Hellcats of the Navy

Nathan Juran
1957-05-01

Down . . . Down . . . Down . . . into enemy waters with the fightin' hellcats of the U.S. sub pack !
4.3
82 min

Future "first couple" Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis made their only joint film appearance in Hellcats of the Navy. Ronnie plays Casey Abbott, commander of a WW2 submarine, while Nancy portrays navy nurse Helen Blair, Abbott's off-and-on girlfriend. During a delicate mission in which his sub is ordered to retrieve a revolutionary new Japanese mine, Abbott is forced to leave frogman Wes Barton (Harry Lauter) behind to save the rest of his crew. But Abbott's second-in-command Don Landon (Eduard Franz) is convincing that Abbott's sacrifice of Barton was due to the fact that the dead man had been amorously pursuing Helen.

Cast

Name Character Team
Ronald Reagan Cmdr. Casey Abbott (Captain, USS Starfish) Unowned
Nancy Reagan Nurse Lt. Helen Blair Unowned
Arthur Franz Lt. Cmdr. Don Landon (XO, USS Starfish) Unowned
Robert Arthur Freddy Warren Unowned
William Leslie Lt. Paul Prentice Unowned
William Phillips Carroll (as William Phillips) Unowned
Harry Lauter Lt. (j.g.) Wes Barton Unowned
Michael Garth Bill aka Lt. Charlie Unowned
Joe Turkel Chick (as Joseph Turkel) Unowned
Don Keefer Jug Unowned
Chester W. Nimitz Himself (in prologue) (uncredited) Unowned