Submarine X-1 (1968)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

William A. Graham

Writers:

John C. Champion (story) and
Edmund H. North (story) ...

Release Date:

23 June 1969 (Sweden)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

3 Man Subs Vs 3,000 Man Battleship.... and the secret punch that ambushed a Nazi Armada

Plot:

After losing a submarine and fifty crew in a battle with a German ship during WWII, a Royal Navy officer...

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Submarine | Underwater | 1940s | Training

Cast

James Caan	...	Cmdr. Richard Bolton, RNVR
David Sumner	...	Lt. Davies R.N.V.R
Norman Bowler	...	Sub-Lt. Pennington, RN
Brian Grellis	...	CPO Barquist X 3
Paul Young	...	Leading Seaman Quentin
William Dysart	...	Lt. Robert Talbot Gogan R.N.R.
John Kelland	...	Sub-Lt. Keith Willis, RNVR
Kenneth Farrington	...	CPO Boker Knowles
Keith Alexander	...	Sub-Lt. X-3
Carl Rigg	...	CPO Norman Kennedy
Steve Kirby	...	Leading Seaman X-2
Nick Tate	...	Leading Seaman X-1 (as Nicholas Tate)
George Pravda	...	Capt. Erlich of the 'Lindendorf'
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Diana Beevers	...	WRNS Officer
Rupert Davies	...	Vice-Adm. Redmayne
Hans De Vries	...	German Lieutenant
Paul Hansard	...	Cmdr. Steiner
George Roubicek	...	Redmayne's Flag Officer

Runtime:

Australia:89 min | USA:89 min | UK:90 min | Germany:85 min (TV)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

MGM British Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Mirisch Films

Not bad for a B movie

Remember, it's a B movie from 1968--before the days of computer graphics, Star Wars and the like. As such it's an entertaining ninety minute war movie. There's no sex, no nudity, no swearing. You can watch it with your kids.

It's an old fashioned good guys triumph movie. What spoiled it a bit for me were some of the factual inaccuracies. In particular, the scuba equipment is 1968 issue, not WWII. The actors are using modern single stage compressed air scuba gear. Besides not being available in WWII, it would have been a dead give away. If anyone has seen the bubbles on the surface such gear causes, you'd know stealth is not the word you'd use.

In WWII they used double hose, oxygen re-breathing apparatus. No air was released into the water so there were no air bubbles to give away the whereabouts of the diver. As well, in WWII, the divers used goggles rather than face masks.

The second inaccuracy was the commander's hat. It was not a naval hat but a guards regimental hat with its visor coming down over the eyes of the wearer--the brim on a naval officer's hat was much narrower and higher enabling him to see out across the sea.

In spite of this, I enjoyed it.