User Reviews

This above average navel musical comedy is fun fluff that is amusing from start to finish and features on the energetic cast including Pat Boone, Buddy Hackett, Barbara Eden, Dennis O'Keefe, Ann B. Davis and Gale Gordon. Boone, a singer who occasionally acted, wasn't exactly Olivier or Brando but in this film he is charming and is above adequate and planning out the nonsense going on. He also has very good chemistry with Barbara Eden, just a couple of years before "I Dream of Jeannie". The role that Buddy Hackett plays, a native American, is given stereotypical material, will be sure to offend some audience members but he is funny here in small doses.

Then there was Dennis O'Keefe as the ship's Commander, an easy going man interested in retiring and fishing for the remainder of his life with a clean record, exact possibly interrupted by Hackett's bizarre behavior and Gordon's showing up as he admiral determined to fail him in a surprise inspection. Some better-than-average songs help make this a fun piece of fluff and the presence of a turkey and pelican (surprising mates) brings on a very funny conclusion. Ann B. Davis, nearly a decade before the "Brady Bunch", gets plenty of Eve Arden style funny lines as the advice columnist at the newspaper where Eden works. There's plenty of wacky sight gags and romance, making this surprisingly more enjoyable and less juvenile than I expected that it would be.

"All Hands On Deck" concerns the misadventures of an L.S.T.-class craft, commanded by a choleric, kindly eccentric (energetically played by Dennis O'Keefe — this was his last Hollywood film), and manned by such improbables as a multi-millionaire Chickasaw Indian (amusingly portrayed by that adroit comedian, Buddy Hackett). Pat Boone fits easily into the role of the executive lieutenant. Boone has a pleasantly light touch on this type of entertainment and manages to interpolate four agreeable, if not outstanding, songs. The love story between Boone and Barbara Eden's delightfully natural, comedy heroine provides some laugh-provoking interludes free of the usual screen sentimentality's. The support cast is first-rate, with every member perfectly chosen from Warren Berlinger's green ensign to Pat McCaffrie's lively ship's cook. Veteran director Norman Taurog takes the action at a brisk pace towards the irresistible lunacy of its admiral's inspection. Other production credits are top-drawer, with sparkling color cinematography by Leo Tover, attractive sets and smooth music scoring. In its irreverence towards the U.S. Navy, this frank and funny farce reminds us of British films satirizing the R.N., but this Hollywood production has it all over its British counterparts in one largish item: The makers of All Hands On Deck had obviously unlimited use of a genuine Navy dock-yard and ships! True, it's a predictable farce, somewhat over-boisterously played and none too subtly directed. True also that Buddy Hackett's comedy style seems to be closely modeled on Lou Costello's.

Asinine comedy with a naval ship and a Chicasaw Indian played by Buddy Hackett. Hackett as always causes havoc on board, but he gets away with it because his wealthy family pays a lot in income taxes. This already is ridiculous.

Pat Boone, as a naval officer does his usual crooning, and Barbara Eden plays a reporter who comes on board to do a story about Hackett and of course immediately falls for Boone. The two immediately contemplate marriage, but the navy has a way of upsetting everything.

The sudden inspection by Admiral Gale Gordon, who still thought he must have been on The Lucy Show or Our Miss Brooks is silly, especially when Eden comes on board.

The whole thing is utter nonsense, but with a little time out for Boone's singing, some may enjoy.