A good idea - a broken-down boat is used as a decoy in the Second World War - suffers from a crippling uncertainty of tone - is it meant to be funny, or isn't it? - in this misfiring comedy. As a screenwriter, Richard Murphy worked on some really interesting films for 20th Century-Fox, including Broken Lance and Compulsion. Here, for Columbia, he proves to be less than the ideal director for his own material, despite the services of an attractive cast headed by the genial Jack Lemmon. Sadly, teen idol Ricky Nelson shows that underplaying is no real substitute for acting ability. The use of CinemaScope is exemplary and the supporting cast is full of welcome faces, but, overall, even though it later spawned a TV series, the film simply doesn't work.

Lieutenant Rip Crandall is hoodwinked into taking command of the "Wackiest Ship in the Navy" – a real garbage scow with a crew of misfits who don't know a jib from a jigger. What none of them knows, including Crandall, is that this ship has a very important top-secret mission to complete in waters patrolled by the Japanese fleet. Their mission will save hundreds of allied lives – if only they can get there in one piece.