User reviews

I was expecting a fairly mediocre and routine "sub flick" and was pleasantly surprised to find an above average and pretty engrossing movie. The story has some grit and conflict, especially in the hostility of the crew for its "by the book" captain, played with convincing war-weariness by the always-reliable Edmond O'Brien, whose efforts are matched by a very young James Garner. Production values are high, and it's worth catching it in letterbox format. Some of the mistakes in commando procedures have been noted, to which I would add the lack of facial camouflage, as Garner's strikingly white face floats conspicuously above the water in his nighttime swim, an easy target for lookouts. None the less, a pretty good war flick.

Well starred by Edmond O'Brien and James Garner , Warner Brothers' "Maverick" Man and with agreeable cast ; there's plenty of emotion and thrills in the final action scenes keep you eyes peeled . This is a great production ready right now in his big-screen , meticulously mounted and efficiently directed by Gordon Douglas . In 1942, Navy Lieutenant Kenneth Braden from the underwater demolition team is sent to a Japanese island to photograph secret radio codes . As a rebellious demolition expert ,James Garner, assigned to serve on Edmond O'Brien's by-the-book sub . His assignment : to sneak onto Japanese-held island and steal a top-secret code book .

This underwater actioner contains suspense , thrills , intrigue , a love story and many other things . Although being a routine submarine movie also packs some thrilling moments and results to be pretty good . This nail-biter is a tightly-knit drama centered on the relentless sea maneuvers of a submarine sailing undercover toward a Japanese island . Thrilling as well as exciting battle of wits between two officers : James Garner-Edmond O'Brien , who gradually come to respect each other . Trouble is Commander Paul Stevenson/Edmond O'Brien , may not wait for Lt. J.G. Kenneth M. Braden/James Garner to complete his assignment before taking the submarine back underwater . Both of whom are a compellingly balanced match as two clever as well astute commanders . Interesting screenplay , being based on the novel by Robb White and script written by Richard Landau . The film is famous as one of the best WWII submarine movies though some scenes at sea , however, suffer from the utilization of obvious models in a just as obvious studio tank . Adequate special effects , though all underwater miniature submarine shots were reused from the film Destination : Tokyo (1943) . The main cast , support actors and technicians spent about a month filming on board this ship . Inexorable duel of great stars into a submarine , as nice acting by James Garner as a demolition expert unwillingly assigned to a sub and Edmond O'Brien as stiff-upper-lip commander . Secondary cast is frankly good such as a likable veteran Alan Hale Jr. as Lt. Pat Malone , beautiful Andra Martin , a very young Edd Byrnes as Pharmacist Mate Ash , Frank Gifford , Bernie Hamilton , and this picture marks the feature film movie debuts for Wareen Oates as a sailor who is constantly eating and always to be found in the mess hall heating . Colorful and vivid cinematography by Carl E. Guthrie in excitement Technicolor smash , including spectacular maritime scenes . Thrilling as well as suspenseful musical score . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Gordon Douglas who captures the claustrophobic up and undersea tension . Rating : 6.5/10 . Better than average , well worth watching .

This nail-biting sea epic represents one of a select group of a few World War II submarine movies which have nice special effects and breathtaking sound editing . These movies include ¨Crash Dive¨ ; ¨Torpedo Run¨ and ¨The Enemy Below ¨. Furthermore , other important films about submarines are the followings : ¨Run Silent Run Deep¨ by Robert Wise , ¨Crimson tide¨ by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman; ¨K19¨ with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and the best ¨Das Boot¨ (1982) by Wolfgang Petersen with Jurgen Prochnow .

In 1942, in California, the diver Lieutenant Kenneth M. Braden (James Garner) from the navy demolition team falls in love with Sally Johnson (Andra Martin) and proposes her. The reluctant woman asks for more time to decide, but Braden is summoned to travel to a base in the Pacific. Sooner he discovers that Sally is actually a military from navy assigned to check his qualifications for a classified mission. He must travel on board of the submarine Barracuda commanded by Commander Paul Stevenson (Edmond O'Brien) to a Japanese island and photograph their secret radio codes in a very dangerous mission.

"Up Periscope" is a good war thriller with an unbelievable plot that entertains. I would never dare to compare this film with the stunning masterpiece "Das Boot", but there are good action scenes. I decided to see this movie with very few expectations but in the end I had a pleasant surprise. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Navy frogman goes on super secret mission to steal ultra secret Jap code books. Pretty phony actually - seems the Nips would have shouted "oy li chu dat lee ho phuk di hong fong fuuuuuuuuu!", or "those explosions looked like a ruse, let's check on the code books!". When Garner exited the water he made enough noise to wake the whole island, no real commando would have done that. Still not a bad film, fairly exciting: it had the usual Navy ships during combat footage plus a few "toys in the tub" scenes. I appreciated the submarine; it was cramped, hot, and miserable looking, exactly like the genuine article. I abhor those movie subs that sport hallways and rooms more fitting to the Trump mansion than a Naval vessel.

