Submarine Command, 1951. Starring William Holden. This movie, which started with the end of World War Two and ended during the opening days of the Korean War, was actually shot for the most part aboard a submarine so you get to see the close quarters that sub crews lived and fought in. Lots of footage of fleet boats on the surface and in the Mare Island mothball fleet, and even a bit of carrier footage for good measure.
The movie follows the Executive Officer of the sub who assumes command as the skipper is lost in action on the last day of WW2. He tries to make a go of it staying in the Navy but has issues dealing with memories of what happened. In that aspect, it's one of the first movies to address the issue of PTSD among war vets. But just as the hero plans to resign from the Navy, war breaks out in Korea and he's reassigned to his old sub and given a dangerous secret mission.
Far be it from me to give away the ending. If you really like submarines, you need to find this one. Amazon's got it. It gets four paws up, just for the sub scenes. Here's the opening.
Dang it! I have stuff to do! Now tomorrow I will watch this =)
ReplyDeleteWow.....I haven't seen that in 20 years!
ReplyDeleteThey have a later WWII USN sub at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Like a palace compared to the earlier subs but an outhouse compared to modern ones. As drjim said, haven't seen that one in 20 or more years. I'll add it to my watch list - thanks for the memory.
ReplyDeleteThat would be USS Torsk, SS 423. I love that boat and have blogged about her once or twice. Use the blogger search slot upper left on the home page to find Torsk posts. She's being wonderfully cared for and I'm overdue for another visit.
ReplyDeleteTigershark on top... you call, we maul!
ReplyDeleteRemember the Tang! The Harder! The Wahoo!
Top 20 (but not by tonnage)
Rank Submarine Captain Ships Sunk
1 USS Tautog Willigham, Sieglaff, Baskett 26
2 USS Tang O'Kane 24
3 USS Silversides Burlingame, Coye, J.C. Nichols 24
4 USS Flasher Whitaker, Girder 23
5 USS Spadefish Underwood, Germerhausen 21
6 USS Seahorse Cutter, Wilkins 20
7 USS Wahoo Kennedy, Morton 20
8 USS Guardfish Klakring, N.G. Ward 19
9 USS Rasher Hutchinson, Laughon, Munson 18
10 USS Seawolf Warder, Gross 18
11 USS Trigger Benson, Dornin, Harlfinger, Connole 18
12 USS Barb Waterman, Fluckey 18
13 USS Snook Triebel, Browne 17
14 USS Thresher W.L. Anderson, Millican, H. Hull, McMillan, Middleton 17
15 USS Bowfin Willingham, Griffith, Corbus, Tyree, 16
16 USS Harder Dealey 16
17 USS Pogy Wales, Metcalf, Bowers 16
18 USS Sunfish Peterson, Shelby, Reed 16
19 USS Tinosa Daspitt, Weiss, Latham 16
20 USS Drum Rice, McMahon, Willamson, Rindskopf 15
And many of them didn't return from their last patrol.
Where did you find Submarine Command? I've looked on Amazon, no luck - not available on DCD or VHS, not in Amazon Prime and not in Amazon's full list of movies. I even tried searching for "submarine" and scrolling through everything Amazon presented.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the trick for finding it?
I just did a Google search for "Amazon Submarine Command" and it came right up. I think I originally found it scrolling through the old movies on Prime on my Roku toy.
Deletehttp://www.amazon.com/Submarine-Command-William-Holden/dp/B00985RUY2
ReplyDeleteI must have a permissions issue someplace (I'm running NoScript, but have switched controls off for this). I tried your http link, got a "we're having trouble displaying this video" message, which is what I got before. No luck finding it via my Roku, either.
ReplyDeleteSolved it, at least on the PC. Between NoScript and my Firefox settings, no joy. Used Chrome, which I leave wide open, and it worked. Pretty good movie. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDelete