Robert J. Maxwell It's a hurried story of enemy spies sending signals to German U-boats offshore about the sailing of American cargo ships down the coast. Of course it's low budget and rude but I kind of liked it. (The Morse code used is real, not just gibberish. That is, somebody CARED.) It's 1942 and the US is having a tough time with so many freighters and tankers being sunk off the coast. And they were being sunk in numbers, too. The U-boats called it the second "happy time." But it didn't require Nazi spies. The US had just entered the war and unlike Britain had no clear idea of how to proceed with the business of protecting its shipping. The coast was considered safe from submarines because of the submarine's short cruising range. But they were supplied mid way across the Atlantic by Milchkühe, "milk cows." The cities along the coast -- Boston, New York, Charleston, and the rest -- left their lights on at night, so U-boats could silhouette our ships easily. It was so easy for the U-boats that the crews sometimes greeted survivors and distributed food to the lifeboats. "Charge this to Churchill." In this movie, the FBI, realizing that the unnecessary transmitter must be tiny and portable, and must be carefully attended, sees to it that dozens of radio engineers are fired, hoping that one will be approached by the Nazis. Richard Arlen is one of the experts fired and the Nazis offer him a job which, all unwittingly, he accepts.True. It's as improbable as all hell. Furthermore, these white-collar types lead stuffy lives. They all wear suits and ties, their shoes are shined, and their manners unimpeachable. Dwight Frye ("Renfield") is cast as a Nazi agent. The non-diegetic music is out of a Saturday-afternoon serial, popular at the time. But please, let's not get off on a tangent. Let's stick to events, shall we? It's a little puzzling that after the FBI's machinations that result in the firing of all these radio experts, those that are offered jobs are treated as potential traitors. After all, they've done nothing but legally exercised their skills. Frankly, I didn't get the logic. But in any case, the lead character, Richard Alrlen, a dull actor, is followed by an FBI agent, Wendy Barrie. He falls in love with her fifteen minutes after they first meet. The evildoers try to steambath Arlen and Barrie to death. It doesn't work. It's dumb but comforting, like hearing a Kindergarten child recite the ABCs flawlessly and everyone is happy.

Zoooma It's a shame someone would equate this film to a propaganda reel. Unnecessary jingoism was part of American culture at the time. Only three brief instances of possible propaganda exist here -- 1) when our protagonist says he wouldn't want to join the New World Order because he doesn't like their tactics. Saying that is a bad thing? I guess it was not fair since we didn't get a Nazi response to how their way of life really is. 2) the quote over the intercom "You know what to do, boys" when the air squadron heads out for a combat mission. Unnecessary cheerleading in a movie, yes, but part of American film culture at the time. 3) at the end, when our antagonist becomes an American citizen, he says "We know our way of life is best, and we're fighting to keep it that way." Again, should the movie have been fair to Nazis by giving their point of view on their way of life? Seriously?!? Sometimes we know wrong is wrong and there doesn't need to be a defense of it. Therefore, not propaganda.Lastly, this movie does NOT defend the right to be an illegal alien. Nothing is illegal about our antagonist. He's a legal alien but not a citizen. Illegal status never once enters the conversation.Overall, an okay, swift moving crime/war drama that isn't very memorable but definitely not a terrible 76 minutes.

MartinHafer This film was made by Pine-Thomas Productions (distributed by Paramount)--a tiny company with only a few credits to its name before SUBMARINE ALERT. Not surprisingly, it's a low budget film with the services of two leads whose careers had seen better days. Richard Arlen had been a big name in the silent and early days of talkies (having, for example, co-starred in the first Best Picture Oscar-winner, WINGS). But, by 1943, he was pretty much doing journeyman roles--taking what was available at a fraction of his earlier salaries. As for Wendy Barrie, while never a big star, she had been in a decent number of films (most notably, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and a recurring role in the Saint series). Here, they both give their best efforts and the results are certainly nothing they should have been ashamed of--even with such a tiny studio.The film is about a plot by the combined Nazi and Japanese espionage agencies to sink American shipping. These dirt-bags recruit Arlen because they assume (incorrectly) that because he recently lost his job due to security concerns over his citizenship status, that he'd betray his adopted country. Naturally, though, he, Berrie and the FBI work together to destroy these Axis creeps--huzzah! Overall, the story is interesting, the action generally good (except for the toy sub that was blown up in the end) and it did its job in convincing the folks at home that the enemy was evil but easily defeated. Worth a peek.

Snow Leopard Once this wartime B-feature gets going, it's not bad, and it builds up enough suspense and intrigue to help you look past the low production values. Richard Arlen and Wendy Barrie also contribute with solid performances in the two leading roles. For movies of the era and genre, it is a little less strident than most in its attacks on Axis nationalities, giving somewhat more emphasis to the personal plight of the main character (Arlen).Arlen plays a radio engineer who, not being a US citizen, finds himself out of work when the FBI orders his employer to let him go. While Axis spies try to dupe him into helping them with a special transmitter that they are using to target Allied tankers, the G-Men are still keeping their own tabs on him. Barrie comes into the story as something of a wild card.The script takes somewhat too long to set things up, and it adds some characters that are never used for anything of importance, so that it takes a while to start making any real progress. But after that, it works all right, as Arlen's character finds himself in one fix after another. By portraying the federal agents as rather heartless and unimaginative, the movie's tone becomes somewhat darker than what you might normally expect from a picture whose general aim is to promote the Allied cause.Though there's nothing new or particularly impressive about "Submarine Alert", there's probably enough to make it worth seeing for those who have an interest in the era and genre.