Crash Dive (1943)

A submarine lieutenant and his commander fall in love with the same girl.

Director:

Archie Mayo

Writers:

Jo Swerling (screenplay), W.R. Burnett (original story)

Stars:

Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews

Won 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tyrone Power	...	Lt. Ward Stewart (as Tyrone Power U.S.M.C.R.)
Anne Baxter	...	Jean Hewlett
Dana Andrews	...	Lt. Cmdr. Dewey Connors
James Gleason	...	Chief Mike 'Mac' McDonnell
May Whitty	...	Grandmother (as Dame May Whitty)
Harry Morgan	...	Brownie (as Henry Morgan)
Ben Carter	...	Oliver Cromwell Jones

Storyline

Against his personal preference, PT boat commander Ward Stewart is made executive officer of the submarine USS Corsair. On leave before sailing, he meets schoolteacher Jean Hewlett and gives her a romantic rush...unaware that she's the sweetheart of Dewey Connors, his new commander. At sea, the men bond while fighting German Q-ships. When will they discover their mutual romantic rivalry? Will it interfere with a spectacular commando raid on a secret German base?

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Plot Keywords:

romantic triangle | taming of the shrew | jefferson memorial | lincoln memorial | washington monument washington d.c. | 

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Taglines:

TYRONE POWER Leading his Submarine crew...blasting his was to glory in his farewell role for the duration! (Print Ad-Greenfield Recorder-Gazette, ((Greenfield, Mass.)) 31 July 1943)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | Thriller | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The term "the smoking lamp is lit" is used several times. In the days before matches were widely available square rigger sailing ships provided a burning lamp so that smokers could light their pipes or cigars. It was usually located in the forecastle or near the galley where smoking was permitted. The term "the smoking lamp is lit" meant that smoking was permitted. The term "the smoking lamp is out" meant that smoking was not permitted due to dangerous proceedings such as handling gunpowder.

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Goofs

When the PT boat is rescuing survivors and they spot a U-boat, the young boy who was being hauled aboard the PT boat is wearing a life-jacket. The close up in the next shot shows Lt Stewart lifting the boy up to put him back in the lifeboat. The boy is no longer wearing the life-jacket. In the following shot, as Lt. Stewart completes putting him back into the lifeboat, the boy is again wearing the life-jacket.

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Quotes

[Several submarine crewmen are preparing to go ashore on a commando raid]
Oliver Cromwell Jones: [Looks around at all the blackened faces and hands of the other crewmen] I'm the only born commando here!

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Crazy Credits

This movie's opening prologue states: "The cooperation and assistance of the officers and men of the U.S. Navy submarine base, New London, Connecticut, is gratefully acknowledged."

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Connections

Featured in Fejezetek a film történetéböl: Amerikai filmtípusok - Egyén és társadalom (1989)

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Soundtracks

Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree
(uncredited)
Music by Sam H. Stept (1942)
Lyrics by Lew Brown and Charles Tobias
Sung in part by Tyrone Power in the car

User Reviews

A few notes on rarely-seen warships in the film

This is one of very few films shot partly at the submarine base in Groton, CT, aka Submarine Base New London, CT.

A few naval combatants rarely seen in Technicolor are visible in the early part of the film. The PT boats seen near the beginning are the 77-foot Elco type. The submarine primarily featured as the fictional USS Corsair is the experimental USS Marlin (SS-205), with a conning tower modified to resemble her sister USS Mackerel (SS-204). A few O-class and R-class submarines, built in World War One and used for training in WW2, are visible in the background of some shots. For wartime security reasons, no submarine classes used in combat in WW2 appear in the film. The USS Semmes (AG-24 ex-DD-189) is seen in one shot; there are probably not many good Technicolor views of a four-stack destroyer available today. The Semmes was being used as a sonar testbed at the time.

I personally did not like how the love story progressed, as Tyrone Power is consistently deceptive and gets the girl anyway.

Another reviewer has assumed that the Nazi base would have to be near New England on the basis that WW2 submarines had a short range. This is incorrect. US submarines in WW2 routinely went from Pearl Harbor to Japan's home waters, patrolled for several weeks, and returned to Pearl Harbor on a single tank of diesel fuel. A Gato-class submarine could cover 11,000 miles without refueling, thus could have patrolled in German home waters while based in Groton if necessary. My assumption is that the Nazi base would be in Greenland, not likely given the realities of the war, but the raid on it still makes for good action.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

1943 (UK)

Also Known As:

Ss 111

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White (1956 reissue) Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1