This film could be called almost a purist biopic, but it is different from all other biopics in its carefully documentary character in a very restrained style of refinery making it rather classic in character and form. It simply tells the true story of the naval officer who by sheer stolid stubbornness rose to become one of the greatest and most important admirals of the US navy in the Korea war to finally step down voluntarily when he simply felt it the right thing to do as he saw other needs where he could make himself even more useful. The conclusion of the film is therefore the ultimate apotheos of a very constructive life.But the via crucis to that end is long and difficult, we see the casualties, the downing of carriers, the pioneer planes ending up in flames, the war is there in all its inhumanity and hell, but since it was there it had to be fought and won, and that's what keeps the admiral going even as he lies decrepit and hospitalized with threats of permanent retirement. This is an American parallel to Douglas Bader.It's a unique film in its singular discipline of sticking to the subject and aiming at the point throughout, and therefore it strikes home with a vengeance.

If a person looked to the movie poster to show them what the movie would be about, the one for "The Eternal Sea" would seriously mislead them. After all, you see the Rear Admiral (Sterling Hayden) locked in the arms of his wife (Alexis Smith). However, this movie isn't really a romance and the scene has little to do with this film.Instead of a romance, the film is about a career naval officer-- specifically from WWII until 1955. When the film starts, Captain Hoskins (Hayden) is desk-bound and longing to be back in command of a ship since the war is raging. However, when he finally gets a ship after years of waiting, he's severely injured even before he can take actual command of the ship...losing his lower leg in the process. But Hoskins was determined not to be retired and fought the Navy to remain on active duty. But the war ends and so far the film has given the audience little to understand why they made a movie about the guy. His post-WWII career turned out to be far more eventful as he championed jet aircraft on aircraft carriers and took the US fleet into the Korean War. Overall, this is a mildly interesting lower-budgeted bio-pic. Nothing great, nothing bad about the film...just a decent military film with only a reasonable amount of stock footage (a big plus).

It's late in World War II, the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The aircraft carrier USS Princeton is bombed. There is a secondary explosion that sinks the ship and costs Captain John M. Hoskins, Sterling Hayden, a leg. He's pretty bitter about it too because he was just about to take command of the Princeton. The Navy plans to retire him but Hoskins refuses. This troubles the Navy. It also troubles Hoskins' wife, Alexis Smith. She wants her sailor husband home. All Navy wives want their sailor husbands to stop thirsting for sea water, at least in John Wayne movies. However, she passes on some information to him that will save his career, sacrificing her own satisfaction for his sake. Not only that, but the Navy gives him command of the NEW USS Princeton and, in the years after World War II ends, it becomes his job to prepare the aircraft carrier to launch and receive Grumman jets.Hayden had a curious career. He was always half hearted about it. He was more interested in doing his own sailing than in acting, and most of his early films, like this one, were done by the numbers. He never made the Mount Rushmore of manliness like John Wayne or Robert Mitchum. His politics didn't help, even though he "named names", as the saying went. As an OSS operative during the war, he'd been inserted into Yugoslavia to help Tito organize the partisans against Hitler's troops, and in doing so picked up some ideas considered anathema at the time. In 1964 he managed to give a startling performance as a crazed Air Force general in "Dr. Strangelove," turning the maniac into an object of pathos.His wife, Alexis Smith, had fluorescent red hair and aquamarine eyes to die for. She looked regal. Canadian actresses look regal. They could all play queens -- except for Ruby Keeler who would have to be the naif from Nova Scotia whose royal heritage has only recently been discovered.You don't get to see the color of Smith's eyes in this movie because it's in black and white. It came from Republic Studios run by the notoriously cheap bonehead Herbert J. Yates, a man of little taste, whose idea of "art" had a dollar sign in front of it. Yates also shoehorned in his main squeeze, Vera Hruba Ralston, as a leading figure whenever possible. And he cheated John Ford out of some money connected with "The Quiet Man," and Ford never forgave John Wayne for getting him mixed up with Yates.However, mean though Yates may have been, this movie isn't shabby. It's not limited to one or two indoor sets. Nothing like that. It's a respectable production, though an inexpensive one. None of the combat scenes are staged. They're all taken from newsreel footage, which was still relatively new to audiences at the time. That is, we see Hayden and some other officer staring at something off screen and then the film cuts to a shot of an airplane landing or taking off. The Navy's Grumman Panthers were cool-looking aircraft as far as that goes. They no longer looked like rudimentary jets. They looked ready to fly at speed, though in fact they were no match for Soviet jets. I watched them practicing touch and go landings from a carrier in Monterey Bay, a thrilling experience.The writing and direction are strictly instrumental. There's not a jot of originality in either. Nor does a viewer learn any of the technical details about converting aircraft carriers to jets. And unless you know the differences between commanding a carrier and commanding a carrier division or a fleet, you may miss some of the steps upward taken by "the peg leg admiral." Hoskins was a real historical figure and quite a guy according to this movie -- flawless in fact. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his action in Korea. He also was awarded the following medals: Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, China Service Medal, Order of Military Merit, from the Philippine Government, the Philippine Liberation Medal, Atlantic Fleet Clasp, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, plus others. He was still alive when the movie was made.

Toward the end of Republic Pictures existence with the demise of the B western and the departure of their number one asset John Wayne, the studio did produce some quality if low budget films. The Eternal Sea is one such film and the studio made good use of naval combat footage from World War II and Korea to integrate them into the story.Which is the true story of Admiral John Hoskins who lost a leg during the battle of Leyte Gulf, but fought to stay on in the Navy on active duty and doing more than desk duty. As the story unfolds Hoskins fought to have our aircraft carriers adapted to jet airplanes, a difficult task indeed because naval aviation itself was only slightly over 25 years old and just getting settled into propeller planes.Sterling Hayden plays the courageous and far seeing admiral Hawkins and Alexis Smith his supportive wife who would dearly like to see her man take an honorable retirement. Alexis Smith always had trouble getting cast because she was a tall girl, a first baseman as Bing Crosby said in Here Comes The Groom. No worries here because Sterling Hayden was 6'5" to Alexis's 5'9".Dean Jagger does a nice job in the role of Hayden's superior and mentor. The Eternal Sea is a real inspirational story and was worthy of a bigger studio and budget than Republic Pictures and the money allocated.