This is an enjoyable flick, even though every moment of it is done by the wartime numbers. I don't care. Anne Baxter is young, chubby, and cute. I can understand why Dana Andrews is in love with her, and why Tyrone Power falls too. The problem is that Power has been recently transferred from PT boats to Andrews' submarine, so he has no idea that while he's courting Anne Baxter, she has any connection with his skipper. The romantic triangle is resolved in the expectable fashion. (Everything about this movie is expectable.) Which of the two gets the girl? Ask which man has the lead part. Andrews may be handsome in a stiff, solid, thin-lipped way, but Power is exorbitantly handsome -- reckless and dashing and charming to boot. Also he's rich.
But that's the B story.
The A story involves missions of the submarine called the Corsair, which is a misnomer unless there is a fish called the corsair. Andrews is the captain and Power his new exec, still in thrall of his glamorous PT boats. There's a bit of not altogether friendly conflict of allegiances here. The two officers call each other "Mister." But they bond when Andrews is knocked out by a depth charge, and Power takes over the boat and sinks the ship attacking them. After that, it's "Ward" and "Dewey", not "Mister." The C story centers around an asymmetric relationship between an African-American Steward's Mate, Ben Carter, and the Chief Engineer, James Gleason. Gleason is mean to everyone and when he finds out that Carter knows about his weak heart, he's even meaner to the Steward. Carter, in turn, is solicitous towards the chief and follows him around like a dog, though in this case the dog is periodically kicked. Of course Carter's character would be intolerable on today's screens but it would be a mistake to call this element of the film "racist." It's handled good-naturedly. Carter gets to make a joke about his color and in the climactic scene his behavior is heroic.
Reliable cliché is piled upon reliable cliché in the script and the heap is garnished with plenty of corn. When Andrews and Power return from their patrol, they arrange for a platter of fresh vegetables and react to it orgasmically. They attack it in a way men don't. And when one of them says, "Let's split a bottle," the dissolve takes us to a scene in which they drink milk.
The action scenes correspond closely to those in Warners' "Destination Tokyo" or -- well, name any other submarine movie. Under depth-charge attack, Andrews fools the Germans by shooting some debris through the torpedo tube and releasing a little fuel oil. Evidently the German captain has never seen a submarine movie. But his performance is outstanding nonetheless. He rubs his palms together, glowing with evil, smiles, and says, "Erl -- wunderbar!" (What a dummy.) There's also a landing party. There is often a landing party at a secret enemy base. This leads to extravagant fireballs, innumerable dead Germans, a hair-raising escape, and the resolution of that question about who gets the girl.
The only scene in which the corn was a little too overdone for my taste was an extended interlude at Tyrone Power's aunt's Massachusetts mansion. The aunt is Dame May Witty. She calls Power "Stinky." Anne Baxter is the guest and I suppose this is designed to humanize Power's sometimes reckless pursuit of the girl.
The direction is pedestrian. Little real acting is called for. The special effects -- in fully blown color -- were quite good for the period, although we can spot the miniatures easily now. Nothing innovative in the sound or in the musical score.
Power ends the movie with one of those patriotic, rechauffe "let's all pull together" speeches of the kind that so many war-time flag wavers did. He lauds ALL the ships of the Navy, not just the PT boats but the submarines too, and goes on to list the battleships, the cruisers, the aircraft carriers, and even "the Coast Guard ships," for which he should get the Navy Cross.
A colorful and entertaining trifle.
But that's the B story.
The A story involves missions of the submarine called the Corsair, which is a misnomer unless there is a fish called the corsair. Andrews is the captain and Power his new exec, still in thrall of his glamorous PT boats. There's a bit of not altogether friendly conflict of allegiances here. The two officers call each other "Mister." But they bond when Andrews is knocked out by a depth charge, and Power takes over the boat and sinks the ship attacking them. After that, it's "Ward" and "Dewey", not "Mister." The C story centers around an asymmetric relationship between an African-American Steward's Mate, Ben Carter, and the Chief Engineer, James Gleason. Gleason is mean to everyone and when he finds out that Carter knows about his weak heart, he's even meaner to the Steward. Carter, in turn, is solicitous towards the chief and follows him around like a dog, though in this case the dog is periodically kicked. Of course Carter's character would be intolerable on today's screens but it would be a mistake to call this element of the film "racist." It's handled good-naturedly. Carter gets to make a joke about his color and in the climactic scene his behavior is heroic.
Reliable cliché is piled upon reliable cliché in the script and the heap is garnished with plenty of corn. When Andrews and Power return from their patrol, they arrange for a platter of fresh vegetables and react to it orgasmically. They attack it in a way men don't. And when one of them says, "Let's split a bottle," the dissolve takes us to a scene in which they drink milk.
The action scenes correspond closely to those in Warners' "Destination Tokyo" or -- well, name any other submarine movie. Under depth-charge attack, Andrews fools the Germans by shooting some debris through the torpedo tube and releasing a little fuel oil. Evidently the German captain has never seen a submarine movie. But his performance is outstanding nonetheless. He rubs his palms together, glowing with evil, smiles, and says, "Erl -- wunderbar!" (What a dummy.) There's also a landing party. There is often a landing party at a secret enemy base. This leads to extravagant fireballs, innumerable dead Germans, a hair-raising escape, and the resolution of that question about who gets the girl.
The only scene in which the corn was a little too overdone for my taste was an extended interlude at Tyrone Power's aunt's Massachusetts mansion. The aunt is Dame May Witty. She calls Power "Stinky." Anne Baxter is the guest and I suppose this is designed to humanize Power's sometimes reckless pursuit of the girl.
The direction is pedestrian. Little real acting is called for. The special effects -- in fully blown color -- were quite good for the period, although we can spot the miniatures easily now. Nothing innovative in the sound or in the musical score.
Power ends the movie with one of those patriotic, rechauffe "let's all pull together" speeches of the kind that so many war-time flag wavers did. He lauds ALL the ships of the Navy, not just the PT boats but the submarines too, and goes on to list the battleships, the cruisers, the aircraft carriers, and even "the Coast Guard ships," for which he should get the Navy Cross.
A colorful and entertaining trifle.