It's 1942. Submarine Commander Paul Stevenson (Edmond O'Brien) struggle with the life and death of war in the South Pacific. Meanwhile, Navy frogman Lieutenant Braden (James Garner) is having a romance in San Diego with Sally. It turns out that she had been accessing him in secret. With recommendation from her, he is given a secret mission on Stevenson's boat.

This is a solid submarine war movie. While Garner is leading man material, he isn't given enough room to be his charismatic self. It's the early days of his stardom. There is a real submarine and real plane work. Once the movie gets back on land, Garner is by himself and the mission needs to move faster. It's too much waiting and the flashback doesn't help. It's a lot of quietly skulking around. It's not the most exciting of thrills. This is interesting to see an early movie with Garner as the leading man.

Robb White's World War II naval-combat/coming-of-age novel is one of my lifetime favorites, so I eagerly anticipated seeing this movie on video. Unfortunately, the book spoiled it for me. I'm sure I would have liked this movie much better if I had never read the book. To be fair, this is a good war flick on its own merits.

This film is a good thriller of a top secret naval operation in the South Pacific during World War II. James Garner's assignment calls for him to swim to a Japanese-controlled island and decipher a code that the Navy needs to anticipate enemy intentions. The film has a claustrophobic feel to it as most of the scenes are filmed below topside as the submarine makes its way to the destination island. There are Japanese destroyers about, dropping depth charges and making matters uncomfortable for the crew. Edmond O'Brien is the sub's by-the-book commander, still shaken by the loss of a crew member during a recent assignment, and he and Garner share a mutual dislike that sets in motion Garner's mission-impossible task. Garner's whirlwind courtship with Andra Martin is the only false note of the movie which adds nothing to the plot. The cast and tech credits are good.

Up Periscope is the kind of World War II film that was more common actually during the World War II years. It involves a really incredible mission that Navy Lieutenant James Garner is on. At least the Japanese weren't portrayed as these bucktoothed apes.

The film is really a vehicle for Warner Brothers to showcase a pair of their television stars, Garner and Edd Byrnes from 77 Sunset Strip. Byrnes has a small role as a pharmacist's mate on a submarine. Having a much larger part would be Alan Hale, Jr. as the amorous ensign whose love life is interrupted by Garner's mission.

In fact the whole crew of Captain Edmond O'Brien's submarine gets their leave shortened for Garner. He's been specially vetted for this assignment having as qualifications frogman training and speaking fluent Japanese.

Garner's to be landed on an out of the way Japanese held island, he's to swim ashore while the submarine waits for him for a specific time. He's to photograph the Japanese naval code book and sneak out of there without them knowing it.

This one absolutely has me reeling. Garner because he would kind of stand out among all those Oriental faces no matter how fluent his Japanese was. Wouldn't you think the navy would get a Nisei type for this mission? And if not that, a Chinese person might do nicely.

Because Garner's white, he has to spend a considerable amount of time in hiding in the jungle and do his mission at night.

In point of fact the USA had broken the Japanese code. But that was done in Washington and Pearl Harbor by some hardworking cryptologists, not Garner doing a spying job.

This was the kind of stuff that the public was fed in 1943, but by 1959 it simply wasn't believed. I sure couldn't believe it in 2008.

This film is a hidden gem. When one talks of WWII submarine films, movies such as Das Boot and Run Silent Run Deep come up but Up Periscope rarely gets a mention.

The plot, to sum it up, is about a US navy submarine in the early days of the war with Japan. It has been given a task to deliver a commando (James Garner) to a remote Japanese outpost in the Pacific to do some reconnaissance work. Along the way many perils face both him and the boat.

Its a great film because it doesn't get too dramatic and the subplots are there in just the right amount, not overpowering the main story. The captain of the ship is a good yet slightly flawed man and the characters in general aren't one dimensional. The tension is genuine and the film keeps you at the edge of your seat. Visuals are great too, thanks to the cooperation of the Navy and some very well done miniature scenes.

If you like war films, navy films, WWII films or just a good thriller, watch this.

See it – Not a run-of-the-mill submarine movie. James Garner stars as an underwater demolitionist expert in World War II who just happens to be fluent in Japanese. But for some reason he is hand-picked by the government to go on a secret mission that requires neither. His mission involves hitching a ride on a submarine, commanded by an uptight captain who does everything strictly by the book. The submarine takes Garner's character undetected to a Japanese island, where his mission is to scuba dive from the sub to the island, sneak into the enemy outpost, and photograph documents for military intelligence. Most of the movie takes place on the sub. The sub encounters an enemy battleship and enemy planes. The best part of the film is the last 30 minutes, when Garner's character finally gets off the sub and gets to sneak around in the jungle. Despite its unique plot, the rest of the movie is very average, including the action. 2.5 action rating.

