The First Couple In A Movie Together


Reagan Bows Out Of Starring Features with Hellcats Of The Navy (1957)

Recalled, if at all, as Ronald Reagan's only feature appearance with wife Nancy. It looks like a war movie made during the war itself that got dredged up to release in 1957, as if someone had misplaced it for fifteen years. Cheapness is byword, this a second of properties Charles Schneer developed for Columbiarelease under his "Morningside" banner. Schneer had done sci-fi/fantasy (The Giant Ymir, which became Twenty Million Miles To Earth), but didn't want himself typed by the genre. Product needed to be cheap so as to play double features, often at lower position. You couldn't spend a million dollars and expect to get it back booking flat. Hellcats Of The Navy had every cooperation from that branch; Pacific Fleet Commander Chester Nimitz even did a prologue and participated by way of actor portrayal. A bigger star than Reagan and expanded budget might have gotten a good picture out of this ...




Sub dramas were popular; there'd been Submarine Command with William Holden, Run Silent, Run Deep and Torpedo Run to come ... all had, and needed, a strong name to lead. Reagan earlier cast lot with TV, folks understandably of opinion they should get him for free. In fact, this was a first lead he had in quite a while (also his last). Hellcats Of The Navy mooched off previous sailings, Crash Dive (1943) among recognizable oldies pillaged. Simple math dictated that if action highlights couldn't be got elsewhere, Hellcatswould do without. There simply wasn't time or money to stage combat beyond most modest of scale. Music, too, was borrowed, main titles reusing The Caine Mutiny's principal theme by Max Steiner. A decade toward forgiveness put chill on "Jap" epithets --- they'd be "Japanese" in all but one line of dialogue, and that was probably a slip where resource was lacked to reshoot. Hellcats Of The Navy turns up on Sony's HD Movie Channel, looking better than you'd imagine it could, so, of course, that helps for getting through it. Toward satisfaction of curiosity and closure of Reagan watch lists, Hellcats Of The Navy gets by.

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