Men Without Women

Dir. John Ford

77 Minutes

USA

1930

Staring: Kenneth MacKenna, Farrell MacDonald, Stuart Erwin, Paul Page, Frank Albertson

***/*****

Men Without Women stands out in the list of John Ford's creaky early sound efforts: an oddball combination of silent film, talking sequences, synchronized music score, and sound effects (which currently only exists in an international work print that has a few awkward areas). Though perhaps the silent sequences (which the film primarily consists of) allows Ford a bit more of a comfortable pace to explore themes that interest him, certainly more ambitious than a film like Salute or The Brat. 

After an opening sequence of drinking and flirtations in Shanghai (with plenty of Othering to boot), the crew of the U.S. submarine S13, led by Chief Torpedoman Burke, return to their duties. However, nobody is aware that Burke is actually infamous former commander of the British ship Royal Scot, Quartermaine. Burke is soon forced to step up when the submarine sinks, forced to keep the men alive long enough for rescue. 

Ford does nice things both with the bulk of the narrative taking place in the confined space of the submarine, initially one of camaraderie and heroism that quickly turns into a claustrophobic potential graveyard, as well as the ensemble and dynamics between the men. One wonders what may have come from the material had Ford not been inclined (or assigned) to experiment with the various sound technologies he works with, though the camera explores the submarine with nice energy and familiarity giving the entire thing a lived-in feeling of some of Ford's stronger silent works. The film ultimately falls short of entirely working, though there is an ambition on display that is absent from other works of this period and works a notch beyond the level of curiosity, in many respects feeling like the foundation for The Lost Patrol a few years later.

Viewed on July 16th, 2020

Part of an ongoing John Ford Project with notes from selected films.