Torpedo Run

I rank this up there with any of the other great Submarine movies. Das Boot, Enemy Below, Run Silent, Run Deep and others.

Glenn Ford is always at his best playing this type of character. Conflicted and mentally pained men who have tough decisions. Ernest Borgnine, as usual almost steals the movie though. He is one of the greatest second fiddle players in any movie he co stars in. Being someone who grew up watching him in McHale's Navy as a child and later learning just how great of an actor he can be, is a treat.

I do think the flashback scenes hurt the pace of the movie, but are necessary for context.

The movie is well filmed and makes great use of color. Many other great Sub movies about WWII are in Black and White, but that doesn't seem to take away from them. Here, the color is big plus.

I love Submarine movies probably because I know, that if I had the honor to of served in the U.S. Armed Forces, this would be the last place I'd want to be. Above the water I could tolerate it in battle, under it, I'd be a panicking wonder how I'd get out if we got hit. For that I salute everyone who served underwater, no matter which country you call home.

8/10 Rating.

Glenn Ford is excellent as Barney Doyle, the war weary sub commander who has to make command decisions which will haunt him the rest of his life. The supporting cast is very good, especially Borgine as Arch, Doyle's second in command and best friend. The director, Joseph Pevney, does a good job of creating an atmosphere of tension as the Americans hunt down the prize of the Japanese fleet--the ship which ultimately costs Doyle his family. My favorite scene is when the American sub sneaks into Tokyo Bay in search of the Japanese carrier. Admittedly, Torpedo Run is not as gritty and intense as Das Boot, nor is it as action-packed as The Hunt For Red October, but in its own way it is on par with both of these fine films. If you like 1950s WWII movies or if you're a Glenn Ford fan, you can't miss with Torpedo Run. It's one of those movies I have to watch at least a couple of times each year.

The movie has a pretty interesting approach for '50's standards, by inserting lots of flashback sequences, with the home-front, that however also happen to be incredibly sappy. It does at parts make the movie a melodramatic one.

Submarine movies just never have been any of the best or most exciting, action packed movies because of their restraints, with a couple of well known exceptions of course. The movie has a good beginning but as it heads toward the ending the movie starts to drag and become less interesting, when the movie becomes more personal and gets filled with some more emotional aspects.

It even manages to put in a personal and family dramatic main plot-line in the movie. What an accomplishment for a submarine movie! Yes, it helps to make the movie more original and less formulaic but it also of course isn't the most interesting approach thinkable, especially not since it gets stretched out for the movie its entire duration.

The miniature effects were pretty good looking. I mean I have seen far worse, even from movies that were made much later. Although they are hard from convincing by todays standards of course.

Glenn Ford was a great choice for the main lead, as the tough looking but sensitive commander. Ernest Borgnine forms a good duo with him, as the submarine's lieutenant. The rest of the character remain mostly in the back.

A decent enough genre attempt.

7/10

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These submarine films always follow the pattern of playing out the relationship of the determined Captain and the watchful, suspicious second in command. This one features Ford as the Captain and Borgnine as the Lieutenant. Same old routine. The film starts fine then gradually becomes absurd as feverish Ford turns into Captain Ahab relentlessly in search of his white whale---in this case the Japanese carrier Shinaru. Seems the Navy is perfectly willing to accommodate Ford on his obsessive mission, and Borgnine is even willing to reject the offer of a command of his own vessel in order to stick by Ahab-Ford's side. Oh, sure. And what started all this? In an earlier scene, Ford is "forced" to torpedo a transport filled with 1400 civilians, including Ford's wife and child (caught in Manila) that is being used as a screen to protect the Shinaru. Absurd! Both the Navy and Ford's character, fully aware the transport is there, would never take that kind of chance. The potentially staggering loss would have been a calamity that would never have been sanctioned. This is just a ridiculous contrivance to fuel Ford's obsession. In addition, the filmmakers try to have it both ways by never stating whether or not Ford's family survives or not. Borgnine is merely there as the Voice of Reason. His only other duty seems to be offering Ford coffee in every other scene.

Otherwise, this film is a second-rate action film. The supporting actors have almost nothing to work with, leaving them blanks we could care less about. Interesting to see a young Al Freeman, Jr. on board, since there were few black submariners in the service. So, not historically inaccurate. The stock footage of U.S. destroyers used to play Japanese destroyers IS inaccurate, obviously. And the special effects are variable; effective at times and painfully obvious at others. And the multi-depth charge walloping Ford's sub takes is very impressive, but also hard to believe that the sub isn't blown to pieces considering most of the charges explode right on top of it. One other odd note is the lack of a music score credit. The score is perfectly fine yet whoever provided it was either denied credit or took their name off it. Wonder why.

This is not such a successful movie. Glenn Ford is solid as always and Ernest Borgnine delivers a serviceable performance, but the problem is the script and direction. The story is on the sluggish side and after the midway point you don't have a sense of enough really at stake. The flashbacks to civilian life also take the audience out of the war story in a way that releases any built-up tension. Then the movie has to start all over.

The effects are also not terribly good, even by 1958 standards. Too many model shots of ships, and the interior of the sub really does feel like a studio set, especially due to the lighting design.

One thing that is especially interesting about TORPEDO RUN is a sub evacuation sequence in which the seamen exit the submarine at the floor of the ocean using Momsen-lungs, special breathing devices. These devices are very rarely shown in submarine movies.

A much, much better sub movie was released a few months before this one: RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP.