Submarine X-1

After being cleared for all blame for a manoeuvre that cost him his submarine and the lives of 50 men, Commander Bolton is given the command of a secret training mission based from Scotland. With a small group of men, he trains to operate several 3-man submarines that will be used to infiltrate German waters and ambush key boats within the German navy. However, men within the group blame him for the deaths and also are under a great deal of pressure with the tight training schedule.

Despite being based on a true story, this film manages to be very dull with very few worthwhile features. This film is very slow and a B-movie without having any of the good qualities that B-movies can often have. The plot is simple but that is no excuse for it not actually being fun: the idea of training followed by the mission is no barrier and has been done many times to good effect (think Dirty Dozen). The problem here is that the script manages to take this premise and do practically nothing with it. The total lack of characters is a major failing – contrast it with Dirty Dozen's rogues gallery and you'll see what I mean. It is practically impossible to tell the men apart (even after the film ends) simply because they have no character to speak of.

This is mostly the scripts fault – most of the time the men just stare with heavy resolve and say dialogue that sounds clichéd and basic. Men have gruff faces and stare, men stare into the sea, men stare out of the submarine periscopes etc it's typical B-movie acting but usually it isn't as totally lacking in fun as it is here. Caan is the main reason I watched this film but he has nothing to work with here. Like I said, there is not even one role in the whole support cast that was memorable enough for me to remember them long enough to write this review!

Overall this film is plodding and dull. It feels like the war movie made in the 1940's and is all the worse for being made in the late 60's. It is has enough value to act as a passable bit of mindless filler if you are looking for the film equivalent of background music but really it is a very poor film. Being based on a true story it is surprising how undramatic it is and it doesn't even manage to do what the rest of the 'training/mission' genre clichés do reasonably well. A very basic film with very little to enjoy and barely worth watching.

Remember how the Stones and the Who and the Kinks were all rebelling against the establishment in England around 1968? Apparently, the establishment was busy making movies like "Submarine X-1." This movie was a major step backward for cinema, bereft of innovation and dynamic action. I Tivo'd this movie because the description "a Canadian commander trains midget submarine crews" made it sound like there were little people in little subs. Alas, there are normal sized people only. And Jimmy Caan.

Caan plays the Canadian, which is only slightly easier to believe than if he were playing an Englishman. He's rugged and manly and wears great knitwear while he looks harshly at people, sailors, who then take offense at his harsh Canadianness. Caan looks harshly into the distance and, as his men train at cutting fences underwater, he looks harshly at the sea. THIS IS THE ENTIRE MOVIE. A whole lot of underwater fence cutting, harsh looks, sweaters and the aforementioned midget submarines. Thank god for the ill-conceived Nazi commando attack on the secret base which reminds the viewer that there ARE stakes, there IS a war and it's with the NAZIS, so everything better go as planned or else V-E Day might not happen until May 9th or 10th.

Aside from the submarine interiors tilting for realism, there's very little that's progressive about the movie's construction. The camera is just kinda there in the room, not doing anything remarkable. The pace is monotonous, the sets are stagy and the performances are mannered, except for the harsh staring, of course. William Graham did a lot of television both before and after "Submarine X-1," so it would be easy to write off the clumsy filmmaking at the hands of a TV director. But Richard Lester, Ken Loach and John Frankenheimer came up as TV directors and were busy inventing and pushing cinema forward in 1968.

Keep in mind that the rest of the world has been watching movies influenced by the French New Wave. In 1968 Hollywood made "Bonnie and Clyde," "Rosemary's Baby" and "2001: A Space Odyssey." In other words, there was a new filmmaking realism established by then that "X-1" refused to acknowledge. At a glance, someone could mistake this movie as being made twenty five years earlier. No wonder Pete, Mick, Ray and even Ringo were such angry young men.

Loose 60's adaptation of the X-craft raid on the German pocket battleship Tirpitz. The true story is quite a bit more thrilling than the movie. A New Yorker, playing a Canadian, leading Britons on a secret raid against the Germans. Take it for what it's worth and watch it late at night with a beer and some Orville Reddenbacher.

"Submarine X-1" is just another of several WWII films that rolled out of Oakmont Productions in the late 1960s. Like "Attack on the Iron Coast" and "Mosquito Squadron", this flick lacks innovation, flair and plays like an extended episode of "Black Sheep Squadron". Movies like this were never meant for the big screen. Director Graham had worked almost solely on made-for-TV films up until this point, and it's no surprise that he went back to that medium. His attempt at making a war film is a big disaster.

The rather boring script is written by John C. Champion, who takes the X raid on the German pocket battleship Tirpitz and turns it into what should be a rousing tale of heroism and courage. It's not. Surprised? Lt. Cmdr. Bolton (James Caan, "A Bridge too Far") loses his submarine in the North Atlantic and his men blame him for the ship's destruction and death of 50 crewmen. Well, he's cleared of guilt and re-assigned to train crews of experimental midget submarines - and, what a shock - some of his distrusting former crewmembers wind up in the squad he's too train! I don't know where to start with a film like this. It's not particularly bad. It's just... well... not good. The sets, including some marvelous Scottish scenery and great submarine interiors, look beautiful and Ron Goodwin's music score is rousing as usual, these are the only good things about this movie. James Caan is a great actor; watch "The Godfather" series and try to say he's a poor actor. It's not that he can't act in this movie. He's never given an opportunity to act! He just mumbles occasional, witless dialogue and gives everyone around him strange facial expressions. The supporting cast don't make much of an impact, either. Everyone simply goes through their paces, carries out the mission and in 90 minutes, we've learned nothing about them and can't care less when some of them get killed. Interestingly enough, most of the supporting cast is comprised of English television-actors, which just adds to the "made-for-TV" look and feel of this film.

