attack by the Japanese on the Naval harbor sunk the USS Arizona, killing 1,177 officers and crewmen. A magazine explosion sent the ship to the bottom of Pearl Harbor, and today stands as a memorial to those who lost their lives from the surprise attack. From a specially-built platform over it, the outline of the sunken battleship can be seen. Film reviewer Glen Erickson notes upon seeing the Naval vessel's distinct features in the movie, "The ship's giant masts, huge guns and wooden deck are instantly recognizable to 1950s kids taught to worship the ill-fated craft."
Later in "Here Comes The Navy," Chester O'Connor (Cagney) is transferred to the US Naval Air Service and assigned to the USS Macon airship. The movie offers a rare look at the pre-war dirigible and its storage facility in Hanger One at Moffett Federal Airfield in Santa Clara, California. The hanger containing the USS Macon was one of the world's largest freestanding structures in the world, measuring over eight acres. The USS Macon, sister ship to the ill-fated USS Akron (which crashed on April 4, 1933, killing 73), was the largest flying structure in terms of volume of any nation. As seen in the movie, the Macon was designed to carry five biplanes for aerial scouting. The airship was lost on February 13, 1935, a few months after filming concluded when a storm off the coast of California collapsed the structure. Miraculously only two died from the crash; the rest of the crew was rescued by nearby ships. Its remains lie on the bottom of the Monterey Bay seabed, and is protected as an underwater sanctuary.
Added to the historical footnotes of "Here Comes The Navy" was actress Gloria Stuart, who plays Cagney's love interest, Dorothy Martin. Stuart had filmed several scenes on the USS Arizona. Years later she earned an Academy Award acting nomination for her role as Roe DeWitt Bukater in James Cameron's 1997 epic "Titanic." Stuart was 87 when she appeared on the deck of an exploration ship examining the Titanic below the surface, 63 years after she was on the real deck of the the USS Arizona.
"Here Comes The Navy" failed to garner a win in its only Academy nomination. But the movie holds the distinction as the first United States Navy-based film to be considered for Best Picture. In addition, long-time pals Cagney and O'Brien, in their first picture together, would be paired in nine films, the last in 1981's "Ragtime."