Truly Dreadful Film

Absolutely Fantastic

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

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.

Unlike most war movies, you'll find no real "battles" being fought in "Minesweeper." For that, I actually give it some credit. It pays tribute to the crew of minesweepers - those who helped take care of Japanese mines laid at the mouths of US harbours. That's not especially glamorous, so I applaud whoever decided to make this movie. It's an important job, and not all the honour should go to those who are face to face in combat with the enemy.The star of this is Richard Arlen. He plays an officer who deserted from the Navy years before, and then re-enlists under an assumed identity once Pearl Harbour is attacked. So part of the movie is spent wondering whether he's going to get caught. The dangers of this type of service are well documented, and there's a tragic incident as the movie nears its end. The cast is decent enough.The basic problem with this is that it spends far too much time emphasizing the somewhat unbelievable romance the develops between "Tennessee Smith" (as Arlen's character was known) and Mary (Jean Parker.) Given that Mary was apparently already almost engaged when Tennessee showed up, I found it rather difficult to accept that she'd get caught in this romantic triangle, and I thought it weakened the movie. This certainly isn't a high profile war picture, nor does it appear to have had much of a budget. It's not bad; it's an appropriate tribute. I just wish it had stayed a bit more focused on those to whom it was paying tribute and to the service they were offering. (4/10)

Minesweeper is a product of the Paramount B picture unit where producers William Pine and William Thomas did things on an Assembly line basis to provide second features for Paramount's big budget items like the films Cecil B. DeMille did. They got the best training because William Pine served as an associate producer with DeMille for years before branching out on his own.A cursory list of their credits show that their early films either starred Richard Arlen, Chester Morris or both. Minesweeper stars Arlen as a former Navy officer who deserted because of a gambling problem and who comes back to enlist under an alias as a seaman when World War II breaks out.Arlen and Russell Hayden have a friendly rivalry for Jean Parker who is the niece of CPO Guinn Williams who lives with Parker and her mother/his sister Emma Dunn. Both Arlen and Hayden get assigned to, what else, duty on a Minesweeper.Discovering this film was a bit of a revelation since the only well known film dealing with a minesweeper is The Caine Mutiny. But the action in that film takes place years into World War II when the USS Caine was sweeping mines away from landing areas. This minesweeper is dealing with them right outside San Diego harbor. Arlen enlists in the navy to redeem himself and as this is a B film about a romantic triangle I think you can figure out how this will end.Robert Mitchum has a tiny bit in this film and Mitchum completists might want to check this out. As it is Minesweeper is a curiosity flag waving film of the times.

This is the story of a man who tries to make amends for past misdeeds in the service by reenlisting under another name, and whose experience in the service gives him an edge in the disarming of water mines.It is a well written story, with interesting characters all around, including the minor ones. Everything is very believable, not just by film standards, but by normal standards.However, I gave this only a ranking of 6, which is still above average, because for me it was painful viewing. It is not because of a bad story, but because it shows the pain involved with gambling addiction in a true light, which means it will be difficult to watch. This is still quality work, and if you aren't afraid of the pain, this may be the film for you.