A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

I don't care if this movie is great or not like lot of those deep deep viewers' reviews like they could see something meaningful out of meaningless nothing! Those viewers' said it's a historical lesson, a war film without any battle scene. Well, you think i care? The only thing I noticed from the very beginning is the stupid, annoying, funeral-held-in-church male chorus, wooooooo~~~wooooo~~~~~wooooo....trying so hard to make this movie so sublime, so heavenly, so purified, so reverse osmosis clean, so American Navy self-glorify, so self-indulgent and so self-intoxicated by themselves. What we saw from the very beginning is a bunch of navy soldiers standing like mummies on a battleship's decks, wearing white uniforms, stood like cardboard cut-out figures, then in that exact moment when such dumb image shown, the male chorus started, woooooo~~woooooo~woooooo....like all these navy grunts attending a sea-burial funeral ceremony. Then the old farts showed up one by one, with no-big-deal dialog floated around in the cabin, then, the drive-you-nuts chorus kept singing in the background, woooooowooooowooooo.....How it possible you could force me to watch along, dude? I've viewed all the old reviews and there was just one viewer screamed his head off wanting to shut off that woooooooowoooooooowoooooo background soundtrack. My God(if there's really a gender-less being here), you expect me to pretend myself as the deafest person on the planet? Besides, this movie really sucks big time! What we saw was just a bunch of American navy guys and Japanese navy guys in pure white uniforms and ranks blah blah this, or blah blah that, supporting by the unique yet utmost stupid and meaningless male chorus.I would also suggest those viewers who gave this god-awful film such a high rating. I know you guys are very deep and I am shallow, but one thing I have to point out, my hearing seems much much better than you guys.

James Cagney is perfect as Admiral Halsey a Naval hero of the Pacific theatre in World War II. James Cagney a real movie star had immense presence and that happens when one has a real Star in the cast. The movie modestly produced ( vs. today's over produced extravaganza's) by Robert Montgomery and James Cagney's indie production company the well thought of Cagney Productions is a fine film, and I enjoyed seeing so many fine character actors play valiant men who gave their lives for our Country.James Cagney was wrapping up his career and soon retired, and when retired, he refused all offers to return including to star in My Fair Lady. Warner used to call Cagney The Great Refuser for the roles he turned down during his legendary days at Warner Bros.Jack Warner wanted Cary Grant, and James Cagney to join Audrey Hepburn, but both stars refused.

Former actor Robert Montgomery's contemplative account of William Halsey's involvement in the pivotal Guadalcanal campaign is an unusual war film in that it features no battle scenes and no overt heroics. Much of the 'action' takes place in Halsey's office where he holds meetings with his trusted officers to discuss strategy and tactics. The officers are really only there to provide an alternative – i.e. incorrect – point of view so that the wise old admiral can set them straight, which he always does. Even when he briefly considers changing his mind, he shakes his head and dismisses the idea: 'You don't change your mind,' he asserts, 'you go in a different direction.' This is a Cagney-Montgomery co-production, which might account for the decision to dispense with any battle scenes. Presumably, although MGM distributed the picture, they provided no cash for the budget so that the lack of action is a result of financial prudence rather than any artistic or dramatic reasons. The film suffers as a result. It's almost two hours long, which is too long for a war film that contains no scenes of war. Director Montgomery does open up the film a little with Halsey paying a visit on the troops on Guadalcanal, the strategically vital island that must be held at all costs. Not much happens though, other than Halsey leaving all the guys thinking what a swell guy he is.The story is presented in a semi-documentary style with Montgomery providing the narration. It borders on the superfluous at times: we see Japanese commander Yamamoto photographing a flower, and when you condense Montgomery's narration down to the essentials, pretty much what you get is 'Here is Yamamoto photographing a flower.' When Montgomery isn't describing what we're looking at we're treated to some choral music that would be more at home in some movie about the Arthurian legends than a film set on a battle cruiser.James Cagney plays Halsey – who, it has to be said, is practically unknown in the UK – and he's pretty good, which is just as well because he more or less has to carry the picture. Like the talking pictures, Cagney had matured and refined his performances. Age was turning him into rather a stout fellow, and he could no longer get by on jerky, pugnacious energy, so it was necessary for him to adapt, and he was a wholly better actor for it. Others have noted that he toned down his mannerisms for the film, but he'd been playing most of his roles like this for the best part of a decade.Montgomery's direction is pedestrian at best. The storyline doesn't really give him a lot of scope for variety I suppose, and things fall a little flat at times. The script struggles in its attempts to effectively depict the strains and pressures of command while still presenting Halsey as some flawless, super-human strategist. The nearest it ever comes to relating the psychological burden of making decisions that can send hundreds or thousands of men to their deaths is in one quietly affecting scene when Halsey sits alone in his darkened office, his eyes invisible in the shadows beneath his brow, and listens to the sounds of battle around him.Overall, this isn't a bad film. It's not a particularly memorable one either. When I arrived at its page on IMDb to post this review I discovered that I had already rated it – even though I thought I was watching it for the first time. The rating I had given it then was a 4, but I've upped that now to 5. A sign, perhaps, that you need to be of a certain demographic to appreciate this effort.

Helped in fact by an astonishing physical resemblance to Admiral William F. Halsey that audiences today can't appreciate, James Cagney in his next to last film before retirement makes a very believable and strained Bull Halsey recollecting those harrowing weeks during the seesaw battle for Guadalcanal. If one is looking for battle scenes and lots of blood and gore skip this film. If one however would like to see a study about the strain of command than this film is ideal. Cagney drops all of the mannerisms that we normally associate with him in playing Admiral Halsey. It's a restrained and mature performance.The Gallant Hours is also a tribute to the men of our fighting forces in the Pacific who took and held on to the key island of Guadalcanal in the Solomons and halted the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations. Director Robert Montgomery did the film in documentary style and at times you feel like you're in the brain of Admiral Halsey, weighing each decision he makes with him. The familiar voice you hear narrating is that of Montgomery who was no longer acting and now was mostly concerned with production and with political work for the Republican National Committee.The Gallant Hours is a fine character study of one of America's greatest naval heroes and should not be missed.