To the Shores of Tripoli (1942)

Directed by Bruce Humberstone
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Fox)

John Payne is the fresh Marine Corps recruit who clashes with Sergeant Randolph Scott at boot camp. Maureen O'Hara is his romantic interest, a nurse on the base. In one of the best scenes, Scott is knocked unconscious on a target for battleship practice, and it is up to Payne to save him. Payne decides to leave the Corps for a desk job, but all that changes after Pearl Harbor. The movie is a routine patriotic boot camp drama, with some early glimpses of Harry Morgan and Alan Hale, Jr.