Ensign Pulver

Last updated
Ensign Pulver
Ensign moviep.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joshua Logan
Screenplay by Peter S. Feibleman
Joshua Logan
Based on Mister Roberts
by Thomas Heggen
Produced byJoshua Logan
Starring Robert Walker Jr.
Burl Ives
Walter Matthau
Larry Hagman
Cinematography Charles Lawton Jr.
Edited by William H. Reynolds
Music by George Duning
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • June 24, 1964 (1964-06-24)(US)
[1]
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box officeest. $1,200,000 (US/ Canada) [2]

Ensign Pulver is a 1964 American Technicolor comedy drama film in Panavision and a sequel to the 1955 film Mister Roberts . The film stars Robert Walker Jr., Burl Ives, Walter Matthau and Tommy Sands and features Millie Perkins, Larry Hagman, Kay Medford, Peter Marshall, Jack Nicholson, Richard Gautier, George Lindsey, James Farentino and James Coco. [3]

Contents

The film is directed and co-written by Joshua Logan, who had directed and co-written the 1948 Mister Roberts stage play on Broadway, [4] and also shot scenes for the 1955 film after director John Ford fell ill.

The story concerns the U.S.S. Reluctant, a cargo ship in the waning days of World War II that is at anchor beside a tropical island. Several of the film's events—such as attacking the Captain while he is watching a film, and one of the sailors trying to obtain compassionate leave to deal with the funeral of his child—are taken from Thomas Heggen's original 1946 novel Mister Roberts . The characters of Pulver, Doc and several crewmen return from the first film, but played by different actors.

Plot

U.S. Navy Ensign Frank Pulver constantly feels unappreciated. When he purposely aims a sharp object into the hindquarters of the hated Captain Morton, the crew cannot imagine that the all-talk, no-action Pulver could be behind it. A poll to guess the identity of the "ass-sassin" results in votes for almost everyone except Pulver, which he bitterly resents.

Shipmates Billings, Insigna, Skouras and Dolan do not take Pulver seriously while despising the captain, who refuses to grant leave to seaman Bruno to attend his daughter's funeral back home. Doc is the only one aboard who believes at all in Pulver's potential.

At sea for months at a time, Pulver is unable to indulge his greatest interest, women, until a company of nurses lands on a nearby atoll. The head nurse is pleased to meet him when Pulver introduces himself as a doctor serving on a destroyer, but nurse Scotty suspects the truth, and a smitten Pulver confesses to her that he is no doctor and nothing more than a junior officer on "the worst ship in the Navy".

Bruno becomes so deranged that he attempts to kill the captain. Pulver reluctantly intervenes, but the captain falls overboard, and is about to drown until Pulver lowers a life raft and dives in to save him. Separated from their ship, with the crew unaware for hours that they are missing, Pulver and Morton bicker aboard the raft. The ensign takes notes while the delusional captain reveals dark secrets about his past. As time passes, Morton begins experiencing pains in his right abdomenal region.

Eventually, the raft drifts to an island with friendly natives. Pulver also finds Scotty and Captain Zimmer on a nearby island, where their plane had crash-landed during a storm. Diagnosed with appendicitis, Morton again ends up owing his life to Pulver, who follows Doc's instructions over a radio to remove the captain's appendix. Back aboard ship, Morton's natural tendencies resurface, and he tries to return to his martinet ways. Although Pulver now has leverage against the captain, he shows genuine compassion and convinces him to leave the ship for his own well-being. Morton takes his advice and departs, turning over command to the more popular LaSeuer.

