| Operation Petticoat | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical releasehalf-sheet display poster | |
| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Screenplay by | Stanley Shapiro Maurice Richlin |
| Based on | a story suggested by Paul King Joseph B. Stone |
| Produced by | Robert Arthur |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Cary Grant |
| Cinematography | Russell Harlan |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by |
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Production company | Granart Company |
| Distributed by | Universal International |
Release date |
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Running time | 124 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $9,321,555 (US and Canada rentals)[1][Note 1] |
Operation Petticoat is a 1959 AmericanWorld War IIsubmarinecomedy film inEastmancolor fromUniversal-International, produced byRobert Arthur, directed byBlake Edwards, and starringCary Grant andTony Curtis.
The film tells inflashback the misadventures of a fictionalU.S. Navysubmarine, USSSea Tiger, during theBattle of the Philippines in the opening days of theUnited States involvement in World War II. Some elements of the screenplay were taken from actual incidents that happened with some of thePacific Fleet's submarines during the war. Members of the cast include several actors who went on to become television stars in the 1960s and 1970s:Gavin MacLeod ofThe Love Boat andMcHale's Navy,Marion Ross ofHappy Days, andDick Sargent ofBewitched.
Paul King, Joseph Stone,Stanley Shapiro, andMaurice Richlin were nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Writing for their work onOperation Petticoat. The film was the basis for aTV series in 1977 starringJohn Astin in Grant's role.
In 1959, U. S. NavyRear Admiral Matt Sherman,ComSubPac, boards the obsolete diesel submarine USSSea Tiger, prior to her departure for thescrapyard. Sherman, her first commanding officer, begins reading his wartime personallogbook, and aflashback begins.
On December 10, 1941, a Japaneseair raid sinksSea Tiger while she is docked at theCavite Navy Yard in the Philippines.Lieutenant Commander Sherman and his crew begin repairs, hoping to sail forDarwin,Australia, before the Japanese overrun the port. Believing there is no chance of repairing the submarine, the squadron commodore transfers most of Sherman's crew to other boats, but promises Sherman that he will have first call on any available replacements.Lieutenant (junior grade) Nick Holden, an admiral's aide, is reassigned toSea Tiger despite a total lack of submarine training or experience.
Holden demonstrates great skill as a scrounger and fixer after Sherman makes him the supply officer. He teams up withMarineSergeant Ramon Gallardo, an escaped prisoner (caught misappropriating Navy property to run his own restaurant), to obtain materials desperately needed for repairs. What Holden and his men cannot acquire from base warehouses, they steal.
Restored to barely seaworthy condition,Sea Tiger puts to sea after a nativewitch doctor casts a protection spell on her.Sea Tiger reachesMarinduque, where Sherman reluctantly agrees to evacuate five strandedArmy nurses. Holden is attracted toSecond Lieutenant Barbara Duran, while Sherman has a series of embarrassing encounters with the well-endowed and clumsy Second Lieutenant Dolores Crandall. Later, when Sherman prepares to attack an enemyoiler moored to a pier, Crandall accidentally fires a torpedo prematurely. It misses the tanker and instead "sinks" a truck ashore.
Sherman tries to put the nurses ashore atCebu, but an Army officer tells him the Japanese are closing in. Unable to obtain needed supplies from official sources, Sherman allows Holden to set up a casino to acquire them from the troops. Chief Torpedoman Molumphry, the Chief of the Boat, has been asking for paint. Holden manages to get somered andwhite leadprimer paint, but does not have enough of either for the entire hull. Sherman reluctantly has the two mixed together, resulting in a pale pink primer that is applied. A Japanese air raid forces a hasty departure before the crew can apply a top coat of navy gray.
Tokyo Rose mocks the mysterious pink submarine, while the U.S. Navy believes it to be a Japanese deception and orders that it be sunk on sight. An American destroyer spotsSea Tiger and opens fire, then launchesdepth charges when the submarinecrash dives. Sherman tries an oil slick and then launches blankets, pillows, and life jackets from his one working torpedo tube, but the deception fails. At Holden's suggestion, Sherman ejects the nurses' lingerie. Crandall's bra convinces the destroyer's captain that "the Japanese have nothing like this", and he ceases fire.Sea Tiger, still painted pink, arrives at Darwin, battered and listing, but under her own power.
