Movie review: ‘Operation Petticoat’

World War II films were in their heyday in the late 1950s, framing both comedy and drama. Along with westerns, it was the majority genre of the era. So, on the war film front, you get solid, understated comedy with “Operation Petticoat.” It stars Cary Grant and includes an excellent performance by Tony Curtis, whose nearly-equally famous daughter Jamie Lee was in the regrettably drab TV series of the same name nearly a generation later. Although “Operation Petticoat” doesn’t have quite the feminine touch that Grant would experience five years later in another war-comedy – “Father Goose” (click here for my review) – it is certainly solid.

‘Operation Petticoat’
(1959; 124 minutes; unrated; directed by Blake Edwards and starring Cary Grant, Tony Curtis and Joan O’Brien)

THEY ALL LIVE IN A PINK SUBMARINE

(NOTE: I expanded this review Aug. 26, 2015, with additional opinion – none changes from the original, though – as well as updating links and correcting a few typos. I further expanded it on June 22, 2019. I again expanded the review on Nov. 13, 2024.)

Two-time Oscar nominee Cary Grant simply defines the elegance and panache of Hollywood’s elite. His string of notable films over a three-decade career added up to his being designated the Second Greatest Male Star of all time by the American Film Institute (Grant’s peer Humphrey Bogart ranks first).

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Grant’s best-known films include such classics such as “North by Northwest,” “Charade” or “His Girl Friday” and one that is very funny light comedy is “Operation Petticoat” from 1959, which was resurrected as a TV series in the 1970s. Grant would go on to star in another WWII comedy five years later called “Father Goose” with Leslie Caron. Both films are set in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, but each offers quite differing turns for Grant, who is nevertheless long-suffering as each character – only for different reasons under different personalities.

Just as legendary as Grant, or co-star Tony Curtis for that matter, is director Blake Edwards. It doesn’t have quite the punch of his comedy classic “10” with Bo Derek (click here to read my review) or even the rib-tickling fun of his “Pink Panther” efforts with Peter Sellers, but “Operation Petticoat” is good storytelling that draws from the well of competent writing that’s handled by an excellent director. Edwards was at the helm for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and the little-remembered R-comedy “S.O.B.” where Julie Andrews, who was Edwards’ wife at the time, went topless. He was nominated for an Oscar for penning “Victor Victoria” in 1982. Edwards died at 88 in 2010 of pneumonia.

In “Operation Petticoat,” Grant plays U.S. Navy Cmdr. “Matt Sherman,” who is a submarine skipper who wants to get into war and will make a pact with the devil (or at least with Curtis). As the sub is being readied for combat, it is damaged by an enemy bombing raid. In the meantime, Curtis, who plays society-first “idea man” “Lt. Nick Holden,” joins the crew of real sailors and quickly shows he’s made of more than just clippings from the society pages (remember those?).

Curtis earns his way into Grant’s favor through his con-man approach to life and his ability to scrounge the parts necessary to fix the sub. He’s appointed “supply officer” and handles it with ease. Curtis is affable and fun in this role, along with just the correct amount of insouciance about his larceny.

Although damaged, the “Sea Tiger,” which was portrayed by filmmakers using three different U.S. Navy subs during production, sets to sea on a mission just to get to a more secure U.S. base in the Pacific for full repairs.

During its mission Grant has been ordered not to engage the enemy, but ultimately does manage to attempt an attack on a Japanese ship at dock at an island. True to form, the crew, helped by the bumbling of a klutzy nurse (more on this later), manages to torpedo a truck on a beach. “We sunk a truck!” Grant exclaims in exasperation.

Oh, and the sub turns pink when the crew must mix red and white paint to have enough to cover the vessel.

Now, let’s look at the headliners …

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  Grant earned a Golden Globe nomination for “Operation Petticoat” and he’s smooth but not elegant as the submarine skipper who tries to keep a short leash on Curtis but has no choice but to give him room and enjoy the larceny. He makes acting look so easy that you forget what talent is needed to be this smooth on camera. Grant was nominated for Oscars for 1940s film “None but the Lonely Heart” and “Penny Serenade” and earned four other Globe nominations. The English-born actor died at 82 in 1986 of cerebral hemorrhage.

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  A nominee for an Oscar and a Primetime Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner and two-time nominee, Curtis eases through this one playing pretty much himself. He’s totally comfortable in all scenes and you just want to see him in the next one, too. Curtis, who is the father of one-time “Scream Queen” Jamie Lee Curtis, knows how to manage not overplaying his hand with a character. He received his Oscar and one Globe nomination for “The Defiant Ones” and was also nominated for “The Boston Strangler.” He won Globes for “World Film Favorite – Male” with Rock Hudson in 1961 and solo male film favorite in 1958. I liked him best after “Operation Petticoat” in the classic “Spartacus” with Kirk Douglas, while being disappointed that he appeared in the simply regrettable “The Bad News Bears Go to Japan.” Curtis died at 85 in 2010 of a heart attack.