Cast

Cast notes

Production

Ensign Pulver began production under the working title Mr. Pulver and the Captain. Location scenes for the film were shot in Mexico City and Acapulco, Mexico. [5]

Actor Jack Nicholson assisted director Josh Logan with casting, becoming an informal "assistant producer". [4] Logan, who hoped that the film would repeat the success of Mister Roberts, recognized that it had fallen short of that mark, writing in his autobiography:

We thought we had everyone in the picture that anyone could ask for ... But we had left out the most important thing: the catalytic agent, Mister Roberts. And without him, the story falls into shreds. No one really cares about the others enough to create suspense as to the outcome. [4]

In the original film, Jack Lemmon had won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Ensign Pulver, James Cagney had played the Captain, William Powell was Doc, and Henry Fonda portrayed Mister Roberts.

Reception

Stanley Eichelbaum of the San Francisco Examiner found the movie energetic but unfunny, with witless dialog that defeated even the more skilled actors (Walter Matthau, Burl Ives). [6]

Bob MacKenzie of the Oakland Tribune was put off by the pranks against Burl Ives's captain and by the film's attempts to wring comedy from dramatic situations, such as the death of a serviceman's child. He found Tommy Sands, as the bereaved father, a particularly bad actor. [7]

The New York Times critic Eugene Archer was displeased with the uniformly broad acting and tasteless deeds of the characters. He concluded his review by saying, "This is one cargo ship that belongs in dry dock." [8]

Paperback novelization

Concurrent with the release of the film, Dell Publishing issued a paperback novelization of the film by W. H. (William Henry) Manville, writing under the pseudonym he used for tie-in work: "Henry Williams".

Comic book adaption

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Lemmon</span> American actor (1925–2001)

John Uhler Lemmon III was an American actor. Considered proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures. He received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. He received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1988, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1991, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996. The Guardian labeled him as "the most successful tragi-comedian of his age."

<i>Mister Roberts</i> (novel) 1946 novel by Thomas Heggen

Mister Roberts is a 1946 novel by Thomas Heggen, based on his experiences in the South West Pacific theatre during World War II. Several characters, including the eponymous Mister Roberts, were based on real people. Lieutenant Roberts defends his crew against the petty tyranny of the ship's commanding officer, while submitting transfer requests on a daily basis. Nearly all action takes place on a US Navy auxiliary cargo ship, the USS Reluctant, which sails, as written in the 1948 play adapted from the novel, "from Apathy to Tedium, with occasional side trips to Monotony and Ennui." Roberts eventually wins his freedom from the “bucket” and assignment to a destroyer, with tragic consequences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burl Ives</span> American musician and actor (1909–1995)

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American musician, singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Logan</span> American director and writer (1908-1988)

Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American theatre and film director, playwright and screenwriter, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical South Pacific and was involved in writing other musicals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Coco</span> American stage and screen actor (1930–1987)

James Emil Coco was an American stage and screen actor. He was the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Cable ACE Award and three Obie Awards, as well as nominations for a Tony Award, an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Coco is remembered for his supporting roles in the films Man of La Mancha (1972), Murder by Death (1976) and Only When I Laugh (1981).

<i>McHales Navy</i> American television sitcom (1962–1966)

McHale's Navy is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the ABC television network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated from a one-hour drama titled "Seven Against the Sea", broadcast on April 3, 1962, as part of the Alcoa Premiere anthology series. The ABC series spawned three feature films: McHale's Navy (1964); a sequel, McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965); and a 1997 sequel-remake of the original series.

The Bold Ones is the umbrella title for several television series. It was produced by Universal Television and broadcast on NBC from 1969 to 1973. It was a wheel format series, an NBC programming approach also used by that network in series such as The Name of the Game and the NBC Mystery Movie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Lindsey</span> American actor and stand-up comedian (1928–2012)

George Smith Lindsey was an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his role as Goober Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D. and his subsequent tenure on Hee-Haw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Walker (actor, born 1940)</span> American actor (1940–2019)

Robert Hudson Walker Jr. was an American actor who appeared in films including Easy Rider (1969) and was a familiar presence on television in the 1960s and early 1970s. He became less active in later decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millie Perkins</span> American film and television actress (born 1936)

