The Gallant Hours

James Cagney delivers one of his most restrained performances as Admiral William “Bull” Halsey in this 1960 World War II drama directed (and narrated) by actor Robert Montgomery. Bookended by scenes depicting Halsey's retirement from the Navy in 1947, the bulk of the film portrays Halsey's canny leadership in the South Pacific during 1942-43, when he and his hard-pressed forces held off an attempt by the numerically superior Japanese to retake the airfield on Guadalcanal—a key victory in the battle of the Solomon Islands. Halsey also used intercepted intelligence to down a plane carrying Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Japanese fleet. The movie itself is as measured as Cagney's performance, eschewing battle sequences altogether, and concentrating instead on Halsey's conversations with his staff to illustrate the decision-making process by which he carefully and methodically (and often through sheer intuition) determined the strategy that would secure for the Allies one of the most decisive turning-points in the Pacific war. The quasi-documentary approach is talky and sometimes too subdued, while the curious music score—consisting of choral hymns—lends the film an unduly hagiographical tone. Still, the sincerity of the storytelling, coupled with Cagney's fine performance (a complete reversal of his bombastic naval captain in Mister Roberts five years earlier) makes this worthwhile. Bowing on Blu-ray, this is recommended. (F. Swietek)