Well, I'm a fan of submarine movies. And like the previous poster, I can number many more entertaining efforts.
Glenn Ford plays the angst-ridden commander, whilst Ernie Borgnine doubles as his excessively friendly and loyal exec. Their's is a polarity that has become something of a genre cliché. Still, they work well together. The rest of the players also do an adequate job.
For me, the star of the show is the huge submarine of the American long-range Pacific fleet - the 'Gato' class. These were whoppers. Even so, the interior still looks a little too roomy to be believable, as most of these early sub movies do. They were also the most successful submarines of WW2 and I'm surprised we don't see them featured more often.
Some tactical issues seem extremely hokey. The initial attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier would surely have been initiated from several miles away allowing the sub to position itself on whichever side of the carrier that was not protected by the freighter. As things are, by taking such a reckless action, knowing that the freighter contained some 1400 POW's and civilians, the sub commander was surely liable to a war-crime charge. Add to that his collision with a barrage despite being aware of its proximity, and remaining at periscope depth at low speed when a destroyer was barely a thousand yards away, and you begin to wonder how the skipper ever got his command. He certainly wasn't fit. The speed of the carrier is also quoted as 21knots. So how come the common-or-garden freighter was managing to keep up with it? That vessel would barely have managed half the speed.
The Japanese ships are all too clearly models. Not as goofy as those of Preminger's 'In Harm's Way', but it is a post-war movie (1958) more could surely have been done.
Worth a watch, but by no means collectible. Britain's 1943 vintage 'We Dive At Dawn' has a great deal more going for it, despite being 15 years older and made on a wartime budget.
Glenn Ford plays the angst-ridden commander, whilst Ernie Borgnine doubles as his excessively friendly and loyal exec. Their's is a polarity that has become something of a genre cliché. Still, they work well together. The rest of the players also do an adequate job.
For me, the star of the show is the huge submarine of the American long-range Pacific fleet - the 'Gato' class. These were whoppers. Even so, the interior still looks a little too roomy to be believable, as most of these early sub movies do. They were also the most successful submarines of WW2 and I'm surprised we don't see them featured more often.
Some tactical issues seem extremely hokey. The initial attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier would surely have been initiated from several miles away allowing the sub to position itself on whichever side of the carrier that was not protected by the freighter. As things are, by taking such a reckless action, knowing that the freighter contained some 1400 POW's and civilians, the sub commander was surely liable to a war-crime charge. Add to that his collision with a barrage despite being aware of its proximity, and remaining at periscope depth at low speed when a destroyer was barely a thousand yards away, and you begin to wonder how the skipper ever got his command. He certainly wasn't fit. The speed of the carrier is also quoted as 21knots. So how come the common-or-garden freighter was managing to keep up with it? That vessel would barely have managed half the speed.
The Japanese ships are all too clearly models. Not as goofy as those of Preminger's 'In Harm's Way', but it is a post-war movie (1958) more could surely have been done.
Worth a watch, but by no means collectible. Britain's 1943 vintage 'We Dive At Dawn' has a great deal more going for it, despite being 15 years older and made on a wartime budget.