Millie Perkins is an American retired film, television actress and model known for her debut film role as Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), and for her supporting actress roles in two 1966 Westerns, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind, both directed by Monte Hellman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Lembeck</span> American actor (1923–1982)

Harvey Lembeck was an American comedic actor best remembered for his role as Cpl. Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show in the late 1950s, and as the stumbling, overconfident quasi-outlaw biker Eric Von Zipper in beach party films during the 1960s. He also turned in noteworthy performances in both the stage and screen versions of Stalag 17. He was the father of actor and director Michael Lembeck and actress Helaine Lembeck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Farentino</span> American actor (1938–2012)

James Farentino was an American actor. He appeared in television, film, and on stage, including The Final Countdown, Jesus of Nazareth, and Dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Sands</span> American actress (1934–1973)

Diana Patricia Sands was an American actress, perhaps most known for her portrayal of Beneatha Younger, the sister of Sidney Poitier's character, Walter, in the original stage and film versions of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959).

<i>Mister Roberts</i> (1955 film) 1955 film

Mister Roberts is a 1955 American comedy-drama film directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy featuring an all-star cast including Henry Fonda as Mister Roberts, James Cagney as Captain Morton, William Powell as Doc, and Jack Lemmon as Ensign Pulver. Based on the 1946 novel and 1948 Broadway play, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Supporting Actor, with Lemmon winning the latter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carley float</span> Liferaft design

The Carley float was a form of invertible liferaft designed by American inventor Horace Carley (1838–1918). Supplied mainly to warships, it saw widespread use in a number of navies during peacetime and both World Wars until superseded by more modern rigid or inflatable designs. Carley was awarded a patent in 1903 after establishing the Carley Life Float Company of Philadelphia.

<i>Mister Roberts</i> (TV series) 1965 American TV series or program

Mister Roberts is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 17, 1965 to September 2, 1966. Based on the best selling 1946 novel, 1948 play, and the 1955 film of the same name, the series stars Roger Smith in the title role and Richard X. Slattery as the ship's captain.

Thomas Heggen was an American author best known for his 1946 novel Mister Roberts and its adaptations to stage and screen. Heggen became an Oklahoman in 1935, when in the depths of the Depression his father's business failed and his family moved from Iowa to Oklahoma City for work. He was Wallace Stegner's cousin.

Mister Roberts is a 1984 American made-for-television comedy-drama film adapted from the 1948 play by Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan, based on Heggen's 1946 novel. It stars Robert Hays as Doug Roberts and Charles Durning as the Captain. The film was originally broadcast on NBC on March 19, 1984. There was a 1955 Academy Award-winning film of the same name starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, and Jack Lemmon.

"The Billboard March" is a circus march written in 1901 by John N. Klohr, and dedicated to the Billboard music-industry magazine. Its tune is widely known among Americans, and it has been repeatedly used in mass media, even though its title is little known.

References

Notes

  1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/56260556/?match=1&terms=%22Ensign%20Pulver%22 The Times-Record, June 23, 1964, p. 17
  2. "Big Rental Pictures of 1964", Variety, 6 January 1965 p 39. Please note this figure is rentals accruing to distributors not total gross.
  3. Variety film review; February 26, 1964, page 6.
  4. 1 2 3 Steinberg, Jay S. "Ensign Pulver" (article) on TCM.com
  5. "Notes" on TCM.com
  6. https://www.newspapers.com/image/458534496/?match=1&terms=%22Ensign%20Pulver%22 Sun-Baked 'Pulver' at St. Francis, San Francisco Examiner, June 27, 1964, p. 12.
  7. https://www.newspapers.com/image/354542625/?match=1&terms=%22Ensign%20Pulver%22 Oakland Tribune, June 29, 1964, p. 39
  8. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/08/01/118533928.html?pageNumber=13 The New York Times, August 1, 1964, p. 13.
  9. Dell Movie Classic: Ensign Pulver at the Grand Comics Database
  10. Dell Movie Classic: Ensign Pulver at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original )