TeenzTen An action-packed slog

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

dglink A routine World War II movie, "Away All Boats" takes place aboard the "Belinda," a PA-22 U.S. Navy landing-craft transport operating in the Pacific Theater. Written by Ted Scherdeman from a novel by Kenneth M. Dodson, the film purports to trace the ship's life through a series of incidents: from a shaky shake-down cruise to Pearl Harbor, through action in Kwajelein, Saipan, and Guam, to a climactic kamikaze attack off Okinawa. Beginning with a brief aside from John McIntire, who helped construct the ship and hears it talking to him, a largely inexperienced crew stumble through mishaps, which are supposed to be comic, but seem silly and incompetent behavior during wartime. As time passes at sea, the crew grow discontent, and conflicts arise; but these too seem like petty nonsense out of "South Pacific," such as two sailors fighting over a coconut. Somehow, the esteemed captain thinks that building a sailboat with a red sail will solve ship board problems; wonder how many times that idea surfaced during the War.The lumbering film stars a bevy of ruggedly handsome actors of limited depth, led by silver-haired Jeff Chandler as Captain Jebediah Hawks. Hawks wants to excel, because he has his eye on the captaincy of a cruiser; he emphasizes discipline and pushes the crew to improve the ship's "away all boats" timing. Hawks's Executive Officer is Commander Quigley, played by Lex Barker, who is inexperienced, initially aloof, and generally disliked. The third major role is played by George Nader, who, as Lieutenant Dave MacDougall, was previously a captain in the merchant marine, but accepted a lesser rank to join the Navy and aims to become a captain again; MacDougall is the only officer with a personal life. Keith Andes as Doctor Bell and Richard Boone as Lieutenant Fraser round out the all-white, all-male leads. However, sharp-eyed observers may glimpse an African-American sailor or two, spot an Asian aboard, and catch a young Clint Eastwood.Doubtlessly aware that women go to movies, and females must be patronized, Julie Adams appears in a gratuitous flashback as MacDougall's wife; although the lovely Adams is always a welcome sight, she has little to do, and the sequence adds nothing but padding to the film. The scene, however, highlights the loneliness of command; the captain appears to have no home life or friends, he generally eats alone, and he adopts a monkey for company. Unfortunately, the captain, like his officers and crew, is a cardboard character, and most viewers will care little about him, although the monkey may have her admirers as the only female besides Adams in the cast.Filmed in Technicolor by William Daniels and directed by Joseph Pevney, "Away All Boats" is further padded with extensive stock footage played against rousing music by Frank Skinner. After 90 minutes of dull stretches, occasionally interrupted by trite dialog, the film does come alive during an exciting kamikaze attack off Okinawa. Unfortunately, the action is too late to resuscitate the film. With no over-arcing story line to hold the film together and a cast of wooden actors in two-dimensional roles, "Away All Boats" should have been re-titled "Away All Moviegoers."

TankGuy In 1943, hard nosed Captain Hawks is placed in command of the Belinda, an attack transport ship responsible for ferrying Marines to Japanese held islands in the Pacific. Austere in character, the rigorous Hawks enforces sharp discipline on the Belinda's lackadaisical crew. He is met at first with resentment, but later wins the men's respect using tact whilst remaining firm. Hawks pushes the men beyond their limits as the Belinda fights it's way through some of the bitterest campaigns in the Pacific theatre.Away All Boats is dated flag waving at the best of times crammed with all the war movie clichés of the decade as well a strong share of wooden performances. The movie chunters along at a laboured pace with mostly desiccated dialogue and tight eruptions of action. It does get rather boring in the middle and we are fed spoonful upon spoonful of corniness. The romantic flashbacks involving Lt. MacDougall(the Belinda's second in command)and his wife forced me to cringe. I just found these flashbacks pointless and again clichéd, they're just so familiar and seem to be copied from at least 10 other movies. Then again I suppose every film of the 1940s and 50s had to have at least one character with a love interest. The 1950s morals surrounding husband and wife were just too forced. There are also some poor attempts at comic relief. Two sailors fight over a Coconut like a couple of kids which in turn instigates a brawl. I'm sorry but it made the movie feel all the more hackneyed. The main problem is that the script contained a few great ideas which were hashed together with mawkish plot devices in a rush. The piercing soundtrack, whilst commanding your attention, is nearly played non stop over endless shots of landing craft and Battleships.Apart from the movie dragging itself to the point of becoming tiresome, Jeff Chandler was excellent as the stern Captain Hawks, although he was trying too hard to channel John Wayne. He played in a lot of Universal's B westerns but his portray of Hawks in this movie is his most robust performance. He really hams it up without coming across as being too pretentious, therefore exploding with charisma in a lot of scenes and showing the viewer he cares about his character. His acting ability peaks during the battle near the end of the movie. At the sight of a burning Kamikaze hurtling toward the Belinda, the near crazed Hawks waves his hand in rage and screams above all the explosions and gunfire as it speeds ever closer "HARD LEFT, HARD LEFT I SAY, GET AWAY FROM MY SHIP, GET YOUR FILTHY PLANE AWAY FROM MY SHIP"!!!!!!. The plane crashes and the Bridge becomes engulfed in flames. Overacted maybe, but these few seconds are the greatest part of the entire film and the brutal aggression displayed by Chandler is an acting tour de force to be reckoned with!. The same cannot be said for much of the other actors, although Richard Boone was pretty good. The few action sequences were spectacular and crammed with all the suspense that director Joseph Penvey could muster. The use of colour wartime footage showing massive destroyer's cannons blasting islands to smithereens takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the battles of Makin, Saipan, Guam and others. The final Kamikaze attack on the Belinda was packed with amazing special effects and tautness and looked extremely professional. A lot of this action footage, including the shot of one of the Japanese planes crashing into the Belinda, various shots of anti aircraft batteries firing at the attacking planes and shots of the Belinda's crew struggling to douse the flames on it's deck were all pinched and inserted into The Battle OF Midway(1976). This is the only part of the movie which etches the realistic chaos of war into your mind.Away All Boats is given the cheap and corny treatment but is saved by a few dazzling sequences, but it's not up to much other than that. It's still worth watching for some of the sequences mentioned above though.7/10.

