It was a war movie. It was never intended to be an action movie, however. It focused on the psychological aspects of war: the battle of wits between commanders; the toll that combat stress takes on the average soldier/sailor; how commanders had to make do with less than they should have had to fight the war; how Halsey's superior strategic skills and experience-based intuition trumped the less-well-formed ideas of his underlings; etc.
Although not a major box-office success, The Gallant Hours was well received by film critics, with Bosley Crowther writing in his review for the New York Times:
"Beirne Lay Jr. and Frank D. Gilroy have written a screen play so fully packed with biographical and historical data on Admiral Halsey and his opposite number in the Japanese fleet—and likewise so loaded with characters whose names ring heroic bells—that anyone at all interested in the haunting record of the early days of the war in the South Pacific must see this film."
"Even though Mr. Montgomery has bravely put it upon the screen in a calm, unhurried fashion that belies the usual slambang of war, and may very well irritate the patron who is looking for more explosive things, it comes out in his adroit direction as drama of intense restraint and power."
"But more than a documentation, more than a drama of what went on within the cabin of Admiral Halsey in one of the most perilous phases of the war, this film is a brilliant tribute to the gallantry of the admiral himself, thanks in large measure to the performance of James Cagney in the role."
Biographer John McCabe also praised Cagney's portrayal:
"There are few actors who can make nonvocal thought meaningful and interesting. Cagney does so by the great actor's technique of actually thinking the necessary thoughts and letting them register naturally and unaffectedly on his features, opening himself up to these thoughts and these alone. Toward the end of The Gallant Hours, when he is increasingly alone in his command center, his acting becomes almost pure thought."
TV Guide gave The Gallant Hours a three-star rating, noting: "James Cagney was the perfect choice to play Admiral Halsey." It also praised Robert Montgomery's direction that "focuses on the human side of the war, taking the time to show the inner workings of a great leader. The going is a little slow for what was thought to be a "war" movie, but it is this leisurely pace that makes the film all the more believable."
But if you want to see a lot of blood and guts and stuff blowing up, this isn't the film for you.
A person's a person, no matter how small. -- Dr. Seuss
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