A bracelet charm inscribed with a heart and an anchor sparks conflict and real connection in Howard Hawks's uproarious and implicitly romantic comedy about fellowship on the high seas, made long before better-known Hawks tales of male friendship like Only Angels Have Wings and Rio Bravo. Spike (Victor McLaglen) and Salami (Robert Armstrong), two sailors turned nemeses turned incredibly close friends, share camaraderie and the pursuit of the same ladies, from Coney Island to Rio de Janeiro. Hawks, a maestro at depicting flirtatious, tongue-in-cheek verbal scuffling, wrote the film too, and each intertitle is a delight; conversation feels as rapid-fire here as it does in his talkies. Second-billed Louise Brooks only appears in the third act as Mam'selle Godiva, a circus performer who threatens to turn the duo into a throuple (or tear them apart). She's the quintessential Hawks lady: independent, self-motivated, bites back. When Spike considers giving up skirt-chasing and seafaring to put a ring on it, Salami perceives the potential union as a threat. What was life before that first fist fight? The heart is an anchor, after all.

35mm print courtesy of the George Eastman Museum

Preceded by: "A Clean Shaven Man" (Fleischer Studios, 1936) – 7 min – 16mm