In 1924, "Skeet" Burns (William Haines) applies to join the United States Marine Corps, but only to get a free train ride to San Diego, California. When he arrives, he escapes from veteran Marine Sergeant O'Hara (Lon Chaney) and boards another train to "Tia Juana", Mexico for the horse races. However, upon his return, he enlists after all and comes under O'Hara's charge.
At the base, Skeet spots Norma Dale (Eleanor Boardman), an attractive Navy nurse. He tries to become better acquainted with her, but his unsubtle, overconfident approach meets with a cold reception. He also discovers that O'Hara is smitten with Norma as well. It becomes clear to O'Hara that Norma does like Skeet when she asks him to take Skeet along on a sea training cruise despite his unsatisfactory performance and attitude. She finds he has already done so. On board ship, Skeet picks a fight with a "gob", a sailor, unaware that his intended victim is actually the Navy heavyweight champion.
O'Hara and his men are assigned to Tondo Island, a dreary naval station described as being "six miles this side of Hell". There, he is tempted by Zaya (Carmel Myers), a pretty native who is attracted to him. Before things get too serious however, he changes his mind. When she tries to hold onto him, he has to untangle himself from her. This results in a brawl with the outraged locals in which O'Hara has to rescue Skeet. Hearing unflattering gossip about the affair, Norma writes Skeet a letter breaking off their relationship. Skeet mistakenly believes O'Hara told her about the incident in order to improve his own romantic chances with Norma.
The Marines are relieved and are sent to join the Asiatic Squadron, stationed at Shanghai, China. O'Hara and Skeet find Norma there where is she is serving on a Navy hospital ship; she greets the sergeant warmly, but refuses to give Skeet a second chance. She and other nurses are then sent to Hangchow to deal with an epidemic. When news arrives that a bandit army is threatening the city, the Marines are ordered to the rescue. During the tense evacuation, O'Hara and his men are chosen to be the rear guard at a bridge. Fierce fighting breaks out. When O'Hara is wounded, he orders Skeet to rejoin the column, but Skeet refuses to obey. The detachment is saved by the timely arrival of an aerial squadron.
After his four-year enlistment ends, Skeet and Norma buy a ranch, in which Skeet offers O'Hara a partnership. However, the old veteran declines, saying that he and the Marine Corps are made for each other.
A 1926 American silent romantic drama film produced & directed by George W. Hill, screenplay by Richard Schayer, titles by Joseph Farnham, cinematography by
Ira H. Morgan, starring Lon Chaney, William Haines, Eleanor Boardman, Eddie Gribbon, Carmel Myers, and Warner Oland. The normally hairy chested William Haines had to submit to body waxing from the waist up in order to play this role.
The original idiom is "tell it to the Marines because the sailors won't believe you." Initially said by British naval veterans in the early 1800s as an insult to the Marines. Over time, it was shortened to simply "tell it to the Marines" as code for something unbelievable. This film solidified a second, pro-Marine popular culture interpretation in World War I when Americans began to give it the second meaning, that telling the Marines can get action on a problem.
MGM brought in Marine Corps. General Smedley D. Butler, commander of the Marine base in San Diego and author of the anti-war book "War Is a Racket," as technical consultant. Lon Chaney formed a life long friendship with him. Smedley arranged for a military chaplain and honor guard at Chaney's funeral. Sgt. H.H. Hopple, another technical advisor on this film, served as honor guard. Director George W. Hill and co-star William Haines were honorary pallbearers.
The first film made with the full cooperation of the U.S. Marine Corps., allowed to shoot on the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. The battleship used for the scenes at sea was the U.S.S. California (BB-44). Commissioned in 1921, she was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and was sunk, rraised, repaired, refitted and returned to service in January 1944, then decommissioned in 1947 and scrapped in 1959.
Lon Chaney would often state that this was his favorite film. Chaney forgoes his customary grotesque makeup, and refused to wear any film makeup at all, because to have done so would have detracted from the documentary reality and integrity of the picture. A writer in Leatherneck Magazine wrote, "few of us who observed Chaney's portrayal of his role were not carried away to the memory of some sergeant we had known whose behavior matched that of the actor in every minute detail ..." For his role, Chaney became the first film star chosen to be an honorary Marine. The film was the biggest box office success of Chaney's career and the second biggest moneymaker for MGM in 1927, only slightly behind "Love" (1927).
28 авг 2024
