Sea Devils (1937)

Had Sea Devils been done over at Warner Brothers, this film would have found an honored place in the Cagney/O'Brien buddy films. As it was done at RKO we have the Victor McLaglen/Preston Foster combination doing parts that fit O'Brien and Cagney like a glove.

This was the kind of film that might have prospered better under John Ford. Ford had directed McLaglen and Foster in The Informer also for RKO, a film a lot more serious in subject matter.

McLaglen is playing cupid here. His daughter is Ida Lupino and he's a much decorated Chief Petty Officer in the Coast Guard. He's got both Preston Foster and Donald Woods courting her. Foster is cut a bit too much from the same cloth that produced McLaglen and he doesn't want to see Lupino end up with him. Vic much prefers Woods who is studying for officer candidate's school.

McLaglen abuses his rank to pick on Foster and finally Foster and he have it out. The only problem is that they tangle while on ice breaker duty and Woods is seriously injured while they're brawling. It results in court martial, but both get a chance to redeem themselves.

Sea Devils is not a bad film, but it feels like a bargain basement Cagney/O'Brien or John Ford service comedy, a combination of both to be sure.