Hell and High Water (1954)

A privately-financed scientist and his colleagues hire an ex-Navy officer to conduct an Alaskan submarine expedition in order to prevent a Red Chinese anti-American plot that may lead to ... See full summary »

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writers:

Jesse Lasky Jr. (screenplay), Samuel Fuller (screenplay),

Stars:

Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Widmark	...	Capt. Adam Jones
Bella Darvi	...	Denise Montel
Victor Francen	...	Prof. Montel
Cameron Mitchell	...	'Ski' Brodski
Gene Evans	...	Chief Holter
David Wayne	...	Tugboat Walker
Stephen Bekassy	...	Neuman
Richard Loo	...	Hakada Fujimori

Storyline

A privately-financed scientist and his colleagues hire an ex-Navy officer to conduct an Alaskan submarine expedition in order to prevent a Red Chinese anti-American plot that may lead to World War III. Mixes deviously plotted schoolboy fiction with submarine spectacle and cold war heroics.

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Plot Keywords:

submarine | cold war | scientist | nuclear weapon | bare chested male | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Italian German

Release Date:

6 February 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Inferno

Filming Locations:

Arc de Triomphe, Paris 8, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min 99 min (FMC Library Print)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene from the attack on the first island was taken from the movie Crash Dive. Particularly the ammo exploding in the depot and the burning fuel cascading over the short cliff into the sea.

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Goofs

When the landing party is making its escape from the second island, Captain Jones' hat falls off as they are getting in the dingy. The actor is clearly a dark-haired double for Richard Widmark.

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Quotes

Captain Adam Jones: The last time I tailed a freighter, my price was 650 a month, and I had to buy my own uniforms.

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Connections

Featured in The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996)

User Reviews

Silly criticisms

While I was earnestly waiting for some of the moments of hilarity one of the reviewers wrote about (which I never found), I thought it would be worthwhile to point out some of the sillier criticism also made.

First of all the bucket scene happened before the ramming scene - not after. Plus, submarines have buckets on them. Isn't that strange. It seems the makers of submarines sort of figured stuff like that out - sometimes subs take on water and it must be moved. And yes, they would have lots and lots of buckets. More than one sub in WWII was saved because of them. The reviewer may also not have seen the part where the buckets are being returned.

He also comments on if the sub was already underwater, where were they taking the water. Again, submariners got that one figured out too. They were taking it to a place where there was a working pump to pump the water off the sub.

Overall it was a decent diversion. But then I'm a fan or Richard Widmark so I may be biased.