Oliver Cromwell Jones, the black cook, is given a lot of screen time and the screen play treats him as an integral part of the mission. He is played by Ben Carter, one of the actors profiled in Donald Bogle's recent book BRIGHT BOULEVARDS, BOLD DREAMS; he was the agent for black Los Angeles actors who got in trouble with his clients because he often took the best parts and played them himself! This is definitely one of those cases, for he has a scene with James Gleason for which he should have been nominated for an Oscar, he's so good in the part--and it isn't one of Hollywood's wretched racially stereotypical parts, but one with real human feeling, dignity, comedy all mixed together. Gleason is super too.
However the picture really belongs to its headlining trio of stars, and they all rise to the occasion. Anne Baxter is not photographed very well. One of the characters picks up her photograph and looks at it saying, "She's so beautiful," but in truth she looks awful and her face is round as a beach ball. But she's perky, soulful, repressed in turns. I love the part where she teaching a squadron of schoolgirls how to shoot an arrow into a line of targets. The girls are dressed in incredibly tight school uniforms (archery outfits I guess) and all move like robots or the dancers in a Robert Palmer video, all releasing their arrows at exactly the same time. The odd thing is that they're supposed to be nervous and giggly about the sudden appearance of Tyrone Power, so all of them miss the target. Baxter is just terrible playing the part--did she ever get good, no not really, but they wrote better parts for her later on. However except for her face she looks wonderful and the designers have some great 40s clothes for her, including several pairs of red gloves which they must have thought would be a big trendsetter in 1943. Dana Andrews is very trim and not as creepy as usual. Acting (and good looks) honors belong to Tyrone Power, who has one of those scenes where his dotty grandma (Dame May Whitty) opens up a childhood scrapbook and points out to his girl (Baxter) a photo of her grandson as a baby boy, naked, bare ass hanging in the air. He's all embarrassed and slams the book down on Grandma's hands. They have a funny relationship. She calls him "Stinky," and he greets her fondly as "Butch." Dame May Whitty could play a hard, cold aristocrat; but here she's the loveable kind, sort of like Marie Dressler used to play.
The Technicolor transfer on the DVD is superb. I wonder when people went to the movies in the 1940s if they zeroed in on Technicolor pictures and felt disappointed when a movie was in black and white. The blues, reds, and purples of CRASH DIVE are so rich and lustrous you feel as though it had been melted down from velvet.
Rousing Wartime Submarine Story With Romantic Subplot
Being Tyrone Power's final film effort before taking up active duty, "Crash Dive", is most often just dismissed as a footnote to his highly successful pre war career as one of Hollywood's most popular and goodlooking leading men. It however is a highly enjoyable film in its own right which at times seems uncertain in which genre it is actually placing itself as it combines an exciting wartime submarine story with a light romantic story with many comedy elements. While the often abrupt change from suspensful drama to light romance is not always successful this film should not be dismissed and cetainly for the year of its release (1943), was a very topical film illustrating the very dangerous work being carried out by the armed forces in the Atlantic. This story had an amazingly high budget for that year and boasted superb location photography and vivid technicolour all wrapped up in a story guaranteed to please all sections of the viewing public. Tyrone Power's rousing final speech illustrating the great work being undertaken by all sections of the armed forces is often criticised today as blatant propaganda but we have to always remember the period in time in which it was produced when people were anxious to know more about the armed forces and what they were doing in the war effort.
CRASH DIVE SOARS - TRANSFER IS SUSPECT, THOUGH.
