“Don’t Give Up The Ship” was a movie released from the United States of America in the Year 1959.

The genre of the said movie was categorized as comedy with Jerry Lewis, a late veteran American comedian as the lead character.

The following observations were made per this blogger’s recall as he watched it during his high school days at Philippine television IBC Channel 13 as part of the afternoon weekday screenings called “Showcase”:

• The film, in which photography was made in black and white, was about a bumbling United States naval officer played by Lewis who was promoted to higher ranks by a series of luck which involved the resignations or leaving the service of his predecessors making him the automatic next in rank in the said positions.
• The naval officer’s honeymoon with his wife after their wedding did not happen because he was called by his superior officers to answer their queries about the battle ship he commanded before the end of the World War II (WWII) in the Pacific where the enemy during that time were the military forces of Imperial Japan.
• The said battleship was missing and can not be accounted by the United States Navy. A congressional hearing is being conducted to know its whereabouts and if this will not be accounted for, there will be no increase in the funds to be appropriated for the said military organization.
• The naval officer would be held accountable for the missing ship called “U.S.S. Kornblatt” and will cause his expulsion from military service. His superior officers asked for assistance from the Naval Intelligence which assigned a certain Ensign Benson to the naval officer. The said intelligence officer turned out to be a beautiful lady which surprised the officer. However, she is a psychiatrist and since the naval officer can not remember what happened to the WWII battleship he commanded, she put him in a relaxing mode which his subconscious was reactivated as to the events that took place.
• When the war ended, the battleship he commanded was being ordered to be returned to mainland U.S.A. for decommissioning. Along the route, the bumbling officer had ordered maneuvers which caused the ship to be stuck in an area near the island which is still being occupied by a garrison of Japanese soldiers.
• The Japanese soldiers thought that the war is not yet over. When they saw Lewis’ character, he was taken as a prisoner and ordered by the commanding officer of the group to be executed. However, the execution did not happen because they received communication that war was really over and he was released by his captors. They surrendered their firearms and ammunition and the garrison as well to their former prisoner. When he returned to the shore to look for his ship and two of his colleagues who accompanied him when they land in the said place, he was surprised that it was gone. Since he was missing for days already, the crew assumed that he was already dead and left without him.
• The one who commanded the ship when Lewis’ character was left behind the island was a fellow officer, whose rank is lower than him, who was with him when they landed there. He retired from the naval service who is now working as a wrestler. The naval officer and the lady intelligence officer located him in a stadium where he was in the middle of match and could not answer the details about the officer whom he turned over the ship. He remembered that the ship was later used as a target practice and sank in an ocean floor.
• The lead character and the beautiful ensign returned to Washington by train because of a hurricane which made travel by airplane not practical. They have to returned there because of the congressional hearing. They shared a compartment in a train which later caused his wife to be jealous when they arrived at the train station. His mother-in-law was also there.
• The two officers and the naval officer’s wife went to the hearing in which the congressman leading the inquiry wanted it to terminate soon and no additional budget to the U.S. Navy would be granted if the battleship will not be located within 48 hours.
• Since the naval officer is involved in the accusation by the congressman that he lost the ship during the former’s watch and can be considered as a traitor, his superior officer assigned him to locate the ship. Fortunately, his former colleague turned wrestler followed him to Washington to tell him pertinent information about the ship and agreed to joined him in the search.
• Using the available information at their disposal, they were able to locate it beneath the ocean floor where it had been sunk. They took the bell with the emblem of the ship after encountering hilarious situations like seeing allegedly two mermaids and an octopus that almost derailed their mission.
• The duo brought the bell to the congressional hearing which gave a larger budget for the U.S. Navy and cleared the name of the naval officer because of an information he used as a bargaining chip. The congressman who is leading the hearing turned out to be the one who ordered the sinking the ship in a target practice when he was an officer of the U.S. Navy. The order he made was without proper authorization and without documentation as well which was the reason why there was no record about it and was declared missing.
• With this positive development, the naval officer stays in military service and his honeymoon with this wife happened at last.

The images that were used for this feature post were taken from selected online resources as references.

That’s all for now.

Until the next feature post.

Happier Days Ahead to All of Us!