I used to wonder why Edward G. Robinson, a stubby little man with a voice like a crook, was so popular with audiences in the 1940s. This 1943 movie explains it all, as Robinson portrays Steve Boleslavski, a Navy shipyard welder with a heart of gold who helped build the battleship John Paul Jones. After failing sea trials, the ship is assigned to the mail run, until caught up in a desperate battle with a Japanese sub. After the ship is torpedoed and on the verge of sinking, Boleslavski and crew hatch a plan to try and save the ship and destroy the sub. Interesting that the words "Pole," "Poland," and "Polack" are never uttered during the course of the film, and Boleslavski is spelled with the non-Polish "v." Nevertheless, Destroyer is a sweet and inspiring piece of World War II propaganda that speaks well of the Polish American population and its ability to become American, first and forever. Favorite line, uttered by Glenn Ford to Boleslavski's daughter, played by Marguerite Chapman: "In a world full of Smiths, Joneses, and Callahans, I had to pick a Boleslavski."
Review of Destroyer
