A very good WW2 movie. John Wayne is 'Duke' Gifford, an ultra devoted commander that leads his submarine crew up against the best the Japanese can put in the water or in the air.

Ward Bond plays 'Pop' Perry, Gifford's mentor and growing naval legend. A young Patricia Neal portrays the love interest. Fleshing out the cast is Cliff Clark, Philip Carey, Martin Milner and Jack Pennick.

If you love submarine movies, this is one of the better ones.

This movie is an excellent submarine movie that combines exciting and generally believable action along with a decent back-story. John Wayne is the second in command on a sub and he's become reacquainted with his ex-wife, Patricia Neal. His trying to win her back and his difficulties with expressing himself is handled more credibly than most Wayne characters, as he is vulnerable and more 3-dimensional than his usual self. As for the action itself, the movie spends a lot of time on a lesser-known aspect of US sub warfare--the fact that our torpedoes at the beginning of the war were often duds. And the subplot involving the death of the commander is interesting as well. About the only down-side is that, at times, the sub does rather extraordinary things that no sub ever did--such as sinking 3 ships in mere minutes--including a sub, destroyer and an aircraft carrier! With victories like that, we could have won the war in just a few weeks. BUT, considering this is counter-balanced with dud torpedoes and the destruction of a fellow sub, this is a little more realistic than the standard fare.

PS--a cute part of the film is when the crew is watching the movie DESTINATION TOKYO (with Cary Grant). One of the crewmen comments that this is a great movie but it was awfully short on realism. Ha.

Good warfare movie well starred by John Wayne as Duke E Gifford , a sub-officer during the Pacific campaign and in the Pearl Harbor zone who surveys the area and diving under water . The film starts with a foreword : ¨When the Pacific Fleet was destroyed by the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor , it remained for the submarines to carry the war to the enemy. In the four years that followed our undersea craft sank six million tons of Japanese shipping including some of the proudest ships pf the ImperiaL Navy. Fifty-two of our submarines and thirty-five hundred officers and men were lost. It is to these men and the entire silent service that this picture is humbly dedicated ¨. At the beginning Wayne and crew rescue nuns and children from a Pacific island . Later on , in Pearl Harbor is developed a loving triangle between Wayne, Patricia Neal and Philip Carey . After that, the submarine commanded by Ward Bond and John Wayne attacks freighters and cruisers, executing on varied activities as interception and rescue . But in attack on freighters, torpedoes fired at ideal angle hit target failed to explode as the torpedoes lead a hit right under the stack and nothing happens.

The movie contains warlike action with battles well assembled , thrills, emotion and a love story. Passable special effects by F . Koenekamp though with various scale models and some stock-footage. Acceptable production design and enough budget by Warner Bros , and very superior compared with those at John Wayne 's habitual studio such as Republic or Poverty Row , as Wayne played several more for them . As technical adviser appears Vice-Admiral Charles Lockwood who was commandant of American subs in Pacific. With John Ford's usual players as Ward Bond, Jack Pennick and of course the great Wayne and brief secondary roles for William Campbell and Martin Milner. It's a cool realization with roaring battle scenes and full of emotion , suspense and romance. This large-scale picture is professionally directed by George Waggner and it packs a splendid score by the classic Max Steiner and appropriate cinematography by Bert Glennon . The film is dedicated to the men who lost their lives in submarines and to the United States Navy for its aid and cooperation in making this picture possible, our grateful thanks.