Cagney and Fonda the scene in the Captain's cabin

One of the great scenes in Movie history, the Timing and pacing is perfect. It is brilliant acting, Cagney and Fonda disseapear, and instead we have The Captain and Roberts trying to out bluff each other. the scene has pathos and humor as well, For the most part its Cagneys scene, as all the paranoia of the Captain are shown to stem from a hard scrabble youth in which he was belittled by Rich, educated people, i all comes out as he springs an almost diabolical trap on Roberts, for some reason Roberts seems to embody all those rich college fellows who bossed him around, he sees in Roberts everything he is not, and is jealous of him.
But the topper of the scene-literrally is when the Captain pulls that new Hat out of the safe,and says to Roberts: "and nothing is going to stand between me and that HAT, certainly not YOU."
Fonda, gets him back with:" How did you get into the Navy, How did you get on our side."
The Captain thinks he has lost, that he has overplayed his hand, that he has misjudged Roberts loyalty to the crew, he opens the door of his Cabin," we hear the sound of Island Music playing." he closes the door. then Mister Roberts goes crazy " Court Martial me, i don't care if i can't get transferred out, i'll get court martialed out." then of course he thinks about the crew, and he closes the door. The Captain makes him promise to never write another letter asking for Transfer, Mister Roberts gives up all his dreams and ambitions and personal motivations, just so the crew can get their liberty.
The Captain has finally won, he finally outwitted one of those rich college fellows . It is great trump for him, it doesn't occur to him that he only triumphed because he was dealing with someone who cared more for his fellow man's happiness than he did his own.
it is also interesting that the Captain respect Mister Roberts enough to trust him, after all the deal was done on Mister Roberts word alone, the crew was going to get their Liberty, it was nothing that could be taken away once done, and anybody else could have just reneged on the deal, but not mister Roberts, a man who was raised to believe that a mans word is his bond.
I don't know this, but looking at the spontaneity to the scene and the energy in it, i would say that scene was done in one take, because it sure looks like that. It has all the energy and timing of a classic comedy sketch between a comedy duo with impeccable chemistry. Such as Jackie Gleason and Art Carney. Fonda and Cagney should have done an act together-they had that kind of chemistry.