Samuel Morison, the official U. S. Navy historian for World War II, disapproved of Admiral William F. Halsey, calling him "a sailor's admiral," whereas Halsey's superior, Ernest King, was "an admiral's admiral." This is probably because Morison was a Boston Brahmin and believed that salty language and flagrant self display should be avoided. Maybe it endeared you to the enlisted men but it was undignified. You should also be elegantly modest and not given to flashy pronouncements like "Attack -- repeat -- attack," and "Kill Japs. Kill more Japs." The story begins with Halsey's retirement in 1945, having a last cup of coffee, served by his loyal Fillipino steward, Manuel, whose name Cagney pronounces Manual, as in "Instructor's Manual." Cagney asks Manuel which campaign he thinks of most often. Manuel concentrates and finally replies, "Guadalcanal." WHAM. Into a flashback of Halsey's miseries and triumphs in Guadalcanal.

But if the viewer expects a lot of slam-bang combat and heroic trumpets, he doesn't get it. Instead we see a quiet black-and-white account of Cagney's playing the most famous American Admiral of the war, during the months of battle on the island and on the sea around it. Not a shot is fired. There is hardly a ship or an airplane in sight. All the combat is off screen. There are few outdoor shots. The director, Robert Montgomery, sticks close to Cagney, follows him from room to room as he is haunted by the decisions he must make, or as he tries to avoid the five hypodermics waiting for him in the doc's office. It's a straightforward story that adheres to its subject. There are no women's roles in the film, and we learn virtually nothing about Cagney's home life.

How does Cagney play it? Pretty well. It's his least mannered performance. He never shouts or jabs his forefinger at anyone. He wears glasses and looks dumpy. And he moves slowly, slightly bent, as if burdened with a responsibility that weighs him down like a stone. With his eyebrows darkened, he even LOOKS quite a bit like Halsey.

The script treats the character with respect, just as it treats the Japanese officers, of whom we see a little bit. Halsey is shown as thoughtful, a little skeptical of any good luck, generous with praise, practically flawless, in fact -- except for that business with the syringes, which he finally stands up to. The film was released ten years before "Patton" established a genre, or pseudo-genre, of heroes who had, as John Wayne once put it, "the Yuman feeta clay." Halsey is presented as a plain old hero, and the film more or less fills in the blanks about what KIND of hero he was. By the end, with the exception of having to make risky decisions that are forced upon him by circumstance, we are left to conclude that he was the kind of hero that might just as easily have been a contemplative monk. The movie is a little slow at times.

The traditional iron-hard heroic features are missing. At one point, Cagney even says that, since two people in a row have suggested "the admiral might change his mind," that maybe he actually SHOULD change his mind. But then he has to go and vitiate the point by adding, after a pause, that "you don't change your mind. You just go in a different direction." Oh, heck. And here I was, hoping we'd see a leader who was capable of admitting mistakes, adapting to circumstances, and actually changing his mind.

And, man, did Halsey have reasons for admitting mistakes. What a different movie it would have been if, at the beginning, Manuel had replied, not "Guadalcanal," but something like, "I always think about the typhoons, Admiral," or, "How about the battle of Leyte Gulf?" However, okay, the world was not ready, and if you must cover only one campaign out of the many that Halsey was involved in, it might as well be a victory.

Robert Montgomery directs this brief, but informative study of Adm. William F. 'Bull' Halsey Jr. in the Pacific during WWII. James Cagney is super as the highly decorated and revered Fleet Commander. Stoic, stern, confident and compassionate...Cagney in one of his best film performances.

Supporting cast is a mix of veteran actors and younger stars: Walter Sande, Les Tremayne, Dennis Weaver, Richard Jaeckel, James Yagi, Robert Burton and Ward Costello.

Except for a few shots of planes and ships, "The Gallant Hours" mostly takes place in fairly stark room sets, and feels a little like a photographed stage play.

The film overcomes any shortcomings with James Cagney's performance as William F. Halsey Jr., a leader who literally had the fate of a number of nations on his shoulders, including mine, Australia. Cagney not only looks like his subject, but also seems to be channelling him.

The film brings home that the United States victory over the Japanese in the Solomon Islands in 1942 was a close run thing. Although sometimes outnumbered, daring strategy, brilliant codebreaking and courage turned the tide. This was before the full mobilisation of America's industrial might and manpower had by 1945 virtually made the Pacific an American lake.

The director of "The Gallant Hours", Robert Montgomery started as an actor, but he was also a decorated naval officer in WW2. He was a strong character and once admonished John Ford on the set of "They Were Expendable" for belittling John Wayne in front of the cast for not enlisting during the war.

Maybe it was just as well Montgomery didn't include battle scenes in "The Gallant Hours" because they would have been either the bathtub model effects of that CGI-less era or would have incorporated documentary footage, which never integrated seamlessly.

The film has a memorable hymn-like theme sung a Capella by a male choir: "Away He Went". However even Miklos Rozsa may have been wary of using so much reverence so often in his score for "King of Kings".

The film reminds Australians and New Zealanders how much is owed to those Americans who put it on the line in the Solomon Islands in 1942. But now, in 2018, it seems another nation is following Imperial Japan's old path down through the South China Sea and into the Pacific, albeit with artificial islands and debt entrapment instead of torpedoes and 16-inch shells, but relentlessly nonetheless.

During a visit to New Zealand in 1954, the retired Halsey said something about those crucial battles in the Solomons that may seem more prescient now...

"I hope we never have to do anything like that again. But if we do, I hope we are all together again. We certainly formed a wonderful team that time, I'm sure we could do it again if we had to. And God help us if we ever have to do it again".