Operation Petticoat

Operation Petticoat (1959) is Blake Edwards' wartime comedy, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Cary Grant and Tony Curtis headline as a by-the-book submarine commander and the smooth-talking schemer who becomes his executive officer.

December 1941, three days after Pearl Harbor. An air raid wrecks the USS Sea Tiger right at the dock, and Commander Matt Sherman refuses to scrap her. With almost no supplies, the crew patches the boat together and paints her the only color they can mix — a glaring shade of pink. Then five stranded army nurses come aboard a cramped sub packed with men, and military discipline quietly falls apart.

Edwards, who would soon launch the Pink Panther, turned a real Navy anecdote into a charming farce that never fires a shot at the audience. Grant plays it dry, Curtis plays it brash, and the friction between them carries the whole voyage. Stream Operation Petticoat (1959) online on iFILM.