Submarine Alert (1943)

Nazi spies use a stolen shortwave transmitter prototype to broadcast top secret shipping info to an offshore Japanese sub. To nab the spy ring, the Government has the West Coast's top radio... See full summary »

Director:

Frank McDonald

Writer:

Maxwell Shane (original screenplay)

Stars:

Richard Arlen, Wendy Barrie, Nils Asther

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Arlen	...	Lewis J. 'Lee' Deerhold
Wendy Barrie	...	Ann Patterson
Nils Asther	...	Dr. Arthur Huneker
Roger Pryor	...	G.B. Fleming
Abner Biberman	...	Commander Toyo
Marc Lawrence	...	Vincent Bela
John Miljan	...	Mr. Bambridge / Capt. Haigas
Patsy Nash	...	Tina Deerhold
Ralph Sanford	...	Agent Freddie Grayson

Storyline

Nazi spies use a stolen shortwave transmitter prototype to broadcast top secret shipping info to an offshore Japanese sub. To nab the spy ring, the Government has the West Coast's top radio engineers fired and shadowed to see if the Nazis recruit them to complete work on the prototype radio. Radio engineer Lew Deerhold, a resident alien without a job to pay for his adorable little ward Gina's life-saving operation, falls prey to the spy ring, and is swept up in a maelstrom of deceit and danger.

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Plot Keywords:

radio | spy | engineer | nazi | transmitter | 

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Taglines:

Calling All Agents! STAND BY FOR THRILLS! ADVENTURE! ACTION! (original print ad - many caps)

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Genres:

Thriller | War

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 June 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Interceptor Command

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pine-Thomas Productions, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

66 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

User Reviews

think piece a little low on think

Richard Arlen generally took on films which had some thought involved over action. Here, the thought is missing.

It is a McCarthy era style film about espionage, with Arlen as a "brainy" sort who gets into a lot more fisticuffs than one would imagine. We're given the FBI characters who really don't fit into any mold-they're not McCarthy, they're not sharpshooters, they're not any of the usual cinema stereotypes, and that may be the only thing going for this very generic spy piece, since the plot never even begins to make any sense.

We have a "cute kid" of course, since a Hollywood male hero has to be a family man or former family man. The kid does an excellent job, too, but is really just a gimmick in this formula film.