very good for 1931


I stumbled on this movie on TCM today, and was very pleasantly surprised.

First, the cinematography and sound were excellent for that era. No fixed camera angles for this one -- it even had a camera strapped to one of the bowplanes on a partially-submerged submarine.

Second, the film was an excellent state of preservation. I've seen B&W films from the 1950s and 1960s that were more degraded than this one from 1931.

Third, the movie used real submarines, not just models. And a real four-masted sailing ship, not just a model. I suspect some of the gunfire was real too, even if no live rounds were fired.

Fourth, it had a pretty good cast. William Boyd, four years before he started playing Hopalong Cassidy. James Gleason, a decade before his memorable roles in "Here Comes Mr Jordan", "A Guy Named Joe", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", and "Meet John Doe". And a 19-year-old Ginger Rogers in one of her earliest outings.

But a major criticism of the casting -- the ages of the primary actors. William Boyd was 36, playing a chief petty officer... no problem there. But James Gleason (Skeets) was 49 and Robert Armstrong (Dutch) was 41 -- too old to be enlist in the Navy. In the scene in the enlistment office, there was a sign on the wall saying they were looking for men 18-35 years of age. The Navy would have turned away balding and graying applicants -- Gleason and Armstrong did not look younger than their real ages.

The story was imaginative, if not very plausible. The acting was nothing special, typical of nearly all movies from that era. The significance is primarily in the direction, the cinematography, the sound quality, the special effects, and the excellent condition of the film stock.

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And the use of the USS Preble and other Clemson class destroyers. I hope TCM runs this flick again.

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I hope TCM runs this flick again.


You can purchase the movie on DVD. The quality of the print and sound is very good. Not sure how it compares to what TCM shows though.

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