It's also important to note that everything about this movie is a pure cliché.. Bolton's character and those around him are built around our expectations based on other war films like "The Devil's Brigade". Bolton is simply a stereotype, and not even a two-dimensional one at that. The German characters range from stupid to stupider, from the parachutists that attack the secret submarine base and talk with terrible accents, to the Navy officers who question prisoners and yell a lot but never appear particularly menacing. They waste their time with interrogations about a surviving submarine, rather than doing something practical – such as sending one of dozens of E-Boats out to search for the sneaky enemy vessel! This film couldn't get anymore clichéd if it tried; all it lacks is a sappy love interest. Interestingly enough, there is one blond bombshell – but she only gets once scene and then is forgotten rather abruptly. The nuts and bolts of a good film are all present, but never developed.

The special effects are pretty poor, as is the case with every other Oakmont Production to emerge in its understandably short existence. The underwater photography is fantastic, but every time Graham takes his camera above the water, viewers are treated to shots of obvious toy ships being blown to pieces. The miniatures look like they came out of a Japanese monster movie – not a war movie! The camera-work in the talky scenes is unoriginal and flat and the film just looks boring.

When watching a movie like this, one has to take into account the time period in which it was made. "Submarine X-1" and every other film of its kind belonged on the small screen or, better yet, on the big screen as propaganda films during 1943 or 1944. As a late-60s "action" piece, this one ultimately fails despite some obviously good intentions.

This war movie is loosely based on a real World War II mission, Operation Source , which was staged during September 1943 and being written by prestigious Edmund H. North . Operation Source involved a number of secret attacks on a number of German battleships, in northern Norway using X-class mini submarines . This film's 'Submarine X-1' title refers to the X class submarine which was a real World War II midget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during the 1943-44 period , the mini-subs were also known as X-Craft . After losing a submarine and fifty crew in a battle with a German ship during WWII, a Royal Navy officer , Lt. Commander Richard Bolton (James Caan received top first billing amongst a cast of characters who are predominantly English) , a Canadian , gets a second chance in a daring raid with midget subs . The film begins with Commander Bolton and a few surviving crew members of his 50-man submarine Gauntlet swimming ashore after unsuccessfully attacking German battleship Lindendorf . After a review, Captain Bolton is cleared of any wrong doing and placed in charge of a small group of experimental X class submarines . His own men (Nick Tate , Paul Young , Norman Bowler , William Dysart , among others) may prove a bigger obstacle than any of his stiff-upper-lip officers . His mission is to quickly train crews to man the submarines and sink the Lindendorf (the real life World War II German battleship was 'Tirpitz') while it is hidden away in a Norwegian Fiord . The submarines have been tracking the movement of the German ships . Two of the submarines are lost while attempting to cut through submarine nets at the entrance to the fjord . As Bolton is forced to make hasty preparations for his attack before their submarine base can be destroyed ..

Submarine X-1 is a 1969 British World War II war film loosely based on the Operation Source attack on the German battleship Tirpitz in 1943 , it was also the subject of an earlier movie, Above Us the Waves (1955) by Ralph Thomas with John Mills . It's a fictionalized recounting of the Submarines X1 with a sustained and predictable story ,although partially based on true deeds . Lots of underwater scenes and stock WWII , especially when German paratroopers dropping from planes to earth . Passable acting by James Caan as a commander whose mission is put in charge of the submarines to quickly train crews and sink the Lindendorf while it is hidden away in a Norwegian Fiord . The film progresses with Commander Bolton training the crews of the three submarine , even though the crew lacks faith in his command abilities . He must overcome tensions with some of his former crew members , while keeping their activities hidden from outsiders and German airplanes . The highlights of the movie are the violent as well as exciting fights of the crews who successfully fend off an attack by German commandos, who discover their base . And thrilling scenes at the end when the surviving submarine penetrates the submarine nets in the fjord and places explosives under the German battleship . Atmospheric cinematography by Paul Beeson , Walt Disney's usual cameraman, though an alright remastering is necessary . Being filmed on location , shooting was filmed in Scotland . Good and enjoyable musical score by Ron Goodwin .

The film was produced by Oakmont production , a company exclusively dedicated to warfare films (Hell boats , Mosquito Squadron , Thousand plane raid, Last escape) . The motion picture was middlingly realized by William A Graham who displays enough some spectacular underwater images to keep things interesting . Apparently, director William A. Graham worked on the film's original screen story with writer/producer John C. Champion but is uncredited for such . William A Graham directed various TV series and episodes as ¨The fugitive¨, ¨The Virginian¨, ¨Breaking point¨ and occasionally for cinema as ¨Return to the Blue Lagoon¨, ¨Waterhole¨ , ¨Guyana tragedy ¨ , ¨House of Garibaldi Street¨ and film-making several Westerns as ¨Montana¨ (90) ¨Billy the Kid¨ (89) , ¨Last days of Frank and Jesse James¨ (86) and ¨Harry Tracy , the last of the Wild Bunch¨.