Mister Roberts
Short description
Mister Roberts is a World War II comedy-drama set aboard a United States Navy cargo ship stationed far from the fighting in the Pacific. Lieutenant Roberts serves as the executive officer under Captain Morton, a domineering and unpredictable commander who refuses to approve Roberts's repeated requests for a transfer to a combat vessel. While the crew chafes under the captain's arbitrary discipline, Roberts tries to look after the men, and a prolonged shore leave becomes a point of contention between them. The film was directed by John Ford, with Mervyn LeRoy taking over after Ford fell ill. It is the eighteenth of the thirty-one films Ford directed, following Mogambo and preceding The Searchers; for LeRoy it is the twelfth of fourteen, between Rose Marie and The Bad Seed. Joshua Logan and Frank S. Nugent wrote the screenplay, and Leland Hayward produced. Henry Fonda plays Roberts, James Cagney plays Morton, and William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Betsy Palmer and Ward Bond appear among the thirty-seven credited cast members. The film earned about 21 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.6 from roughly 20,000 votes, and on TMDB 7 from around 185 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- William Powell's (1892-1984) last role, even though he lived for many years afterward. Powell frequently forgot his lines, which was one of the reasons he retired from acting.
- Initially, the US Navy strongly objected to the filming of this movie. Naval command was not pleased with the public seeing Captain Morton portrayed by James Cagney (1899-1986), and had no intention of assisting the filmmakers in any way. However, director John Ford (1894-1973), himself a former naval captain, called friends at Navy headquarters in Washington, and thus secured the Navy's cooperation.
- Although he played Lieutenant Doug Roberts in the Broadway production, Henry Fonda (1905-1982) did not immediately get the role in the film version (producers thought Fonda, who was already 50 years old, was too old for the role). The role was first offered to Marlon Brando (1924-2004), but he was busy with another project. Then the offer was made to Tyrone Power (1914-1958), but the director insisted on Fonda, with whom he had worked before, and even threatened to leave the project if Fonda wasn't cast. The producers didn't want to let go of the director with six "Oscars" and gave their consent. During filming, Fonda and Ford constantly argued. Fonda had been playing this role for two years, so he knew his character well. Ford saw him differently, and immediately fired any actors who disagreed with him. It ended with the producers organizing a meeting between the director and the actor to smooth things over, but at the meeting, Ford suddenly punched Fonda. Shortly after that, Ford left the project altogether (the official explanation was his health problems). Mervyn LeRoy (1900-1987) and then Joshua Logan (1908-1988), who had directed the Broadway production, finished the filming. The credits list directors John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy.
- The script featured a stunt involving a motorcycle falling into the water from a pier. The stuntman hired for this purpose refused to perform it. Then, the director hired an ordinary bystander, who turned out to be a Marine named Jack Lewis, who didn't even know how to properly ride a motorcycle. Ford was going to pay him $700, but the Navy forbade paying a serviceman. Then Ford went to the nearby Hilton hotel and arranged with the management that Lewis would drink for free at the hotel bar for a year.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
