Just saw this for the first time on TV- lots of Navy history mixed in with a pretty decent plot. Seems unbelievable that Clark Gable was ever that young, but this is from 1931! The carrier that this was filmed aboard was the Navy's second real aircraft carrier, the Saratoga, and seeing her in original, unaltered condition is fascinating. Slight correction to one of the previous reviewers- the planes are Curtiss F8C-4 Helldivers, the first Navy plane to bear that name. One of the pilots that flew in the film from NAS North Island, was the very young John Thach, later to be the air tactician that figured out how to defend against the Mitsubishi Zero in World War II. All in all, an important historical record that should be on DVD!

This typically polished MGM effort features one of its established actors – Beery – opposite new kid on the block Gable (before he was old enough to grow a moustache). It's one of few films the pair made together, reportedly because they never really hit it off (Beery is said to have even turned down a role in MGM's Mutiny on the Bounty because he didn't want to work with Gable). Then again, Beery, a lovable old lug on the screen, was a fairly unpleasant character in real life, with rumours of manslaughter, meanness and abuse of women and children surrounding him to this day.The film's plot could take place anywhere and at anytime really. That was the beauty of the studio product in the 30s: they could just keep churning out the same story with a different cast set in a different period and the masses would happily pay the money to watch them all. This one features some terrific aerial shots of old biplanes and some truly bizarre heroics (Gable hanging upside down from a plane with one hand holding a bomb to prevent it from exploding when the plane lands for instance). There are a few funny moments too, the best of which is the incidents that lead to Beery and Gable duking it out just minutes after having finally made friends.

Gable and Beery never liked each other and definitely never got along, so the ending is somewhat funny to me as it never would have happened in reality. There are deering-do feats with planes including one in which Gable lands a plane while hanging upside-down and balancing a lose bomb on his hand so it doesn't fall. You have to see it to believe it. Beery, at the time the bigger star gets most of the comic-relief which is the only part of the movie that doesn't blend in. The plot is generic, in fact, almost the same plot as the Ramon Novarro starer by the same studio three years earlier titled "The flying fleet". The movie though focuses more on the antagonistic relationship between boy-scout Gable and perennial screw-up Beery. The final stunt leaves a lot to the imagination because it involves ************SPOILERS******** a death of a major character that one must wonder how he dies when the other character in a more perilous situation survives ******************** END OF SPOILERS. All in all, one of the fifteen biggest movies of the 31-32 season.

Any time you have two fantastic actors of the calibres of Wallace Beery and Clark Gable playing against each other, it's worth a look. Beery was the highest paid actor in the world when this movie was shot, and he was certainly the most interesting to watch. It's obvious, though, that MGM was using this picture to build up their popular new romantic lead, Gable, even if it had to be at their top star's expense. If you like this one, I recommend a better seafaring film with Beery and Gable, 1935's "China Seas." That one's a real spectacular, one of those movies, like "Dancing Lady," with everything the studio could think of thrown in.