TankGuy In 1943, hard nosed Captain Hawks is placed in command of the Belinda, an attack transport ship responsible for ferrying Marines to Japanese held islands in the Pacific. Austere in character, the rigorous Hawks enforces sharp discipline on the Belinda's lackadaisical crew. He is met at first with resentment, but later wins the men's respect using tact whilst remaining firm. Hawks pushes the men beyond their limits as the Belinda fights it's way through some of the bitterest campaigns in the Pacific theatre.Away All Boats is dated flag waving at the best of times crammed with all the war movie clichés of the decade as well a strong share of wooden performances. The movie chunters along at a laboured pace with mostly desiccated dialogue and tight eruptions of action. It does get rather boring in the middle and we are fed spoonful upon spoonful of corniness. The romantic flashbacks involving Lt. MacDougall(the Belinda's second in command)and his wife forced me to cringe. I just found these flashbacks pointless and again clichéd, they're just so familiar and seem to be copied from at least 10 other movies. Then again I suppose every film of the 1940s and 50s had to have at least one character with a love interest. The 1950s morals surrounding husband and wife were just too forced. There are also some poor attempts at comic relief. Two sailors fight over a Coconut like a couple of kids which in turn instigates a brawl. I'm sorry but it made the movie feel all the more hackneyed. The main problem is that the script contained a few great ideas which were hashed together with mawkish plot devices in a rush. The piercing soundtrack, whilst commanding your attention, is nearly played non stop over endless shots of landing craft and Battleships.Apart from the movie dragging itself to the point of becoming tiresome, Jeff Chandler was excellent as the stern Captain Hawks, although he was trying too hard to channel John Wayne. He played in a lot of Universal's B westerns but his portray of Hawks in this movie is his most robust performance. He really hams it up without coming across as being too pretentious, therefore exploding with charisma in a lot of scenes and showing the viewer he cares about his character. His acting ability peaks during the battle near the end of the movie. At the sight of a burning Kamikaze hurtling toward the Belinda, the near crazed Hawks waves his hand in rage and screams above all the explosions and gunfire as it speeds ever closer "HARD LEFT, HARD LEFT I SAY, GET AWAY FROM MY SHIP, GET YOUR FILTHY PLANE AWAY FROM MY SHIP"!!!!!!. The plane crashes and the Bridge becomes engulfed in flames. Overacted maybe, but these few seconds are the greatest part of the entire film and the brutal aggression displayed by Chandler is an acting tour de force to be reckoned with!. The same cannot be said for much of the other actors, although Richard Boone was pretty good. The few action sequences were spectacular and crammed with all the suspense that director Joseph Penvey could muster. The use of colour wartime footage showing massive destroyer's cannons blasting islands to smithereens takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the battles of Makin, Saipan, Guam and others. The final Kamikaze attack on the Belinda was packed with amazing special effects and tautness and looked extremely professional. A lot of this action footage, including the shot of one of the Japanese planes crashing into the Belinda, various shots of anti aircraft batteries firing at the attacking planes and shots of the Belinda's crew struggling to douse the flames on it's deck were all pinched and inserted into The Battle OF Midway(1976). This is the only part of the movie which etches the realistic chaos of war into your mind.Away All Boats is given the cheap and corny treatment but is saved by a few dazzling sequences, but it's not up to much other than that. It's still worth watching for some of the sequences mentioned above though.7/10.

Robert J. Maxwell It's the story of the USS Belinda, an attack transport, whose mission is to take Marines and soldiers to the beaches of the Pacific and land them, usually under fire. And it's not badly done.Jeff Chandler is the necessary tough but fair captain of the Belinda. He remains isolated from the men throughout, as he must, since he's in command, and must whip the new sailors and officers into shape. As in every other war movie you can think of, he must be cruel to be kind.The exception to this formula is "The Caine Mutiny," in which the crew are seasoned and efficient, while the new commanding officer is petty, incompetent, and half nuts.Be that as it may, the film has some good things going for it. One is the photography by William Daniels. The shots aboard and around the ship are convincing. When you watch the Belinda from the air, you see a real Navy transport, suffering a real list, emitting real smoke from its damaged deck, and being towed by real LCVPs. The combat scenes are model work but reasonably effective. Especially impressive are the special effects used during the Kamikaze attacks at Okinawa. The tiny suicide airplanes in the distance are gradually enveloped in exact replicas of the small blotches of exploding 40 millimeter shells, as if the far-off sky were erupting in dozens of black freckles. And, as a bonus, they aren't accompanied at first by loud bangs on the sound track because, as in real life, they're too distant for the noise to register. A fine and convincing job that required some thought. Not too much, but some.Jeff Chandler is reliable without being memorable. George Nader as the only other experienced seaman aboard is the audience proxy and does a professional job, as do most of the supporting cast, especially Charles McGraw as the Beachmaster and Richard Boone, as the manly but unforgiving Lieutenant Fraser. Even Lex Barker, the ex Tarzan, pulls off his role as the ineffective executive officer enacts his role with aplomb, though, according to Boone, who holds him in contempt, he has nothing but good manners and a toothpaste smile. Barker retains both features as he "grows into his stripes" and finally qualifies for his own command, although his maturation is no more than mentioned, rather than illustrated. Some of the minor roles are embarrassingly bad. The chicken grinder should have stuck to grinding chicken guts. And Ensign Twitchell, who has the mind and temper of a spoiled ten-year-old overplays a part that is already over-written.I rather like it, too, because it's the story of an unglamorous ship, an Attack Transport. There are lots of movies about carriers and destroyers, but none others that I know of that deal with APAs, some of which were manned by U. S. Coast Guard personnel. Finally, the most tense sequences, aside from the Kamikaze attacks, deal with the salvage of the half wrecked Belinda. There are no exciting moments imposed on the narrative by a landing party armed with Tommy guns. There is, though, a rather extended flashback involving Nader's courtship of Julie Adams. It's only saving grace is that, amidst the torpid romance, Julie Adams is on display for a few minutes in an appealing white swim suit. And she is an elegant-looking dish.

grahamsj3 This film is a true classic and one against which many other films of the genre have been judged. This is basically THE representative film of all the World War 2 films made in the 50's. Some of those other films were better than this one, some worse. This film is a middle of the road type film. It has a couple of big stars and a lot of character actors as well....faces you've seen in lots of films, yet you don't know the actors name. LOTS of actors made very comfortable lives doing just this sort of work. Some of those actors eventually became stars, like Richard Boone and Jeff Chandler, but the majority didn't. War films flourished in the late 40's and through the 50's, usually black and white (this one is color), low budget films, but Hollywood churned them out. And people flocked to them. This one is no exception...well done, overall.

Stu-42 I saw this movie because I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan and want to see all his movies even his bit parts. Not that this turned out to be a bad movie, but I think it showed its age in a big way. I give it credit for some strong ideas and scenes, but maybe just not being around at that time made it difficult to relate to the style. I found myself having to hold back laughter at some points while still respecting what the story was getting across. The best thing was seeing Clint even if for just a few seconds as a medic!