Navy Secrets (1939) User Reviews

Plot Description Gives Away the Movie

[kitchent · 6/10 · 6 August 2008]

OK, this is not a great movie, but the real problem is that the plot description on IMDb and the back of the DVD box gives away the only real mystery in the film. Without reading the plot description about "two naval officers", there really could be some mystery in this mediocre spy film from Monogram, and some people would actually be surprised at the ending.

I got this movie only because I'm on a somewhat unhealthy quest to see everything that has Fay Wray in it, and she looks great here, although she basically wears the same clothes throughout the entire film, as it takes place over the course of one night. The sets are pretty cheap looking, the direction is pretty lame, and the pace is a bit choppy. However, Fay and Grant Withers do a good job with what they have to work with, and the movie is almost saved entirely by a couple of scenes. One involving a kid on a bicycle interrupting a quiet moment in the park, and the other involving Fay in a phone booth trying to make a call with bad guys roaming around. The second scene is ruined at the end by a complete lack of timing on the part of the editor or director, or maybe they just couldn't afford another take.

The DVD I bought is from Reel Enterprises and the picture was pretty bad and the sound uneven, but hey, thanks to them for actually making this one available. Any other obscure Fay Wray films out there? I'm on a mission, you know....

One for Fay Wray fans!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 12 May 2018]

Fay Wray (Carol), Grant Withers (Chief Petty Officer Steve Roberts), Dewey Robinson (Nick Salado), Craig Reynolds (Jimmy Woodford), William von Brincken (Cronjer), George Sorrel (Slavins), André Cheron (Benje), Robert Frazer (Peter), Joseph Crehan (Daly), Duke York (Babe), Arthur Housman ("drunk"), Joe Girard (captain), I. Stanford Jolley (waiter).

Director: HOWARD BRETHERTON. Screenplay: Harvey Gates. Based on a Cosmopolitan magazine story, "Shore Leave" by Steve Fisher. Photography: Harry Neumann. Film editor: Russell Schoengarth. Art director: E.R. Hickson. Wardrobe: Louis Brown. Music director: Edward J. Kay. Production manager: Charles Bigelow. Assistant director: W.B. Eason. Producer: William Lackey. Executive producer: Edward R. Dunlap.

Copyright 27 January 1939 by Monogram Pictures Corporation 1939. U.S. release: 8 February 1939. No New York opening. Never theatrically released in Australia. 7 reels. 60 minutes.

COMMENT: A movie in which Dewey Robinson heads the support cast is certainly a novelty. Alas, like many of his contemporary character players who added such luster to small parts, he seems unable to carry a larger role. True, he does give it a good try, but he simply can't muster the charisma or the presence to effectively carry it off.

Never mind, the leads are certainly attractive, whilst the direction is both fast-paced and action-full, often making ingenious use of standing sets and real backgrounds within the studio itself to augment production values. The script too is moderately engaging. A few scenes (the boy on the bicycle in the park) even have genuine charm.

Whilst the "solution" to the budding romance between possible spy Withers and possible agent Wray will possibly come as no surprise to most viewers, it is nicely worked through by the principals and an able support cast.

Keep it a secret if you see this

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 25 July 2013]

Navy Secrets is an illustration of how low certain players can fall in terms of box office draw. At one time at the beginning of sound both Grant Withers and Fay Wray were featured in A films. Of course everyone knows that Fay Wray reached the heights in King Kong's gigantic paw in 1933. Now six years later she and Grant are starring in a C picture film for Monogram as a pair of naval intelligence agents trying to break up a spy ring.

According to this story the Navy in its infinite wisdom decides not to tell each other that the person they are working with is also an agent. The bad guys are after some new Naval sounding device and they are certainly Teutonic enough in keeping with the times. The spy ring operates out of Dewey Robinson's waterfront café.

Years ago Huntz Hall told a story that at Monogram when Sam Katzman needed to get a film under budget he just randomly ripped out a few pages from the script and the director just shot what was left. I got that impression watching Naval Secrets, I had to make many connections in my mind to follow the story and in some cases just gave up trying.

There is one funny scene where Withers and Wray keep trying to get rid of this annoying kid who is riding his bicycle and won't give them any privacy. It looked like it was grafted in from another film. I think I would like to have seen that film instead.

