"An intelligent WWII propaganda
film."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An intelligent WWII propaganda film even with lots of speechmaking
about why the US is better than their foes; it also holds its own with
other sub pics. It's helmed by cowriter Delmer Daves in his first directing
assignment before going on to make such 1950s westerns as "3:10 to Yuma,"
"Broken Arrow," and "Jubal." It's based on a story by Steve Fisher, with
Albert Maltz as cowriter.
Captain Cassidy (Cary Grant) commands the USS Copperfin, a submarine,
on a secret mission (learned about an hour into the film when a sealed
envelope is broken) departing out of their home base in San Francisco harbor
on Christmas Day to enter Tokyo Bay harbor in order to allow a Navy lieutenant
meteorologist to survey Japanese weather conditions in preparation for
a massive Allied bombing assault on Tokyo. The black-and-white film was
shot in the studio.
Grant as the debonair skipper is terrific (the main reason the film
worked so well), playing the heroic role in an understated cool manner
as things moved along at his relaxed pace. The seamen are all the usual
stock military characters, nevertheless they're pleasing. Dane Clark in
his first starring role plays a Greek-American seaman with a score to settle
against his Axis enemies, Alan Hale as the good-hearted cook offers comic
relief, Tom Tully is the professional Irishman and truly religious man
who faces a critical life and death situation grounded in his beliefs,
Robert Hutton has a case of bad nerves and the always reliable John Garfield
as the torpedoman who loves the dames keeps things going aboard the ship
with his banter. They all somehow manage to make their stereotyped characters
seem real. Also, John Forsythe makes his screen debut a success. Though
overlong it's never boring, as there always seems to be something happening
such as an emergency appendectomy performed by a pharmacist's mate (William
Prince), minesweeping for undersea bombs, fighting off a Japanese plane
attack on the Aleutian Islands, withstanding a severe depth-bombing attack
on Tokyo Bay and the climactic retreat from Tokyo Bay on April of 1942.
Many of the incidents were based on real events, including the submarine's
mission.
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