Sherman's reminiscence ends with the arrival ofCommander Nick Holden, his wife (the former Lieutenant Duran), and their two sons. Sherman promises Holden command of a newnuclear-powered submarine, also namedSea Tiger. Sherman's wife (the former Lieutenant Crandall) arrives late with their four daughters andrear-ends her husband's staff car, causing it to lock bumpers with a Navy bus. When the bus drives away, dragging his car with it, Sherman reassures his wife that it will be stopped at the main gate. Commander Holden then takesSea Tiger out on her final voyage.
Curtis took credit for the inception ofOperation Petticoat. He had joined the U.S. Navy during World War II intending to enter the submarine service in part because his hero, Cary Grant, had appeared inDestination Tokyo (1943). After he became a star, Curtis suggested making a film in which Grant would stare into a periscope as he did inDestination Tokyo. Curtis very much enjoyed working with Grant.[2]
Former Universal-International contract actorJeff Chandler was originally set to have played Matt Sherman, but pulled out to filmThe Jayhawkers (1959) instead.[3]Tina Louise turned down the role of one of the nurses as she felt the film had too manysex jokes.[4]
Operation Petticoat was produced with extensive support of theDepartment of Defense and the US Navy. Most of the filming was done in and around Naval Station Key West, now theTruman Annex ofNaval Air Station Key West, Florida, which substituted for the Philippines and Australia. Filming for the period suggesting postwar 1959 was done atNaval Station San Diego, California.
USSSea Tiger was portrayed by three different American World War IIBalao-class submarines:
The attacking destroyer and, during the arrival at Darwin, the destroyer visible in the background is theFletcher-class destroyerUSS Wren.
A plot error says thatSea Tiger is heading to Darwin to meet up with thesub tenderUSS Bushnell in December 1941;Bushnell was not commissioned until 1943.
As noted above, the fictionalSea Tiger is played by three differentBalao-class submarines. The action of the film begins on December 10, 1941, withSea Tiger obviously already in-service; however, the firstBalao-class submarine would not be launched until late October 1942. (Based on her name,Sea Tiger probably would have been a prewarSargo-class submarine.)
Some of the plot points ofOperation Petticoat were based on real-life incidents, such as:
Operation Petticoat was a hit with audiences and critics. Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 21 reviews, with an average score of 6.60/10.[10]
The review inVariety was typical: "Operation Petticoat has no more weight than a sackful of feathers, but it has a lot of laughs. Cary Grant and Tony Curtis are excellent, and the film is directed by Blake Edwards with a slam-bang pace".[11]A much more restrained commentary came fromBosley Crowther ofThe New York Times, who noted in his December 8, 1959 review that the plot device of women aboard a wartime submarine was strained. "And that is the obvious complication upon which are pointedly based at least 60 per cent of the witticisms and sight gags in the film. How to berth the nurses in the exceedingly limited space, how to explain to them the functioning of the bathroom facilities, how to compel the sailors to keep their well-diverted minds on their work — these are the endless petty problems that vex Commander Grant".[12]
Operation Petticoat was a huge box office hit, earning over $9.3 million intheatrical rentals in the United States and Canada,[1] which made itthe third highest-grossing film of 1959, the highest-domestic-grossing comedy of all-time up to that point,[13] as well as the most financially successful film of Cary Grant's career. Through his contract, Grant's residuals topped $3 million, makingOperation Petticoat his most profitable film to date.[14]
Operation Petticoat was adapted as anABC-TV series which ran from September 17, 1977, to August 10, 1979.[15] Initially starringJohn Astin in Grant's role of Lieutenant Commander Sherman, the TV series cast Tony Curtis' daughter,Jamie Lee Curtis, as Lieutenant Duran. Most of the cast was replaced for the show's second season, a decision that led to low ratings and cancellation.[citation needed] Only 32 episodes of the series (22 in season 1, 10 in season 2) were produced in total.
