Up Periscope (1959)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Richard H. Landau (screenplay)
Robb White (novel)

Release Date:

28 August 1959 (Finland)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

Warner Brothers' "Maverick" Man! Bigger Than Ever Now and Ready Right Now in his Big-Screen Big-Excitement Technicolor Smash!

Plot:

Lieutenant Braden discovers that Sally, the woman he's been falling in love with, has actually been checking out his qualifications to be a U.S...

Plot Keywords:

Submarine | Man In Swimsuit | WWII | U Boat | Sabotage

Cast

James Garner	...	Lt. j.g. Kenneth M. Braden
Edmond O'Brien	...	Commander Paul Stevenson
Andra Martin	...	Sally Johnson
Alan Hale Jr.	...	Lt. Pat Malone (as Alan Hale)
Carleton Carpenter	...	Lt. Phil Carney
Frank Gifford	...	Ensign Cy Mount
William Leslie	...	Lt. Doherty
Richard Bakalyan	...	Seaman Peck
Edd Byrnes	...	Pharmacist Mate Ash (as Edward Byrnes)
Sean Garrison	...	Seaman Floyd
Henry Kulky	...	Chief Petty Officer York

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #19139) | West Germany:12 (re-rating) | West Germany:16 (f) (original rating) | Australia:PG | Norway:16 | Finland:K-16 | UK:U

Company:

Lakeside Productions

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~8.4 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~8.5 seconds.

Soundtrack:

Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here

Is This How We Got The Japanese Code?

Up Periscope is the kind of World War II film that was more common actually during the World War II years. It involves a really incredible mission that Navy Lieutenant James Garner is on. At least the Japanese weren't portrayed as these bucktoothed apes.

The film is really a vehicle for Warner Brothers to showcase a pair of their television stars, Garner and Edd Byrnes from 77 Sunset Strip. Byrnes has a small role as a pharmacist's mate on a submarine. Having a much larger part would be Alan Hale, Jr. as the amorous ensign whose love life is interrupted by Garner's mission.

In fact the whole crew of Captain Edmond O'Brien's submarine gets their leave shortened for Garner. He's been specially vetted for this assignment having as qualifications frogman training and speaking fluent Japanese.

Garner's to be landed on an out of the way Japanese held island, he's to swim ashore while the submarine waits for him for a specific time. He's to photograph the Japanese naval code book and sneak out of there without them knowing it.

This one absolutely has me reeling. Garner because he would kind of stand out among all those Oriental faces no matter how fluent his Japanese was. Wouldn't you think the navy would get a Nisei type for this mission? And if not that, a Chinese person might do nicely.

Because Garner's white, he has to spend a considerable amount of time in hiding in the jungle and do his mission at night.

In point of fact the USA had broken the Japanese code. But that was done in Washington and Pearl Harbor by some hardworking cryptologists, not Garner doing a spying job.

This was the kind of stuff that the public was fed in 1943, but by 1959 it simply wasn't believed. I sure couldn't believe it in 2008.