Let's be realistic.

Absolutely Brilliant!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It's nice to be in a consensus (well, almost!) for once. This is a dull war yarn about a captain who carries on with an artificial limb. It could have been exciting. It could have been moving. It could have been provocative. It could have been heart-warming. But despite the fact that it's a true story, it's not put across with drama, feeling and heart-warming power. Instead, it's just plain dreary. Even an opportunity for a great action sequence is nixed by having that scene take place almost entirely off-camera! Even the acting manages to be dull with Sterling Hayden ruggedly carrying on, while Alexis Smith plays the ever-loving wife with a strictly stiff upper-lip. She's not a real-life person but an animated statue, programmed to give all the approved, flag-waving reactions. Similarly boxed-in is Dean Jagger who is required to play the twinkling-eyed, superior officer friend of the family. And as for the direction: Usually John H. Auer is both interesting and creative. A man to watch – but not in this movie!

It's late in World War II, the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The aircraft carrier USS Princeton is bombed. There is a secondary explosion that sinks the ship and costs Captain John M. Hoskins, Sterling Hayden, a leg. He's pretty bitter about it too because he was just about to take command of the Princeton. The Navy plans to retire him but Hoskins refuses. This troubles the Navy. It also troubles Hoskins' wife, Alexis Smith. She wants her sailor husband home. All Navy wives want their sailor husbands to stop thirsting for sea water, at least in John Wayne movies. However, she passes on some information to him that will save his career, sacrificing her own satisfaction for his sake. Not only that, but the Navy gives him command of the NEW USS Princeton and, in the years after World War II ends, it becomes his job to prepare the aircraft carrier to launch and receive Grumman jets.Hayden had a curious career. He was always half hearted about it. He was more interested in doing his own sailing than in acting, and most of his early films, like this one, were done by the numbers. He never made the Mount Rushmore of manliness like John Wayne or Robert Mitchum. His politics didn't help, even though he "named names", as the saying went. As an OSS operative during the war, he'd been inserted into Yugoslavia to help Tito organize the partisans against Hitler's troops, and in doing so picked up some ideas considered anathema at the time. In 1964 he managed to give a startling performance as a crazed Air Force general in "Dr. Strangelove," turning the maniac into an object of pathos.His wife, Alexis Smith, had fluorescent red hair and aquamarine eyes to die for. She looked regal. Canadian actresses look regal. They could all play queens -- except for Ruby Keeler who would have to be the naif from Nova Scotia whose royal heritage has only recently been discovered.You don't get to see the color of Smith's eyes in this movie because it's in black and white. It came from Republic Studios run by the notoriously cheap bonehead Herbert J. Yates, a man of little taste, whose idea of "art" had a dollar sign in front of it. Yates also shoehorned in his main squeeze, Vera Hruba Ralston, as a leading figure whenever possible. And he cheated John Ford out of some money connected with "The Quiet Man," and Ford never forgave John Wayne for getting him mixed up with Yates.However, mean though Yates may have been, this movie isn't shabby. It's not limited to one or two indoor sets. Nothing like that. It's a respectable production, though an inexpensive one. None of the combat scenes are staged. They're all taken from newsreel footage, which was still relatively new to audiences at the time. That is, we see Hayden and some other officer staring at something off screen and then the film cuts to a shot of an airplane landing or taking off. The Navy's Grumman Panthers were cool-looking aircraft as far as that goes. They no longer looked like rudimentary jets. They looked ready to fly at speed, though in fact they were no match for Soviet jets. I watched them practicing touch and go landings from a carrier in Monterey Bay, a thrilling experience.The writing and direction are strictly instrumental. There's not a jot of originality in either. Nor does a viewer learn any of the technical details about converting aircraft carriers to jets. And unless you know the differences between commanding a carrier and commanding a carrier division or a fleet, you may miss some of the steps upward taken by "the peg leg admiral." Hoskins was a real historical figure and quite a guy according to this movie -- flawless in fact. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his action in Korea. He also was awarded the following medals: Purple Heart, Legion of Merit, China Service Medal, Order of Military Merit, from the Philippine Government, the Philippine Liberation Medal, Atlantic Fleet Clasp, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, plus others. He was still alive when the movie was made.

Toward the end of Republic Pictures existence with the demise of the B western and the departure of their number one asset John Wayne, the studio did produce some quality if low budget films. The Eternal Sea is one such film and the studio made good use of naval combat footage from World War II and Korea to integrate them into the story.Which is the true story of Admiral John Hoskins who lost a leg during the battle of Leyte Gulf, but fought to stay on in the Navy on active duty and doing more than desk duty. As the story unfolds Hoskins fought to have our aircraft carriers adapted to jet airplanes, a difficult task indeed because naval aviation itself was only slightly over 25 years old and just getting settled into propeller planes.Sterling Hayden plays the courageous and far seeing admiral Hawkins and Alexis Smith his supportive wife who would dearly like to see her man take an honorable retirement. Alexis Smith always had trouble getting cast because she was a tall girl, a first baseman as Bing Crosby said in Here Comes The Groom. No worries here because Sterling Hayden was 6'5" to Alexis's 5'9".Dean Jagger does a nice job in the role of Hayden's superior and mentor. The Eternal Sea is a real inspirational story and was worthy of a bigger studio and budget than Republic Pictures and the money allocated.

For John H. Auer, a triumph.A simple tale, yet profound.Of a real person, facing challenges.John Madison Hoskins, United States Navy, (1898-1964) For Sterling Hayden, as John Hoskins, a wonderful performance, as in all his films.Well supported by Alexis Smith as Mrs Hoskins.Dean Jagger adds another role to his illustrious career, as Thomas L. Semple.Ben Cooper as 'Zuggy' Zugbaum. Ben Cooper, never got the acclaim, for his various characterizations, I believe he deserved.Various costars, Virginia Grey, Hayden Rorke, Douglas Kennedy and Willis Bouchey give good support.Real naval personnel are portrayed.Such as Arthur Dewey Struble.And William F. 'Bull' Halsey.