Navy Blue and Gold 1937

     John (Truck) Cross has been working as an enlisted soldier and he receives a letter that he has been accepted into the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.  He meets up with Roger (Rog) Ash and Richard (Dickie) Gates Junior on their first day.  They decide to be roommates and they really get along.  The three men love the Navy and they love football.  They make it through their Plebe year and they find their sophomore year is just as difficult.  Truck has a secret about his father, Ash isn’t sure he should be in the Navy and Dickie is glad to have made it this far to get away from his mother.

     It’s amazing how different the football uniforms and helmets are in this time period!!  Nothing at all was known about concussions and other injuries.  There is hazing and Dickie is suckered into a mistake that really rattles him.  It’s also interesting to see the differences between 1937 and 2017!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

   

94 min, Drama directed by Sam Wood with Robert Young, James Stewart, Florence Rice, Billie Burke, Lionel Barrymore, Tom Brown, Samuel S. Hinds, Paul Kelly, Barnett Parker, Frank Albertson, Minor Watson.

Note:  Imdb 5.8 out of 10, 67% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 38 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Los Angeles and Culver City, California; Annapolis, Maryland.  Gil Kuhn the captain of the 1936 U.S.C. football team was the technical expert for the gridiron sequences.  Billie Burke as Dickie’s mother was Glenda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz.  She was also Mrs. Topper.  This film made $884,000 in the US and Canada and $284,000 in other countries, the profit was $297,000.