In the Navy is a 1941 military musical comedy starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Powell, and The Andrews Sisters. Like Buck Privates, which came out earlier the same year, it was successful with audiences and critics, though not quite to the extent of the earlier film.
Hugely popular crooner Russ Raymond (Powell) abandons his career at its peak to join the US Navy under his birth name, Tommy Halstead. Unfortunately for Tommy, paparazzi reporter Dorothy Roberts has found out, and intends to photograph him and expose him to the world. Tommy falls in with sailors Smokey and Pomeroy (Abbott and Costello), who agree to help him evade Dorothy. Pomeroy, for his part, is besotted with Patty Andrews of the Andrews Sisters, and has actually wooed her with his letters, but Patty soon discovers he's only a short, unimpressive little fellow, not that this slows Pomeroy down from trying to prove himself. Also, Pomeroy has fallen into some money, courtesy of a misunderstanding with an unwary shore patrol officer, and Smokey is determined to lighten his pockets a bit. Hilarity Ensues.
This film provides examples of:
- Accidental Theft: Pomeroy is getting chewed out by a shore patrol officer near the beginning for dropping a letter he was tasked with delivering, when a roll of dollar bills falls out of the officer's pocket. Pomeroy tries returning them, but the officer thinks they're an attempted bribe and chews him out even more, demanding he "keep" the money. Pomeroy obliges.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Flotsam and Jetsam, the commanding officer's loudmouthed little Military Brat nephews.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the end, Flotsam and Jetsam hide a dynamite stick in front of Pomeroy's drum, and light a long fuse during a musical number... but it fizzles out right before the fuse reaches the dynamite. Pomeroy then addresses the audience, saying "I bet you thought it was gonna go off!" right before the film literally ends with a bang.
- Catfishing: Showing this trope didn't just kick off with the internet; Pomeroy didn't exactly represent himself accurately in his letters to Patty Andrews. Turns out he did it on Smokey's insistence.
- Celebrity Is Overrated: Tommy had to deal with screaming throngs of fans everywhere he went, no privacy, and obligations to his career. It was the main reason he secretly joined the Navy.
- Coin-on-a-String Trick: When the angry shore patrol officer comes back demanding his money that Pomeroy accidentally stole, he grabs it and stuffs it in his pocket... but loses it anyway, since Pomeroy attached it to his uniform with a piece of elastic that snaps back to him.
- Comedic Spanking: When Tommy discovers his chambermaid is actually a paparazzi reporter trying to get his picture, this is the outcome.
- Cool Boat: The real-world battleship USS Arizona, the setting of most of the second half of the film.
- Glamorous Wartime Singer: The Andrews Sisters, naturally.
- Initiation Ceremony: Pomeroy's initiation into the Sons of Neptune when the Arizona crosses the equator.
- Mildly Military: Forcibly averted. The Navy apparently took offense to the climactic scene where Pomeroy impersonates a captain and puts the USS Arizona through a series of crazy maneuvers. The final cut of the scene was re-edited so that it was All Just a Dream.
- Murphy's Bed: Pomeroy has a very hard time getting into a hammock for the first time.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Dorothy finally gets a (very unflattering) photo of Tommy, and gets to publish it. She's legitimately remorseful when the USS Arizona is promptly overrun by crazed fans looking for him.
- Not What It Looks Like: During a brawl at a nightclub, Smokey and Pomeroy drag Tommy out of it, pointing out fighting gets a sailor 30 days in the brig. They instead stand in front of a window and watch. Unfortunately, the fight comes to THEM, smashing them through a window right in front of a group of officers.
- Paparazzi: Dorothy sees herself as more of an Intrepid Reporter, but Tommy isn't quite so sympathetic, for obvious reasons.
- Shell Game: Smokey tries to con Pomeroy out of his money with one of these, involving three cups with a lemon under one. While shuffling the cups, Smokey always runs the one with the lemon over a hole in the table, where it drops into a basket underneath. Hence, Pomeroy never finds the lemon... until he looks under the table, sees the basket, and puts a lemon from the basket under all three cups. The result is a Gambit Pileup ending with Smokey trying to fit a grapefruit through the hole.
- Spinning Paper: Several newspaper headlines tell of Russ Raymond's disappearance at the beginning of the film, resulting in a nationwide manhunt.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Tommy and Dorothy, by the end of the film, with her stalking him for a photo and both growing increasingly close/frustrated. They only get to know each other better after accidentally being locked in the Arizona's pantry.
- Slipping a Mickey: Pomeroy does this to himself. Smokey gives Pomeroy a tube full of sleeping solution so he can lie in sickbay out of uniform and maintain the ruse of him being an admiral to impress Patty. Pomeroy accidentally knocked it into the captain's orange juice, and the plot changed to him impersonating the captain. Except he actually drank it early when he took a sip and the whole thing was All Just a Dream.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: When the Arizona unexpectedly takes off for Hawaii with Dorothy aboard as a stowaway, she ends up disguising herself as a sailor to stay undetected until she can get ashore.
- Ultimate Job Security: How Pomeroy has stayed in the Navy for six years despite being such a screw-up; it seems he's the only one who knows how to fix cream puffs the way the admiral likes them.
- Unishment: After getting in trouble for a fight, Pomeroy is transferred to the USS Arizona, which is heading for Hawaii. He's thrilled, as this means he can catch up with Patty, who is also going to Hawaii.