Not exactly one of the great films of 1939.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 14 February 2021]

Many experts on films think that 1939 was the best year for American film and while they may just be right, not everything made in that year was gold...such as "Navy Secrets". "Navy Secrets" is a cheaply made B-movie from Monogram Pictures with few thrills and a lot of talk. It frankly should have been better. The film stars the bland Grant Withers and the equally bland Fay Wray. And neither seem able to breath much life into this spy yarn. Despite a bit of excitement towards the end, the film just plods along to the finale...and a twist, which if you think about it, is pretty silly as well. Definitely a time-passer and nothing else.

By the way, until nearly the time the US entered WWII in December, 1941, American films stayed clear of talking about the Nazis. Much of this was because they didn't want to alienate foreign markets and much of it because of a silly law that violated the First Amendment that said American films had to remain neutral on the war! That's why you never hear mention of WHERE the spies are from, though I thought it interesting that several at the end seemed to have German accents.

The secret is it's a poor movie

[boblipton · 4/10 · 7 April 2003]

Poor little second feature has Grant Withers and Fay Wray wandering around the city trying to track down who wants an envelope carrying navy secrets -- only they think it's collectible stamps. Withers and Wray try to carry this one along on their charm, but they aren't up to it, although there is one good scene in a park and a small, annoying boy on a bicycle.

Inconsequential spy drama with a few amusing moments to spare the audience total boredom.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 28 October 2014]

Running at just an hour, the 1939 Monogram film "Navy Secrets" barely ranks any interest as its plot gets off the ground. Craig Reynolds is a sailor in love with Fay Wray who is arrested for being late returning to his ship, and sends pal Grant Withers off to meet her so they can turn in some supposed rare stamps for a large monetary sum. Obviously, it is more than stamps he is selling, and it becomes a wild goose chase between obvious German bad guys (never identified by race) and obvious government agents. Wray and Withers end up stranded in a park with Wray's purse filled with nickles after she wins at an illegal slot machine and an annoying kid riding around him on a bike. Of course, for the few people who have seen this movie, that is the scene they all remember, but the poor kid doesn't seem to be credited anywhere that I can find. Wray and Withers seem out of sorts too because she's supposedly involved with his pal Reynolds (who basically disappears less than 10 minutes into the film) and all of a sudden is flirting with Withers whom she makes several escape attempts from while they are on the run from the bad guys. A few moments of comedy don't make up for the fact that the plot is absurdly put together and never really intriguing.

I guess I'm the only one

[Promontorium · 8/10 · 25 January 2022]

I really enjoyed this movie. A female Naval Intelligence Officer is undercover hunting a spy ring. In the meantime she ends up falling for another Naval Intelligence Officer on the same case. They each think the other is a spy, but they get along so well they keep trying to help each other, for better and worse until they learn they were on the same side in the end.

I actually really liked the dynamic playing of the romance and spycraft. You can't tell whether one person is faking it for the job, or is genuinely interested. Both romance and spycraft are games of back and forth. Then there's some flareups where you can guess one is genuinely hurt or genuinely intrigued and they start going against their own mission.

The best example is about 18 minutes in they are at a bar and each is flirting with the other. Until Carol directly asks Steve if he's married. He plays it serious, and then says "I'm not married." as a surprise, then "Would it matter if I was?" And there you can see she's insulted. They were just playing but he took it too far. "Personally or otherwise?" is her reply. Great line, she's simultaneously distancing herself while entertaining the idea of them being together. But she's hurt. So much that she's about to leave. LEAVE, her job would be tanked, her entire mission would fail if she leaves him at that point. So is she baiting him? Or is she genuinely hurt? How could either help her job. He now has to square things away. "Steve I wish I could decide if you were a sly Don Juan or just an awkward bumbling saltwater hick." He replies "I'll be anything you like."

Fay Wray is the star and headline, she plays a strong independent woman who ends up saving the dude in distress after he's tied up and about to be murdered. After she took out the guy trying to kill her of course. In 1939. And they'll tell you Captain Marvel was the first "strong woman" film in history. Disliking this movie means you're a misogynist.

Other reviewers are butthurt about the budget. I think the fact that it was low-budget and made for TV made it more real and gritty. It didn't have that b.s. Hollywood sheen old films usually have. It was just real people in real places talking about real life, which as an observer over 80 years later is just delightful. Yes the spies were German. It was 1939, who the hell else would they be?