Billed as 'the untold story of Uncle Sam's underwater commandos,' "Action in the North Atlantic" director Lloyd Bacon's "The Frogmen" concerns the daring exploits of the U.S. Navy's Underwater Demolition Team (U.D.T.) during the twilight of World War II. This thoroughly routine secret mission fodder casts Richard Widmark as Lieutenant Commander John Lawrence, the new kid commander on the block and depicts his efforts to win the respect of his fellow frogmen. If you've seen another Twentieth Century Fox classic "Twelve O'Clock High," "The Frogmen" is somewhat reminiscent of it as well as "The Flying Leathernecks.: It seems that the guys revered their former commander, Mr. Cassidy, who died in the line of duty and have a difficult time accepting Lawrence as his replacement. Cassidy was a favorite about the men, but Lawrence does nothing but antagonize them. At one point, everybody on the UDT team requests a transfer out. For the record, "The Frogmen" is a movie for guys because there are no women in cast and virtually all the action happens at sea.
The action transpires for the most part aboard a navy ship as our heroes are called upon to survey beachheads for future assaults and later blow-up a Japanese submarine pen. Bacon and "So Dear to My Heart" scenarist John Tucker Battle don't exactly have much to work with here and there is only the barest reference to the time frame during which these adventures occur. Presumably, since they mention Iwo Jima, everything in "The Frogmen" takes place afterward as America considered invading Japan. The ship's captain, Lieutenant Commander Pete Vincent (Gary Merrill of "Twelve O'Clock High") offers the green skipper advice, such as holding a funeral service after several men in his command die when their boat receives a direct hit. Lawrence has to contend with thick-skulled personnel , like Chief Jake Flannigan (Dana Andrews of "The Ox-Bow Incident") and Pappy (Jeffrey Hunter of "The Searchers") when they jeopardize their lives playing a prank to get back at the Marines. Pappy has a $50 dollar bet that the Marines will wade ashore and see a banner that Flannigan and he stake out on the beach welcoming the jarheads. On the way back, Pappy catches a couple of bullets near the spine and has to be laid up in traction. Of course, the team will eventually accept Lawrence as one of their own but not under this 96-minute, black & white epic is almost finished. One scene that generates some suspense occurs when a Japanese torpedo penetrates the hull of Vincent's ship and Lawrence has to disarm it. Complicating matters considerably is the presence of the torpedo in the same room where Pappy is strung up with counterweights until they can reach the surgeons at Pearl Harbor. Lawrence has the task of disarming the torpedo.
The grand finale at a Japanese submarine pen is the only time that we see the soldiers of the Rising Sun. There is a brief underwater struggle with Japanese divers before everything goes up. Nothing disparaging is ever mentioned about the Japanese enemy and they seem largely benign and pose little threat. Essentially, this is a traditional World War II opus where the men change their haughty attitude of dislike for their commander into one of adulation. However, at no time do they advocate killing him. The underwater photography looks good, but the suspense comes up short. Mind you, Bacon and company don't spout the war cliché that on the basis of a single mission hangs the fate of the war. Altogether, "The Frogmen" qualifies as tolerable.
The action transpires for the most part aboard a navy ship as our heroes are called upon to survey beachheads for future assaults and later blow-up a Japanese submarine pen. Bacon and "So Dear to My Heart" scenarist John Tucker Battle don't exactly have much to work with here and there is only the barest reference to the time frame during which these adventures occur. Presumably, since they mention Iwo Jima, everything in "The Frogmen" takes place afterward as America considered invading Japan. The ship's captain, Lieutenant Commander Pete Vincent (Gary Merrill of "Twelve O'Clock High") offers the green skipper advice, such as holding a funeral service after several men in his command die when their boat receives a direct hit. Lawrence has to contend with thick-skulled personnel , like Chief Jake Flannigan (Dana Andrews of "The Ox-Bow Incident") and Pappy (Jeffrey Hunter of "The Searchers") when they jeopardize their lives playing a prank to get back at the Marines. Pappy has a $50 dollar bet that the Marines will wade ashore and see a banner that Flannigan and he stake out on the beach welcoming the jarheads. On the way back, Pappy catches a couple of bullets near the spine and has to be laid up in traction. Of course, the team will eventually accept Lawrence as one of their own but not under this 96-minute, black & white epic is almost finished. One scene that generates some suspense occurs when a Japanese torpedo penetrates the hull of Vincent's ship and Lawrence has to disarm it. Complicating matters considerably is the presence of the torpedo in the same room where Pappy is strung up with counterweights until they can reach the surgeons at Pearl Harbor. Lawrence has the task of disarming the torpedo.
The grand finale at a Japanese submarine pen is the only time that we see the soldiers of the Rising Sun. There is a brief underwater struggle with Japanese divers before everything goes up. Nothing disparaging is ever mentioned about the Japanese enemy and they seem largely benign and pose little threat. Essentially, this is a traditional World War II opus where the men change their haughty attitude of dislike for their commander into one of adulation. However, at no time do they advocate killing him. The underwater photography looks good, but the suspense comes up short. Mind you, Bacon and company don't spout the war cliché that on the basis of a single mission hangs the fate of the war. Altogether, "The Frogmen" qualifies as tolerable.