. . . are words you seldom hear nowadays. But back in 1945, the U.S. Navy had a whole L.T.A. (lighter-than-air) fleet. These "blimp boys" primarily were engaged in anti-submarine warfare along the U.S. coasts, though they might dabble in other missions, as shown at the end of THIS MAN'S NAVY. Military comedies such as M*A*S*H, STRIPES, DR. STRANGEGLOVE, or TV's HOGAN'S HEROES, McHALE'S NAVY, and F-TROOP tend to pop up during peace time, long after the shooting stops. This was especially true during WWII (1942-45), when the American War Dept. cross-checked EVERY feature film Pre-release against a ten-point checklist to insure that each flick made appropriate advances against the Axis forces. THIS MAN'S NAVY is as close to comedy as the War Censors would allow, with blow-hard main character Ned Trumpet, and his comic foils. Ned bails out of L.T.A.'s over Lakehurst, N.J., and under Japanese fighter plane attack in Southeast Asia, with exactly the same air of light-hearted jauntiness. In Howard Hughes' HELL'S ANGELS, the German dirigible commander orders a dozen of his crewmen to lighten the airship's load by jumping out over enemy England WITHOUT PARACHUTES. The U.S. Blimpers, on the other hand, do not need to resort to such fatal measures to shed ballast: they simply are shown pitching out swivel chairs, filing cabinets, and mini-fridges. THIS MAN'S NAVY proves that the Axis is no match for a nation of Archie Bunkers, Forrest Gumps, and Don Knottses.
Review of This Man's Navy
