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The Worst Film Ever

Simply Perfect

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The term Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was coined more recently, so you won't hear it used in "Submarine Command". However, some of the symptoms clearly are what Lt. Cmdr. Ken White (William Holden) are clearly what he's struggling with...making it one of the earlier war films to tackle this.The film begins during the closing days of WWII. Ken is second in command on the USS Tiger Shark, a sub. When the ship is under attack from a Japanese plane, he orders the ship to dive in order to save it from being sunk. Unfortunately, the Captain and one other man are stuck on the deck...injured and unable to make it in time. The CPO aboard (William Bendix) holds Ken responsible for losing the men...though he had no other choice. Even the widow and father of the Captain assure Ken he did the right thing...but Ken won't forgive himself or forget it.When he returns to the US, he gets married...and proves to be a surly husband. His wife has difficulty getting close to him and he is a jerk. When the Korean War arrives, the Tiger Shark is once again activated...and Ken is in command. Can he work through his anxieties and self-doubt? Or, will he simply remain a surly jerk?This is a decent but not great sub film...and there are quite a few great sub films out there. My biggest gripe is that the CPO was insubordinate at times and it seemed ridiculous for Ken to keep him on the ship as well as bring him aboard years later. But still, this is a minor problem and overall it's very good and worth seeing.

Just saw the movie on TCM. Recommended for submarine buffs. Fairly accurate commands and procedures. They took bits of true stories as most of these kinds of movies tend to do. Howard Gilmore was awarded the Medal of Honor for ordering his boat down after being wounded and realizing that to make it below would delay the dive and probably lose the boat. Gene Fluckey, another Medal of Honor winner and also known as The Galloping Ghost of the China Coast, took his boat into a Chinese harbor filled with Japanese shipping, sank a few and ran in shallow water, dodging gunfire until he had enough water to dive. Bill Holden should have been running as soon as he surfaced to send his radio message. In summary, better than average and pretty enjoyable if you know a little historical background.

William Holden is Cmdr. White a quite mature man who suffers through the boredom of the post WW II Navy. He is chained to a desk on a base near his old submarine, which has been decommissioned and mothballed. He visits it periodically to experience his wartime ghosts. He is so bored that he seriously considers chucking the Navy and taking a more lucrative civilian job. Nancy Olson plays his understanding Navy wife. William Bendex is also on hand with old time Chief Petty Officer wisdom and to remind Holden of his ghosts.Don Taylor portrays the fun and games Navy pilot who is anything but mature. He is teaching ROTC at a nearby college. They met at the end of the war when White's submarine rescued him. They maintain a friendship even though White is at times disturbed by his happy-go-lucky well adjustment.When The Korean War starts White is rescued from his desk and placed in command of ----- (You guessed it!) his old submarine. Taylor and Holden are united again off the Korean Coast where boat and men undertake a movie ending dangerous mission.This was a feel good war movie that wasn't loaded with dated propaganda. Holden narrates as he did in Sunset Blvd. where he first played opposite Olson.If you like military movies, this is a good one.

Submarine Command is an excellent example of the type of good entertainment that Hollywood used to grind out regularly back in the fifties. The story isn't deep, but the writing (Jonathan Latimer) and direction (John Farrow) are very fine, and the actors, especially William Holden, in the leading role, are all in good form. William Bendix provides a kind of stubborn, moral center in the movie, and one can only hope that Holden can get into his good graces. Most of the technical military-professional side of the film is realistically or at least convincingly (to me) handled. The movie's otherwise ho-hum submarine stuff, with all the usual cliches, but so much life is breathed into the old material that it feels fresh and original, no small accomplishment in this kind of film.