inspectors71 There was a time that I would watch any war movie I could find. A Saturday afternoon on KHQ in Spokane would have either the "Creature Features" or something else innocuous and old, like Away All Boats, a movie that boasted being the most expensive film ever made by its studio or Hollywood, back in 1956.Having read the book and seen the movie (probably a dozen times), it would be fair to say that it's one of my favorites, the story an attack transport in the Pacific War, captained by a man who wants to command a real warship, but is willing to pay his dues first.It's all so vanilla, with every darn stereotype you can imagine, only on a big, lumbering freighter instead of in a foxhole. The skipper is wound too tight, the XO can't figure him out, the officers and men hate him, and they're all up to the task when the Kamikazes show up and turn the Belinda into a big, lumbering piece of almost scrap iron.It is fun watching and identifying all the character actors who man the guns in this classically antiseptic, very '50s, WWII shootemup. The special effects are pretty impressive, what with a lot of the ships the US Navy lent to the film makers still in service. Modern kiddies might groan at the matte photography of Japanese Zeroes hurtling in to smash the Belinda into a blazing hulk, but I still have an image burned (pun intended) in my memory of Jeff Chandler screaming at the oncoming plane, waving as if he could by force of will make the crippled plane and its Jihadist pilot miss, "Get away from my ship, get AWAY from MY ship!" Strong stuff.That scene made Away All Boats step up a rung on the quality-meter and makes me recommend it to you, if you can find it in the "classics" section of your larger video store.

silverscreen888 I am going to give reasons here why "Away All Boats" is just about the best naval drama ever put onto film. Self-evidently, this unpretentious but absorbing movie has a lot going for it, Among its assets are beautiful color photography, a stellar cast headed by Jeff Chandler as Captain Jeb Hawks, steady direction by Joseph Pevney, a very good cast, dramatic situations and very interesting characters. Standouts in the very unusually-large cast include Richard Boone, Charles Mcgraw, Keith Andes, Arthur Space, Frank Faylen and James Westerfield. All the creators and technicians involved have given this film a very spacious and attractive look. Kenneth Dodson's intelligent novel has been realized here as a very in-depth look at how the US Navy's officers and enlisted men got their job done in WWII. If anything was missing from the final product, it was three minor elements. Jeff Chandler, fresh off his most charismatic work in "Flame of Araby" here acts well but lacks his usual voltage to a degree; George Naderis attractive and adequate as his heir apparent, but Keith Andes should have played this vital role. And there could perhaps have been a bit more character development accorded to some of the other crewmen along the way in Ted Sherdeman's generally excellent film script. But the several battle scenes are very excitingly-mounted and staged; the dialogue is always above average; Hawks' warning the kamikaze planes away from his vessel is an unforgettable moment; and the long climax as the men try to save their ship after the captain has been killed, following his dying advice, is an unforgettable achievement. Julie Adams plays Nader's lovely wife, and there is comedy and incompetence, bravery and extreme ingenuity on exhibit throughout. This is an adult film about the Navy; but it is also about what it takes to be a successful human being, especially in a time of great danger or challenge. One of my favorite never-missed and always-recommended cinematic works.