Navy Blues

Sailor beware! That sweet trick with the big eyes is looking for more than a good time. She wants a ring! As bad-boy tar Jack Kelly, silent-film leading man William Haines brings his trademark humor, charm and amazing good looks to his first Talkie and proves to be as hear-worthy as he is see-worthy. So successful was Haines's transition to sound that in 1930, one year after Navy Blues was released, he reigned as Hollywood's #1 male box-office star. This nifty little comedy-drama touting the value of a good woman's love features Anita Page (Haines's co-star in the hit Speedway) as the girl who, after some heartache, ties a sailor's knot around Jack's heart. "I ain't the marrying kind," Jack declares. Wanna bet, sailor?

MGM house director Clarence Brown's first all-talkie, this pleasantly innocuous comedy drama stars William Haines as Jack Kelly, a carefree sailor picking up innocent Alice Brown (Anita Page) at a Ladies' Uplift Society Dance. Their whirlwind romance, however, ends abruptly when the girl's mother (Edythe Chapman) throws the sailor out of her home because of his profession. Alice, who has had enough of her mother's tyranny, follows him and, before shipping out, Jack helpfully secures her a room for the night by pawning her fox stole. Returning after a tour of duty, the chastened sailor finds his girl working as a taxi dancer and physically forces her to return to home and hearth. With her parents' wholehearted approval, Alice suggests that Jack marry her -- "a second time," as she fibs -- before a preacher.