Up Periscope (1959)

In 1942, Navy Lieutenant Kenneth Braden from the underwater demolition team is sent to a Japanese island to photograph secret radio codes.

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

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

Stars:

James Garner, Edmond O'Brien, Andra Martin

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

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. Navy frogman. He must put his personal life behind him after being assigned to be smuggled into a Japanese-held island via submarine to photograph radio codes.

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Plot Keywords:

submarine | u.s. navy | secret mission | underwater | south pacific | 

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Taglines:

The man they called the 'human torpedo' - the secret underwater marauder who hit like no man hit before!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 April 1959 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Up Periscope!

Filming Locations:

Pacific Ocean

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aubrey Schenck Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor) (as Technicolor®)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Up Periscope (1959) was released in '59 (1959). Many years later a parody of the submarine movie genre would be made both in a year with a reverse of this film's year of release (i.e. in '95 (1995)) and with also a title that reverses this movie's title (i.e. Down Periscope (1996)).

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Goofs

The aqua-lung was developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau only in 1943, hence it was unavailable by the time the action took place (1942).

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Quotes

Commander Paul Stevenson: Oh, uh, one more thing, Mr. Braden, you don't get captured.
Lt. j.g. Kenneth M. Braden: Mm-hmm. I wouldn't think of it, sir.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits: SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC - 1942

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Connections

Edited from Destination Tokyo (1943)

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Soundtracks

Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here
(uncredited)
Music by Theodore Morse and Arthur Sullivan
Played when the submarine crew watch the ship come into port

User Reviews

Up Periscope and Down Tools.

Tricky. It's a decent film, lovely to look at with its scope photography and technicolor palettes, James Garner and Edmond O'Brien are holding court in the acting stakes, and of course this being a submarine war film it has the requisite claustrophobic feel. Yet it never really gels as a whole, submerging too far into the mundane to play out a whole bunch of sequences that test the patience of the viewer. There's also the not too small problem of being able to suspend disbelief with the final mission.

Now this is Hollywood and a Warner Brothers film, in 1959, so we don't naturally expect realism in our story telling, in fact we often want incredulity to stir the blood, but this kinda takes the rise too far. Alan Hale Junior is on hand for comic relief, and this proves good foil for Garner's lovable charm, but Gordon Douglas directs at such a snails pace you get the feeling that the comedy is just a merciful release for all involved. In short there's both the good and bad of 1950s war film making on show here; production value is high - narrative thrust is tepid. 6/10