Yes, I agree. The WWII submarine movies were something special. There may be others, and if so please remind me, but my favorites are this one, "Destination Tokyo", and of course "Run Silent, Run Deep". The former was produced during the war, the latter released in 1958, much later.
"Destination Tokyo" was clearly a homefront propaganda film, but it had a nice feel to it and Cary Grant was remarkably good as the sub commander. And I was struck by some of the dialogue, such as the conversation between two crewmen about their belief in God, or lack thereof. It wasn't particularly deep, but the fact it was written at all was a little surprising, but it probably reflected some of the discourse going on in the U.S. at the time.
"Run Silent, Run Deep" (one of the great titles in movie history) was pure macho entertainment, with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster commanding what turned out to be Jaws with torpedoes.
Compare these with the 2 very good Cold War sub films, "The Hunt for Red October" and "Crimson Tide".
Submarines provide a natural dramatic environment because of their isolation, tight quarters and potential for all kinds of story lines.
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shannon77
18 years ago
another film Das Boot is also well made,and has an anti fascist captain, a gentleman I talked to from the DasBoot message board told me he had the opportunity to see it in a theater and the sound quality was outstanding.
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boxerrebellion
9 years ago
Das Boot is probably the closest in any movie that I have felt to 'being there'. I could SMELL the cigarettes and the sweat and it was gross....
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vawlkee_2000
15 years ago
No argument but you sadly neglected "Ice Station Zebra" (1968)....Genuine claustrophobia - cold war style!
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knight1192a
14 years ago
But where is the claustrophobia here? Now I'll admit I haven't been on terribly many WWII subs (USS Lionfish and USS Drum are it) but of the ones I was on they were much more cramped than this Copperfin would have been. I didn't see if they mentioned the class of the Copperfin, and I'll admit I missed a good bit of the film, but she must at the very least be a Gato like the Drum and possibly an earlier class. Considering USS Balao was laid down two months after the Halsey-Doolittle Raid, Copperfin couldn't be a Balao like Lionfish. But she's far roomier than a Balao and that ain't likely.
I understand you need the extra room for the film crew and all, but this is ridiculous. I looked at the captain's cabin and it was twice as big as that of the Drum. And there's a seen with most of the crew sitting down together to dinner in the galley when it should only be able to hold maybe six guys at a time. And what about that hallway? Cassidy sends the guy to get the map for him and he doesn't have to do much dodging of those hanging out the hatchways. Had that been the real dimensions of a WWII sub interior he'd never have gotten past them if they were doing more than sticking their heads out the hatches. Not to mention the officer's ward room fits the dimensions of a ward room I've seen on a South Dakota-class battleship to a T.
I'm not saying this is a bad movie. I'm just saying it doesn't have a sense of the claustrophobia and cramped conditions of an actual period sub. Felt more like the interior scenes were largely filmed on a surface ship for the most part than on a sub.
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mikekrit62
9 years ago
I get a kick out of the fact that in "Run Silent, Run Deep", the movie the crew is watching is "Destination Tokyo".
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