User Reviews

MINESWEEPER is a just-about-watchable WW2 flick from America. It seems to have been made on a tiny budget so the naval scenes aren't too convincing. What makes this watchable at all are some likeable performances from the chief characters, best of whom is the utterly goofy and endearing Big Boy Williams, playing the unlikely monikered Ichabod 'Fixit' Smith. Richard Arlen plays a navy deserter who decides that the best thing to do with his time is to re-enlist in the navy and start again from the ground up. His reasons for this bizarre behaviour do become apparent later on but it's not really very relevant to the main story. There are a few suspenseful bits, some unwanted romance, and an early bit part for Robert Mitchum.

This is a Pine-Thomas Production, which should tell you a lot. I described a similar P-T story to my brother who advised me not to expect too much, that there were thousands of these cheap flag-wavers made during the war.

This is a cheap flag-waver about two sailors (Richard Arlen and Russel Hayden) who are rivals for the affections of the same girl (Jean Parker) who happens to be the niece of their affable mutual friend (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams). Those are the four principles and none of them can act, though I suppose Jean Parker could be considered a modest talent while the three men can't manage to project a believable line of dialog between them. Russell Hayden at least looks the part but the star, Richard Arlen, is too old for his character. Frank Fenton as Lt. Gilpin probably gives the best performance.

The story, when it's not wrapped around that romantic triangle, has the three men together on a small harbor minesweeper that is removing Japanese mines from the channel at San Pedro, California. There never were any such mines but this is fiction all the way. Arlen's character rises from Seaman Recruit (E-1) to Gunner's Mate First Class (E-6) in the blink of an eye or the blast of a mine.

Arlen's character has an improbable secret past, and somebody gets blown up by a mine, but none of it is in the least gripping. But there are some nice shots of the minesweeper itself and a PBY swooping down over the ocean.

What keeps one's interest in the movie is watching Dub Taylor as a young man and Robert Mitchum as a non-speaking but prominently featured extra.

Made during American war-effect of World War 2. This war-time patriotic movie was mediocre, at best. Directed by William Berke, Minesweepers tells the story of Richard Houston (Richard Arlen) a former Naval Officer who went AWOL, because of his past gambling problems. Hoping to redeem himself and serve his country; he re-enlists under an assumed name, Jim 'Tennessee' Smith and is assigned to a minesweeper unit in the Pacific, where he has to perform hazardous duties at sea. However, his trouble past, might play a factor, in his overall performance. Can Jim AKA Richard keep his real identity a secret, or will his problems, become a danger, not only to him, but the people, around him? Watch the movie to find out, if you want! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, the story given here, is really hard to believe. After all, when a person joins the military. Fingerprints are taken and filed with them. Surely, the U.S Navy would find out who Tennessee Smith really was, sooner than later with all the background security and criminal check, they do. It's really hard to believe, that Richard thought, he would get away with it. Another problem with the story material is how cheesy, and golly gee sensitive, it was. You would think, this movie about gambling addiction, would have a lot of depth. Sadly, it has little to none. I know, a lot of critics would love to defend this movie on the belief that the war-time films of the 1940s were so uber conservative, that filmmakers couldn't get away with a lot due to the Hayes Code; but that's far from the truth; films like 1945's The Lost Weekend shows that films about addiction can work, if the filmmakers honestly put some sophistical into their subject matter. Since, the movie rarely focus on it, I really found the whole gambling problem of Richard Houston, a bit, add on, late here. Even, the minesweeper plot, seem secondary at times. The movie seem more focus and wrapped around the subplot of Richard fighting over the love of a girl, Mary Smith (Jean Parker) than anything else. I really didn't like it, because Jean Parker and Richard Arlen barely show any chemistry with each other. It seem to be, a little forced. Another problem with the actors, this movie has chosen, is that none of them, seem like the right age to be, consider for war-time enlistment, so soon after the Pearl Harbor attack. It wasn't until late 1942, where the age bracket was increased to include males aged 18 to 45, due to demand. It's really hard to believe, that they were able to serve, due to the fact that the actors look past their prime. A good example of this, was when they were doing, P.T. & rifle drills. I have to say, the stupid acting and dialogue, they were given in this movie, didn't help them, seem believable. Honestly, what middle age serviceman reads a grade school joke book, during intense military training!? If you thought, that was dumb. Just wait, until the scene, where the 'so-call trained' Minesweepers, try to disarm a weapon, by whacking at it. I found all of them, to be very clueless in their jobs. The acting in this movie didn't help. None of them, really stood out. Richard Arlen was probably one of the worst. He reads lines, without much delivery. His character was also very forgettable. I really couldn't remember, anything, he say or done, in the film. The only actor that kinda shine in this film was Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams as Ichabod Ferdinand 'Fixit' Smith. Still, the only reason why I remember his presence in the film, is because he remind me of Larry the Cable Guy mixed with President George W. Bush, both in look and in his Southern accent. There was just something really odd about him. Unfortunate, the actors weren't the worst thing, about this film. I have to say, the action scenes were. Most of the underwater disarming shots were a little too dark for audience to see, what's going on. It made the film, somewhat unwatchable. They were so badly done, that the only thing, I can describe it; was, as if I was listening to a radio manual at midnight with no lights on. Also, the failure of Paramount Pictures to renew the film's copyright resulted in this film falling into public domain. It means that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of this film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film are not very good, so viewing it, involves accepting some distractions such as poor video/audio quality, due to the fact, that it has been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film. Overall: It's still pretty hard to sweep all the problems of this movie, just for that reason, alone. The movie was still, somewhat dull and boring, when it first came out. For a movie about disarming bombs. It wasn't the best. I was still somewhat disappointed. However, it's still watchable if you really want to, but it's better off, to find, your entertainment, somewhat else.

Richard Arlen is a hobo looking to join up to fight in the just started WW2. He meets up but Big Boy Guinn who is in the Navy Reserve and who manages to get Arlen into the service. What know one knows is that Arlen was an officer who went AWOL several years before and now is trying to hide his identity. Good, "rah rah" war effort film about the men who seek to defuse mines. A bit soapy at times with the tales of lost loves and noble sacrifice, this the sort of thing they don't make any more for a good reason, it can seem awfully silly. Running just over an hour the film moves along at a good clip and never over stays its welcome. Worth a look if you run across it and are in the mood for a wartime programmer.

Any film that tries to make its audience believe that the military could't identify an AWOL soldier through fingerprints and would simply let someone slide through just because there was a war going on must think its audience was pretty dumb. Richard Arlen was one of Hollywood's oldest action heroes when he took on this low-grade war drama, and his age definitely shows. Jean Parker , another long-time ingenue, is the nominal leading lady. I felt that the premise kept me from being totally engrossed in the action, and having seen many war propaganda theme films of the era on every war subject, this one had to rank low on the rating scale. Good intentions don't always make for a good movie, and this one is as close to a bomb as the target of the aging heroes job.