July 11 movie: Operation Petticoat. Why was I surprised by this movie's mysogyny? I suppose I should have expected it. Cary Grant and Tony Curtis star as a by-the-books submarine captain and a fast-dealing supply officer, respectively. Through a series of misadventures they end up in the Pacific during WWII with a group of Navy nurses (five I think) on board.
The Navy nurses, despite all being officers, are utterly ignorant of military discipline. They seem to have been handed uniforms and sent on their way with no idea they were in the middle of a war. They don't salute, they hang their dainties up to dry in the engine room, they make out with the sailors, they barge onto the bridge uninvited to talk about vitamins, and accidently sabotage a combat mission.
There really were women serving as nurses in the Pacific. They risked their lives, and over 80 of them were captured by the Japanese. In case you couldn't tell, I'm offended by this depiction of them as addle-brained idiots who blunder around ruining everything for the men folk.
Tony Curtis' character is worse: a schemer and scammer who like the nurses, also seems to have made it to his rank without ever encountering anyone who would expect appropriate behavior. Worst of all is Cary Grant, whose character is a terrible leader. He loses control of discipline the moment Curtis arrives on the scene, and hardly even tries to get it back. He's barely in command of his own ship. Grant and all the nurses should have been busted down, except the nurse who screwed up the mission. She and Curtis should have been court-martialed. Instead [spoiler] everyone gets promoted, the women to the coveted rank of MRS. This movie sucked.
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