Leofwine_draca BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA is a complete misnomer of a title for this B-movie WW2 flick about the crew of a US submarine finding themselves at the mercy of the Japanese navy. It's not a battle film at all, it's too cheap for that, and the titular event merely takes place in the last five minutes of the production thanks to some aged stock footage. No, what we have here is a typical prisoner of war film, with the submarine crew forced to surrender to the Japanese, faring on a remote island, and eventually rising up against their oppressors.The cast is headed by genre favourite Cliff Robertson with the likes of L.Q. Jones in support, and there's a tiny role for a debuting George Takei if you can manage to spot him. Generally the production is hampered by a small budget which means that this is a very talky production without much in the way of action or excitement, although the eventual uprising scenes are quite well handled. Sadly they come too little too late for this to be an enjoyable production.

laborlaw First, the movie had virtually nothing to do with the Coral Sea Battle which was a tactical Japanese victory (the US lost more ships) but also a strategic defeat for them (they had to give up their planned invasion of Port Moresby in New Guinea).Second, the movie is almost wholly unrelated to any history of the time.Third, good grief, at least get something about submarine operations correct. No sub commander in his right mind would leave a periscope up like these dodos do, certainly not with that kind of forward speed. No submariner would go speeding along in such shallow water but of course they show this kind of stupidity in every sub movie.As an aside, two US sub captains were captured in WWII. The captain of the Robalo, Manning Kimmel (son of the naval commander at Pearl Harbor on December 7) apparently survived after his boat struck a mine but died in captivity shortly thereafter. Richard O'Kane, arguably the most successful US sub commander in WWII was captured after his sub was sunk by it's own torpedo (circular run). He received the Medal of Honor after the war.

PudgyPandaMan I'm a big fan of WWII movies - even though Im a 40 yr old female. Go figure?! So I was glad to come across one I hadn't seen yet.The basic story of the movie follows events leading up to the Battle of the Coral Sea, not the actual battle itself. One thing I'm unsure of is whether the storyline of the movie itself actually took place. The basic synopsis is a Sub commander, Jeff Conway (played by Cliff Robertson}, is given basically an intelligence mission to go scope out a build-up of Japanese navy ships & carriers in the Pacific. They aren't to engage the enemy, just capture photos & record details of the specific ships and their locations. In the process, their sub is discovered and ordered to surrender. The main crew is sent to a regular POW camp but the commander and his officers are sent to a special island interrogation camp in order to try to force info regarding their mission out of the commander.As I mentioned before, there isn't a tremendous amount of action since its the events that precede the actual battle. But it still kept me interested enough to keep watching. I think Cliff Robertson plays his role very well and is the best in the picture. I also liked Teru Shimada who played the Japanese commander Mori at the POW camp. I like when he & Robertson first meet and play a sort of cat & mouse game trying to size each other up.This movie may not keep you on the edge of your seat, but is still worth the watching to see whether or not Robertson's character gives up the info or is able to get off the island.

bcolquho This movie is the prequel to the 1976 movie Midway. On May 8, 1942, the Allies won the first major battle of the Pacific War. The Battle of the Coral Sea was technically a draw but it saw a number of firsts_____for example_____it was the first battle fought inwhich both sides never saw each other. It was a carrier battle. The first carrier battle actually. Japan lost the carrier Junyo and a destroyer. The United States, surprisingly enough, lost only one carrier, the converted battle cruiser Lexington, and one severely damaged. The Yorktown, which will go down a month later at Midway.