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It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Former US Navy submariner Adam Jones receives a mysterious mission - he is to captain an ageing Jap sub to a remote North Pacific island where his superiors suspect something secret and sinister is going on …Although this is not one of Fuller's best films, it's still a pretty enjoyable sub action flick and the script contains many of his usual quirks and non-stereotypical characters. What's most intriguing here is the open world-view; the crew are a mixture of American, French, Japanese and Chinese, all of whom pull together well, and love interest Darvi is never reduced to an obvious sex object. I always need to remind myself that Fuller made most of his films in the fifties because they never reflect any of the bigotry and narrow-minded xenophobia of the time. The action moves pleasingly along from the setup to an undersea dogfight to a gun-battle finale, but the movie feels somewhat stilted at times and Jones' transformation from selfish mercenary to moral leader isn't really successful. Production values are much higher than normal for Fuller's work, with a hefty budget and rich blue Cinemascope colours, but dramatically it doesn't score as well as his best work (Run Of The Arrow, Verboten!, The Crimson Kimono, Shock Corridor). Skilfully written by Fuller and Jessy Lasky Jr., and featuring a booming Wagnerian score by Alfred Newman.

This is an average post World War II movie that is by no means bad but also a very long way from being great. The film is the story of a group of international privately funded scientist who are on a humanitarian mission to discover if some unnamed communists are conducting nuclear tests in a remote area of the Artic. As a means to their end the scientists recruit Richard Widmark as Captain Jones to captain a sub-marine manned by mercenaries and a two scientists the lead scientist Professor Montell and his glamorous assistant Denise Gerrard (played by the doomed Bella Darvi). Things plod along nicely and for the time the are some tense submarine duel scenes once they engage the enemy. Denise Gerrard and Proffesor Montaell clash with Captain Jones as they have to enter his world though the female character really needed fleshing out. We have some battle as the tension mounts and the enemy base is located leading up to the final battle which works quite well. A few twists along the way add to the mix and some nice morals add to the ending. Worth a go.

Although she didn't make but three major Hollywood motion pictures, Bella Darvi had magnificent screen magnetism that made a man's pulse beat red hot. In this campy picture (her first film), she does a fine job in her first effort as a film actress, displaying good technique cinematically. She was, as they say, a natural. The French accent, the smooth skin, the sharp facial bone structure, those arched eyebrows, that smoldering stare, and that oh-so-sexy slightly cross-eyed look just made a guy want and wonder. Her voice was strong and yet soft at the right moments. There was something about her that made a man want scoop her up into his arms and say, "Hey, baby, it's gonna be okay!"It's too bad that she was perhaps a victim of her own sexuality as it is rumored that Mrs. Darryl Zanuck discovered there might have been some hanky-panky with Mr. 20th Century Fox.Richard Widmark is fittingly commanding and cantankerous as the sub skipper, and Cameron Mitchell does what he did so well in playing the comic relief sidekick sonar guy.The script and it's dialog is something straight out of a comic book, but you've got to love it. It's got all of the marbles in one bag: submarines, underwater battles complete with ramming full speed ahead, a silent running sweatout, crash dives, commando shore raids, evil Commies, a spy guy named Chin Lee, a B-29 bomber, and just to put the cherry on the Boston cream pie, the obligatory nuclear explosion. Check Bella Darvi out opposite Kirk Douglas in "The Racers". There again, the lady is smokin' hot! So, if you want a good time, pop some corn, pull up a chair, and watch "Hell and High Water"!!!

Nicely done picture dealing with a group of desperate men who recruit a former sub commander hoping he can stop a deadly threat on a remote island. Again Widmark shows us he is one of the top tough guys of the silver screen as he barks and growls his way to getting the crew he wants, and later on, the results he demands. Not content to do the job as the leading physicist insists, the rogue sailor cuts through all protests and does it his way. Although there were only a couple of big firefights, the story stayed interesting except for the standard love interest which must have been put in for the lady viewers. I felt the ending was weak though amusing as the crew opened up with all the hardware available at a very unlikely target.