For the supporting cast, it is a solid group of actors who execute their roles the way it was written …

• A five-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Gavin MacLeod, who would skipper his own ship one day on “The Love Boat” (click here to read my review of the TV series), plays “Ernest Hunkle,” himself a longsuffering clerk for Grant’s messages to the incompetent military bureaucracy. MacLeod is younger in this film, but his voice is unmistakable. I liked him best as the semi-hippie sidekick to Donald Sutherland’s hippie in the WWII classic “Kelly’s Heroes” with Clint Eastwood (click here to read my review). He earned three nominations for “The Love Boat” the other two for being in the newsroom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” He died at 90 in 2021.
• Dick Sargent, who was one of two actors to play “Darrin” in the TV classic “Bewitched,” plays “Ensign Stovall,” one of the sub’s officers and was billed as Richard Sargent in the credits. He turns out his usual competent effort, but he doesn’t manage to squeeze out any scene-stealers. I will note that he doesn’t have much of a chance with both Grant and Curtis in the cast. Sargent was also in “That Touch of Mink” with Grant and Doris Day and he died at 64 in 1994 of prostate cancer.

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  The small but important role of “Ramon” is played by Clarence Lung to perfection as the deserted-turned-sidekick of Curtis. He was in a string of TV episodes on series including “My Favorite Martian” and “My Three Sons.” He also did an episode of “Bewitched,” but before Sargent replaced Dick York as “Darrin.” Lung died at 78 in 1993.

The key subplot – and just about the final straw on Grant’s patience – is when he sends Curtis ashore at one point to snag what they need and returns … with five Army nurses. “Women!” Grant exclaims. “Wow! That’s what I call scavenging,” Sargent says in wonder in his best single moment of the film.

The nurses were left on an island where the sub stops for further repairs when their aircraft left just before an enemy raid. Virginia Gregg, whose best-known film is probably “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” plays “Maj. Edna Heywood,” the leader of the nurses. Gregg was also an actor under “contract” in Hollywood and had various roles from police supporters to police haters on the iconic TV series “Dragnet” with Jack Webb. Gregg, who had 230 acting credits in a career that began in 1946, died of lung cancer at 70 in 1986.

Other nurses include Marion Ross, who would become best known as “Mrs. Cunningham” on TV’s legendary “Happy Days;” Joan O’Brien, whose feminine pulchritude and overall clumsiness is the highlight of her role; and socialite-star Dina Merrill, who would much later play a stuck-up society matron in the horrid “Caddyshack II” (click here for my review). Merrill died of Lewy body dementia at 93 in 2017.

Of course, all’s well that ends well, but with nary a dry eye as well as a smile as “The End” appears.

The film comes full circle at the end: it started years after the war as the “Sea Tiger” is being sent to decommissioning and scrap. You’ll find out what happened to both Grant and Curtis, as well as to which nurse married each.

It’s worth the wait.

“Operation Petticoat” was the 12^th ranked film at theaters in 1959 and had $3.9 million in ticket sales, according to Wiki. It had tough competition as the classic “Ben-Hur” was No. 1 with $36.9 million and Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” was second with $21.9 million. “Operation Petticoat” is one of two films from 1959 that I have reviewed for my blog. The other is the classic Doris Day-Rock Hudson comedy “Pillow Talk” (click here for my review).

Other cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

• MacLeod would later have his own command as skipper of “The Love Boat” and several supporting actors from “Operation Petticoat” would join him for a cruise, including Merrill, Sargent and Ross, who even did the pathetic “Love Boat: The Next Wave” (which doesn’t count as a real “Love Boat” and I’m not giving you its link). MacLeod’s birth name was Allan George See.
• Curtis’ birth name was Bernard Herschel Schwartz, while Grant’s was Archibald Alec Leach. Monty Python great John Cleese’s headlining character in “A Fish Called Wanda” is “Archie Leach” in homage to Grant (and Jamie Lee was in that one with Cleese – click here to read my review).
• Merrill’s birth name was Nedenia Marjorie Hutton; Sargent’s birth name was Richard Stanford Cox; and director Blake Edwards’ birth name was William Blake Crump.
• Grant was known for his reputed use of the hallucinogen LSD for therapy, and, one writer said that Grant even demanded that all ships shown in “Operation Petticoat” move from left to right (as we read in English). With a minor backup by the sub at one dock, all the vessels in the film do, indeed, move left to right. Wow, man. That’s strange. Mighty strange! 😊
• Directly from IMDb.com: “The ‘sinking’ of a truck was inspired by real incident that happened in 1944. On August 9th, USS Bowfin (SS-287) followed four ships into Minami Daito Harbour. As she fired her six bow torpedoes at the moored ships, hitting three and sinking two of them, one torpedo went astray and hit a pier. A bus parked on it was blown up and thrown into the water by the explosion.”
• “Operation Petticoat” has a link to TV’s “Gilligan’s Island,” too. Finally and directly from com: “Tina Louise was offered but turned down the role of Nurse Crandall that then went to Joan O’Brien because Louise didn’t like the abundant boob jokes directed at the character.”

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