An Annapolis Story (1955)

Casting is the only flaw to sink this naval carrier

Kevin McCarthy was the best known intellectual of the fifties. His long brooding face filled the screen with what made us think of the word "egghead" first- a doctor, lawyer or scientist. He's very badly miscast as a navy pilot and a football player. John Derek, on the other hand, is a shoe in for the part of his younger brother and romantic rival for the same girl. With better casting luck his bold action persona sporting a sensitive side could have been the Tom Cruise of the fifties. The battle scenes are top notch, intercutting real planes aboard a naval carrier with close shots of our stars. One weak scene does show them looking out the window from their planes in flight at each other about ten feet apart, not an A+ for realism, there. April 18, 2008

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