In Mister Roberts (1955), James Cagney played Captain Morton, the strict commanding officer of a Second World War cargo ship, in a film directed by John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy. The story centres on Lieutenant Roberts, played by Henry Fonda, and his crew’s struggle with boredom and authority far from the fighting.
Cagney’s Captain Morton is the film’s authority figure — rigid, by-the-book and often at odds with his men. Cagney played him without softening him, and that firmness gives the comedy and drama their tension. His scenes opposite Fonda are a study in contrasts: the rule-bound captain against the humane, restless Roberts.
Mister Roberts was a major success and remains a beloved service comedy-drama. Cagney’s performance is a reminder that, in his later career, he could be just as effective as an antagonist as he had been as a hero.