riogarhed Not everything in the film version of "Mr. Roberts" avoided the redolence of the mid-1950s--particularly the cornball aspects of a lot of "service comedy" then. Still."Mister Roberts" was made when World War II was not a distant memory, and some fidelity to that remembered collective experience is respected even in the vein of comedy. "Ensign Pulver" is perhaps not much more broad, but it is much more crude and is no longer interested in capturing the sensibility of the period in which it is set. Instead it panders to the period in which it was made, as if to say the gold standard of comedy then was found on TV in "Get Smart" and "Batman." In short, its sensibility was what was then called Camp. This is understandable except for the fact that the director and collaborator on the original material, Joshua Logan, directed "Ensign Pulver" and should have had a stake in staying true to the impulses behind the creation of this story and these characters. After all, Henry Fonda, having spent years as Mr. Roberts onstage, fought his old pal John Ford (and got a punch in the mouth for it) during the early filming of "Mister Roberts" in order to uphold the integrity of Logan's vision. But Logan himself in "Ensign Pulver" seems to have thrown that integrity overboard with the blessed palm tree.

JohnLeeT Perhaps if this film had no connection at all to the superb Mister Roberts, it might rate three stars for being simply a terrible comedy misfire of stunning proportions. That could be forgiven, dismissed, and easily overlooked. However, this film exists only as a cynical effort to cash-in on the success of a treasured creative triumph which had been emotionally embraced by audiences worldwide. There is but one redeeming factor in this entire abomination of a sequel and that is the presence of Walter Matthau. He comes off well although the lifeless mess of a script gives him little to work with. The rest of the ensemble is a conglomeration of miscasting (the usually excellent Ives), actors lacking any talent whatsoever (Tommy Sands?!), and the completely charmless, irritating, and horrendously awful Robert Walker, Jr. He alone is enough to sink this stinking scow and was better suited to portraying psychopaths on TV when some delusional casting director actually believed Walker, Jr. would be just right for some doomed police procedural. While it is somewhat interesting to see young future stars at the start of their careers, the performances are really pretty bad and all of these now well-known actors were fortunate to have survived this wreck, let alone going on to win multiple awards, appearing in some of the most successful television programs/films ever produced, and earning many millions in cash. Besides a soulless script, Ensign Pulver was personally assassinated by director Josh Logan, acting without mercy and with a vicious abandon that is painful to witness. Even a gentle soul like Mr. Roberts himself might well have taken some drastic action if he had seen the ruthless damage inflicted upon this rusting tub of unpleasantness and would have desperately deflected Logan's grim pattern of relentless torpedoes. Alas, those who saw the original Mr. Roberts will most likely find this ghastly garbage barge a heartbreaking insult to the source material if not an outright greedy criminal assault upon a beloved classic.

gabbogabe2000 When i saw this movie for sale at a used video store, i immediately flipped out due to the title of the film including my last name. i then bought it watched it, and enjoyed through and through. walter matthau was at his usual comic genius, and the cameo by jack nicholson was great. recommended

traceyames17 I had the unfortunate experience of watching this film today, home sick from work with the flu. From the start of the movie, I marvelled at the plot being so close to that of Mister Roberts, made some 9 years earlier in 1955. Captain Moreton (Burl Ives) is the captain of a cargo ship in 1945, somewhere in the Pacific. His motley crew just hate his hard-nosed manner, with no give-and-take, no leave and no freedom. His ambition is to become a Commander. Ensign Frank Pulver (Robert Walker Jr) plays a joke that badly misfires and somehow, both men are overboard and spend their next few weeks together in a rubber dinghy. On running aground on a sandy beach, Ensign Parker renews aquaintances with a nurse he met earlier in the film. At the same time, Captain Morton falls ill and needs an appendicectomy. The two are reunited with their ship to find the Captain is now a Commander. The crew are so dismayed at the thought of having the past come back and haunt them again. Frank Pulver has a confidential talk with the Commander and the next day we see the Commander leave the ship for the last time. The plot and acting was very second rate. The only time Burl Ives realised his true acting talents, was just before the end when he had an emotional man to man talk with Ensign Pulver. This was close to his best when playing Bid Daddy in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. An interesting notable came out when reviewing the cast of the movie. Burl Ives was a noted actor back then in 1964 and his co-lead Robert Walker was not really heard of. He never went on to become a household name. Other actors in the movie who were absolute nobody's back in 1964 were Walter Matthau (Doc), Larry Hagman who played Billings, and Jack Nicholson who played Dolan. Their faces were instantly recognisable and some 40 years later, these actors are now household names. Surely it can't have been the making of this movie who hurtled these three actors into stardom. My advice is if you are feeling sick and this movie is rerun, don't watch it as it will make you sicker. 2/10 max.