jacobs-greenwood Directed by Joseph Pevney, and written by William Wister Haines and Richard Sale, this average World War II submarine drama stars Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine; Ford is the commander of a submarine and Borgnine is his first officer. Like most in this genre, Ford plays a tortured, determined sub captain who's chasing a "holy grail"-like target, in this case a Japanese "flat top", a new aircraft carrier named Shinaru; Borgnine's character is also Ford's friend who helps and/or covers for his commanding officer (C.O.).The cast includes a number of supporting actors including Diane Brewster, who plays Ford's wife in a couple of flashback sequences, Dean Jones as Foley and L.Q. Jones as Benson are two members of Ford's crew, Philip Ober as Ford's C.O., and William Schallert (uncredited) as another sub's commander. The Japanese characters are barely seen and, of course, uncredited. The film's Effects, which are really nothing special, received an Academy Award nomination.The story is compelling at times, but is also full of the usual clichés:Lieutenant Commander Barney Doyle (Ford) is Admiral Samuel Setton's (Ober) best submarine captain; his "Grey Fish" has attained an impressive record of success sinking enemy targets. Barney is driven because, for 10 months, he hasn't known the fate of his wife and two year old daughter, who were living in Manila before Pearl Harbor and Japan's invasion of the Philippines. When word finally surfaces that Jane (Brewster) and their daughter Dede (Kimberly Beck, uncredited in her screen debut) have been found alive and well in a Japanese internment camp, it's soon followed by news that the sought after carrier Shinaru is being screened by a transport ship with 1,400 prisoners-of-war, likely including Doyle's family, and two destroyers, dubbed "tin cans".Naturally, Barney and his crew is given the opportunity to take a crack at sinking the target but the captain, despite pleas from his first officer Lieutenant Archie Sloan (Borgnine), takes an ill- advised risk and accidentally shoots the transport ship instead. Because of the destroyers, who have dropped depth charges in order to destroy them, and are currently lying in wait, the Grey Fish is unable to rescue the survivors.Seeing this scene would later cause Barney to wrestle with his emotions about the tragedy for three days in his captain's quarters, but not before he successfully commands the sub into Tokyo Bay and destroys another tin can in lieu of the desired target. They'd had to hide among some enemy mines and blow through some sub trap netting during their escape.Upon their ordered return to Pearl Harbor, Admiral Setton questions Archie about Barney's fitness, while offering the Lieutenant a ship of his own. Archie tells the truth about Barney's struggle but then states that he'd rather be Doyle's subordinate on another mission to sink the Shinaru than helm his own boat. So, Barney and the Grey Fish are given another chance, and are accompanied by another sub dubbed the "Blue Fin". When a suspicious Barney asks Archie about his conversation with the admiral, Doyle's paranoia causes a rift between the two friends.Later after taking another undue risk, Barney causes the Grey Fish to lose its conning tower and most of its communications ability, reducing their chances of sinking the Shinaru by sonar to one in eight. Now unable to using either periscope, Barney decides to let Archie help make the decision to continue the quest to sink the Japanese carrier, which they do despite great risk to themselves and their crew. The Grey Fish is sunk to the bottom by a Japanese destroyer, which is then in turn sunk by the Blue Fin.One of the film's most interesting, and not often seen, sequences follows as the crew of the Grey Fish abandons their submerged sub in order to be rescued by the Blue Fin's crew. Their skipper, Randy (Schallert), is able to show Barney that he and his crew (minus the six that died in their sinking) did successfully sink the Shinaru.

screenman 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.

howdymax Another submarine movie. This one is now a standard for the genre. All that tension. It makes you wonder why they can't all just get along. Even the best of friends seem to fall out when they get cooped up in a submarine. Glenn Ford and Ernie Borgnine are best buddies and Captain and Exec aboard the Greyfish. Best of buddies, of course, until Glenn Ford is forced to make a decision Ernie disagrees with - and here we go again. Cary Grant and Burt Lancaster, Ronald Reagan and Arthur Franz, Glenn and Ernie, etc. We never seem to get tired of the clichés. Let me make this one point though. For once, we don't have the usual cast of characters. No wise guy called Brooklyn, no homey coyoot called Texas, and no hayseed from Nebraska called, well Nebraska. Or maybe Junior. Remember him with the freckles and the cowlick? There isn't much point in going into the story. You've seen it before. You've probably seen this movie before. It's no Das Boot, but for what it is, it holds it's own.I never understood Glenn Ford. He really needed to lighten up. I don't think I ever saw the man smile - never mind laugh. He always seemed to be barely in control of some unexplained rage. I don't know what he was like personally, but if his acting was any reflection of the man, one might wonder why he never made the front page of The Hollywood Reporter.

Boba_Fett1138 The movie has a pretty interesting approach for '50's standards, by inserting lots of flashback sequences, with the home-front, that however also happen to be incredibly sappy. It does at parts make the movie a melodramatic one.Submarine movies just never have been any of the best or most exciting, action packed movies because of their restraints, with a couple of well known exceptions of course. The movie has a good beginning but as it heads toward the ending the movie starts to drag and become less interesting, when the movie becomes more personal and gets filled with some more emotional aspects.It even manages to put in a personal and family dramatic main plot-line in the movie. What an accomplishment for a submarine movie! Yes, it helps to make the movie more original and less formulaic but it also of course isn't the most interesting approach thinkable, especially not since it gets stretched out for the movie its entire duration.The miniature effects were pretty good looking. I mean I have seen far worse, even from movies that were made much later. Although they are hard from convincing by todays standards of course.Glenn Ford was a great choice for the main lead, as the tough looking but sensitive commander. Ernest Borgnine forms a good duo with him, as the submarine's lieutenant. The rest of the character remain mostly in the back.A decent enough genre attempt.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/