Wednesday, July 16, 2014

OPERATION PETTICOAT: WHO COULD FORGET THE PINK SUB?

One of my favorite things about DVD is that I now have the chance to watch movies that I loved in the past without having to wait for them to appear on TV. For you younger folks, there was a time when you didn't have access to almost any movie via tape, disc or streaming. Instead you had to wait for them to show on TV without the ability to record them, some times only on the late show. I know, it sounds barbaric. And yet in reality it wasn't all that long ago.

Better yet is that there are some companies out there who don't think that classic films of the past should be ignored and are willing to release them to DVD in cleaned up condition worthy of what some would call better films. For fans though it's great to see them released in general. One company bringing back some great movies is Olive Films. I've just watched one of their releases, OPERATION PETTICOAT, and they've done a good job here.

If you've never seen the film, do so and have some fun. It tells the story of Lt. Commander Matt Sherman (Cary Grant), a sub commander who watches his first sub nearly destroyed in an aerial attack while the sub is docked. Pleading with the island's commander, he finagles two weeks to get the sub up and running with a skeleton crew. Willing to take on any extra crew members to be found, the island commander sends along Lt. Nick Holden (Tony Curtis), a somewhat pampered officer more prone to working the social scene than actually being on a war time vessel. But while he doesn't appear to be a part of the crew, his services certainly are.

It seems that Holden has a knack for finding the necessary parts needed to get the sub up and operational. His underhanded abilities tend to slice through the bureaucratic red tape that so many others find themselves tangled in. That being the case the sub suddenly finds itself ready to sail as their deadline approaches...even if it means the island commander suddenly finds his office without a wall.

As the sub makes its way to the nearest island in hopes of picking up some more supplies, they instead find the island airstrip bombed and five female nursing officers stranded. Holden offers them a ride on the sub much to the chagrin of Lt. Cmmdr. Sherman. The obvious problems between men stuck on a sub with a group of women onboard makes for some humorous moments, none of which I will ruin here.

Another problem rises later in the film, and if you've seen it before you'll recall it easily. When a base coat of primer is needed at their island stop they find they don't have enough of one color to coat it all. Instead they have to combine the red primer with white primer before painting it. You can guess what follows. When the island is attacked before they can paint over the primer, well, they end up with a reputation they'd rather do without.

The movie has some truly hilarious moments involving each featured character on board this sub. There is not a bad performance from any of the actors here with Grant proving he was still a viable leading man in the 60s when this movie was made. Curtis is at his good looking best here playing the affable con-man Holden to the hilt.

The transfer of this film doesn't have that far too clean look that some classic films have these days, instead looking much like it would if it were simply seen on TV. And that's actually a good thing. Movies like these don't need the over-polished look. Instead give us what we have here, a great looking movie that actually looks like it was made when it was made. Videophiles will have one complaint about the film since there are no extras. But with so much to watch being released this just means you can get on to your next movie rather than watch 3 hours of extras on a movie that is only 2 hours long.

In the end this movie is one that offers some great entertainment. It makes me long for these kinds of movies again, movies that were made about the war without having to take a side or political stance. Instead it showed sailors who were there to do their job plain and simple. It's a movie that offers entertainment instead of propaganda. It's fun to watch and I know that I'll do so with this movie again and again. This is one worth adding to your collection.

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