Torpedo Alley (1952)

Carrier pilot Lieutenant Bob Bingham (Mark Stevens) is rescued at sea by a submarine after he freezes at the controls and crashes, killing his two crewmen. He returns to civilian life but ... See full summary »

Director:

Lew Landers

Writers:

Warren Douglas, Samuel Roeca

Stars:

Mark Stevens, Dorothy Malone, Charles Winninger

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Mark Stevens	...	Lt. Bob Bingham
Dorothy Malone	...	Lt. Susan Peabody
Charles Winninger	...	Oliver J. Peabody
Bill Williams	...	Lt. Tom Graham
Douglas Kennedy	...	Lt. Dore Gates
James Millican	...	Cmdr. Heywood
William Henry	...	Instructor (as Bill Henry)
James Seay	...	Skipper
Bob Rose	...	Anniston
John Alvin	...	Professor
Carleton Young	...	Psychiatrist
Ralph Sanford	...	Charles Hedley

Storyline

Carrier pilot Lieutenant Bob Bingham (Mark Stevens) is rescued at sea by a submarine after he freezes at the controls and crashes, killing his two crewmen. He returns to civilian life but soon afterwards, looking for redemption, applies for submarine duty. At the New London, Conn., training base he renews acquaintance with Commander Heywood (James Millican) and Lieutenant Gates (Douglas Kennedy), the skipper and engineering officers of the sub that rescued him at sea. Bingham falls in love with Navy nurse Lieutenant Susan Peabody (Dorothy Malone), daughter of Warrant Officer Peabody (Charles Winninger) and the steady girl friend of Gates. Heywood gets a submarine command at the outbreak of the Korean "police action" and Bingham and his friend, Lieutenant Graham (Bill Williams), are part of the officer's group on Heywood's sub.

---

Plot Keywords:

submarine | coward | u.s. navy | world war two

---

Taglines:

Deadliest undersea corridor in the world!

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Down Periscope

Filming Locations:

Naval Training Station, San Diego, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Allied Artists Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Good, but not great

While not in the class of "Run Silent, Run Deep", "The Enemy Below", "U-571", "Das Boot", "Up Periscope" or "Crash Dive" this is still a very watchable sub film. There are no really gripping battle sequences, though the ones that do occur are well done and at least 35% of the film is devoted to the training of submariners which, while interesting, does make the story slow down. Where many war movies concentrate on battle, here there is more character development, romantic entanglements and inter-character friction and interaction than combat. I enjoyed the movie but I felt it was somewhat plodding in spots and I had trouble really caring about the characters. The actors all did very well with what they had, but there is no major conflict to tie it all together. Perhaps because it revolves around the Korean War era it does not have the urgency found in most of the WW2 movies. A good movie but, in my opinion, not a great one.