"Crash Dive," a melodramatic lover's triangle between naval heroes (Tyrone Power and Dana Andrews) and the girl they both love (Anne Baxter), is one of those standard war flicks made at the height of conflict (1943). Remarkably, it continues to stir up patriotism and lift the spirits, despite a somewhat heavy handed script and some truncated bits of romance that seem to be inserts into an otherwise straight forward and compelling adventure movie. Powers is a reluctant executive officer aboard a submarine. His relationship with his new captain (Andrews) becomes strained after he realizes that they are in love with the same woman. All this is background fodder for the real plot of the movie - a mid-Atlantic ambush of a secret German island and its Nazi military base. THE TRANSFER: Filmed on location, Leon Shamroy's lush Technicolor photography is the real star of "Crash Dive" and although the film has dated considerably, there's still enough gleam in the original negative to compel the viewer onward. Colors are rich and for the most part, nicely balanced. Occasionally there are scenes in which the color scheme becomes unstable or flickers. There is also an abundance of age related artifacts that detract from the overall visual presentation. Black and contrast levels are generally solid. There's a slight haze over some of the scenes as well. Digital anomalies are not an issue on this disc. The audio has been cleaned up and is nicely presented. EXTRAS: None.
BOTTOM LINE: If you're a cinema war junky, then "Crash Dive" will suit you tastes. But it does not represent the best of genre by any means. The DVD's middle of the road picture quality is a let down.
In The Enemy Below Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens are respectively captains of a U.S. destroyer and a German U-boat whose vessels come into conflict in the South Atlantic. Both are good men with a job to do, the script noting Jurgens' distaste for Hitler and the Nazis and engaging our sympathy with the German sailors almost as much as the Americans. Made at the height of the cold war of the 1950s, the film delivers a liberal message of co-operation wrapped inside some spectacular action scenes and a story which builds to a tense and exciting, moving finale. --Gary S. DalkinMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert Mitchum - Curd Jürgens Director(s): Dick Powell DVD Release Date: Released the 25 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The offbeat casting of Cary Grant as a submarine captain pays off in this tense WWII underwater picture; he ably trades in his sophistication for the sweaty close quarters of an action movie. The mission? Infiltrate the mined harbor of Tokyo itself, a feat bookended by a brief confrontation in the Aleutians and a depth-charge chase through the open sea. Skipper Grant is supported by the usual stock crew of Navy melting-pot types, with John Garfield drawing duty as the resident dame-crazy fantasist. (Somebody forgot to put the saltpeter in his chow, apparently.) The solid action alternates with dialogue that tends toward the schmaltzy or jingoistic (the movie's become somewhat notorious for its unusually nasty propagandistic jabs at the Japanese enemy). Destination Tokyo was the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Cary Grant - John Garfield Director(s): Delmer Daves DVD Release Date: Released the 01 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This Korean War-era film has all the trimmings as far as aerial combat is concerned. This is one of the few films which approaches this aspect of the war.
A movie's lasting value can often be measured by its influence in the years and decades following its original release, and on that basis Run Silent, Run Deep is certainly a classic of sorts. It remains one of the seminal World War II submarine pictures, and its intelligent script and tautly executed action are clearly echoed in such later submarine dramas as Das Boot and especially Crimson Tide, which borrows liberally from this 1958 film.
In one of his best and final roles (he appeared in only four films after this), Clark Gable plays a submarine captain without a command, having been saddled with a desk job after his previous ship was destroyed due to his overzealous pursuit of the enemy in dangerous Japanese waters. He finally gets another... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clark Gable - Burt Lancaster Director(s): Robert Wise DVD Release Date: Released the 15 August 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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If not a seminal World War II submarine picture, then Operation Pacific is at least an entertaining one. John Wayne stars as "Duke" Gifford, first officer of the submarine Thunderfish. Patricia Neal is Duke's ex-wife, and when they meet again after four years, the couple tries to recapture "that old zing." Complications arise when Duke goes on a mission with dud torpedoes, and his best friend's younger brother goes after Neal. Fans will be pleased with Wayne's role, as the Gifford character is one of Wayne's simplest, but most honest performances. Wayne regulars Ward Bond and Jack Pennick are on hand as well; Bond plays sub captain "Pop" Perry, and Pennick the sub's Chief. The scene in which Pop tells his crew to "Take 'er down!" came from real life; a sub skipper... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Wayne - Patricia Neal Director(s): George Waggner DVD Release Date: Released the 13 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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