This is a war-time, mission-based drama starring James Garner as Lt. Kenneth Braden, who is sent by submarine to complete a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. The film does not fully utilize Garner's talents.

The film, like many others of its type, also includes a shore-bound romance, which adds some interest, but not much, though the love interest is well=played by Andra Martin.

The ending is weak, but it nominally fulfills traditional plot requirements.

For a much better mission-based war drama, see "The Bridge on the River Kwai."

And for a better war-time drama starring Garner, check out "36 Hours", also starring Eva Marie Saint.

It is 1942. Commander Paul Stevenson (Edmond O'Brien) has a reputation for being so cautious that some of the crew thinks that equates to chicken. James Garner (Lt. Ken Braden). Submarine frog man, is about to test that caution with his life. Lt. Braden has a mission that is bordering on endangering the SUB.

Of course, there is a love interest as it is mandatory for many submarine movies,

This is based on a book by the same name that was written by Robb White. The actual scrip was written by Richard Landau.

The bulk of the movie is the stress and interaction between the commander and LT and the crew that thinks the commander is chicken.

You may have heard the story before but this is a very good version. So, do not try to compare to other sub movies as the stories are different.

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

O'Brien is the sub commander, who loses the trust of his crew, Garner the naval officer assigned a commando mission-but the real story here is the vintage cast-Richard Bakalyan and Warren Oates are joined by TV's familiar faces: Edd (Kooky) Byrnes, Henry (Otto Schmidlapp from "Life of Riley") Kulka, and Alan (the Skipper from "Gilligan's Island") Hale Jr. The fine performances are punctuated by adequate action scenes that result in a very watchable picture.

Having been to more pacific atolls than the average person, i recognized right off that the island scenery was not indicative of the south pacific, instead it better resembled some landscaped park area on oahu ... other than that the film lived up to its billing

The best part of watching this movie was later reading the reviews as the actual experience of watching it was pretty boring. As did others, I watched the movie because of the cast – O'Brien's "DOA" is on my list of favorite 100 movies, and I grew up watching Maverick, a show that is still fun to watch. The movie was disappointing; the early film romance (and the later revealed reason for it) was ridiculous and added nothing to the movie, Garner's mission to get the Japanese's radio code was not believable and the tension between Garner and the "by-the- book" captain O'Brien played was uninteresting. The humor provided by Alan Hale Jr. was welcome but not memorable. The set, however, was good as it did indeed give a sense of the claustrophobic atmosphere of a submarine. This movie was an okay way to spend an hour and a half plus on, but not good enough to actually seek out.

I can't understand how people who have never made a film can pass judgement on one. If you like the genre this ticks all the boxes.

As a kid, I always loved submarine films. As a weapon of war, they aways provided a great vehicle for an adventure - great atmosphere, murky depths and torpedos that seemed very rarely to hit what they were aimed at! Best of all, though, there was positively no room at sea, on the boat, for any slushy romance!! This film opens with James Garner ("Braden") doing his best impression of the beach scene in "From Here to Eternity" (1953) with Andra Martin ("Sally") and my heart sank - yuk, I thought! Yet, no - stick with it. Shortly after all this sand in the swimsuit malarkey and a marriage proposal after knowing each other for a fortnight, he is shipped out to Pearl Harbour and is soon at sea engaged on a perilous top secret mission to photograph some Japanese radio codes. Edmond O'Brien is his captain - the men don't initially hit it off, and Alan Hale Jr ("Malone") is the generally jovial Irish man in the middle trying to keep the peace, and the pace starts to pick up nicely. Garner was better with more comedic roles; he's probably nobody's idea of an hero but he does OK with this. The tension with O"Brien is just too forced, though - we know all along what's going to happen, so why create this extra layer of animosity? Once it's underway (so to speak) it has a fair degree of action and the denouement provides for quite an exciting display of pyrotechnics. Not the best of this genre by a long chalk, but forget the first twenty minutes and it's well worth a watch.

"Up Periscope" is an unusual submarine movie. This is because, in general, submarine movies are sensational--tense, exciting and enjoyable. Such films as "Run Silent, Run Deep", "Destination Tokyo" and "The Enemy Below" are classics...as are almost all sub films. Yet, sadly, "Up Periscope" is an adequate film and nothing more.

The problem I had with the film is that there are two plots--one completely unnecessary and the other mildly interesting. When the film begins, Lt. Braden (James Garner) is trying to convince a lady to marry him even though they've only known each other for a few days. This goes on for a while....and has nothing to do with the other story. Braden is transferred to a submarine for a secret mission. Using his amazing demolition and underwater skills, he's to sneak onto a Japanese island...and he needs to hurry lest the sub leave without him.

The romance just seemed tacked on and was an excuse to show a good looking woman in a bathing suit. The other story was routine and not much more....hence my overall score of 5. Purely a time-passer and not much more.