Navy Wife
Cast & Crew
Allan Dwan
Claire Trevor
Ralph Bellamy
Jane Darwell
Warren Hymer
Ben Lyon
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After a fleet of 50,000 sailors arrive in San Diego, the U.S. Naval Hospital becomes inundated with cases of injuries due to accidents suffered on rented motorcycles. Dr. Quentin Hardin, the new chief surgeon, finds that one of the sailors, Butch, who is happy to have been diagnosed as having a dislocated hip because he now can get attention from nurse Vicky Blake, really has only a double-jointed hip. As Vicky shows Quentin Balboa Park, she reveals that she has not married because her parents' divorce has convinced her that marriages do not work. Quentin relates that his wife died during the birth of their daughter nine years earlier after they spent two years of happiness together. Vicky soon grows fond of Quentin, but when he leaves to visit his daughter in Santa Barbara, she becomes convinced that he has not gotten over his wife's death. She immediately leaves to visit her mother in Buenos Aires. Three months later, Quentin has transferred to Honolulu. Not knowing that he is there, Vicky accepts the invitation of Louise Keats, the wife of Quentin's commander, to work there. On the ocean liner, Dr. Pete Milford flirts with Vicky and proposes, but Vicky refuses, explaining she is already married to her career. In Honolulu, Vicky is uneasy when she is around Quentin. She tries to make him jealous by accepting dates with Pete, but when she meets Quentin's daughter Susan, who is confined to a wheelchair, Vicky accepts Quentin's proposal thinking that they could have a good marriage on the basis of mutual respect, trust and fondness, despite her belief that Quentin still loves his dead wife. A year later, Vicky volunteers to take Susan to Los Angeles for underwater treatment to allow her to walk. Seeing that Quentin is upset because of Vicky's absence, Pete brings him to a party to cheer him up. Quentin dances with attractive and intelligent Serena Morrison, newly arrived on the island, and spends time with her in the next months. Upon returning with Susan, who now walks, Vicky is disappointed that Quentin has not come to greet her and is anxious because of gossip she heard at the mainland naval base. That night, when Serena calls and tells Quentin that she must see him before she leaves tomorrow, Quentin leaves Vicky after refusing to tell her who called him. Pete then visits Vicky and confesses that Quentin's meeting Serena was his fault. Saying that she is fed up with being a good nurse, housekeeper and wife, Vicky goes with Pete to get drunk. Meanwhile, Quentin finds some papers in Serena's room and takes them home. Later, Serena approaches with a gun and shoots him as he calls Naval Intelligence. Pete and Vicky find him, and after he is pronounced out of danger, Louise learns that after Serena fell for Quentin, he was given orders to lead her on, and that his efforts resulted in the capture of a spy ring. Louise berates the men for not telling Vicky and opens the door of Quentin's recovery room to yell at him, but she finds him and Vicky in an embrace. Quentin tells Vicky that he is head over heels, madly in love with her, as Louise closes the door.
Director
Allan Dwan
Cast
Claire Trevor
Ralph Bellamy
Jane Darwell
Warren Hymer
Ben Lyon
Kathleen Burke
George Irving
Anne Howard
Jonathan Hale
Ruth Gillette
John Kelly
Susan Fleming
Jed Prouty
Murray Alper
Edward Le Saint
Patrick Cunning
Dale Van Sickel
Nick Lukats
Jack Pennick
Frank Moran
Selmer Jackson
Reginald Simpson
Terrance Ray
Charles Sherlock
Dell Henderson
Landers Stevens
Phil Tead
Wilfred Lucas
Doro Merande
Broderick O'farrell
Clarence H. Wilson
Vera Lewis
Zeffie Tilbury
Carey Harrison
Grace Hale
John Dilson
Sugi Machi
Patricia Caron
Terudo Kiyomura
Aida Magara
Mrs. Sojin
Crew
Sidney Brown
David Buttolph
Eunice Chapin
Duncan Cramer
Al De Gaetano
George Leverett
Sonya Levien
Edward T. Lowe
Rudolph Maté
Rega
Sally Sandlin
John Seitz
Lillian Wurtzel
Sol M. Wurtzel
Ilya Zorn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Beauty's Daughter. The novel appeared in serial form in American Mercury, October 1934-March 1935. Filming was begun by Fox before it merged with Twentieth Century Pictures to form Twentieth Century-Fox. According to news items, exteriors were filmed in Hawaii and some scenes were shot at the San Diego Naval Training Station Hospital. Variety noted that this film came "at the tag end of a long flotilla of navy pictures."
