SUBMARINE SEAHAWK (director: Spencer Gordon Bennett; screenwriter: Owen Harris/ Lou Rusoff; cinematographer: Gilbert Warrenton; editor: Ronald Sinclair; cast: John Bentley (Captain Paul Turner), Wayne Heffley (Lt. Commander Dean Stoker), Paul Maxwell (Lt. Bill Hallohan), Steve Mitchell (CPO Andy Flowers), Brett Halsey (Lieutenant (j.g.) David Shore), Hal Bogart (Radio Operator), Henry McCann (Seaman Ellis Bellis), Marilyn Hanold (Nancy), Jan Brooks (Ellen Turner), Mabel Rea (Maisie), 1959)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A vigorously played AIP submarine B-film, with a no-name cast and low-budget special effects. All the enlisted men talk in an unnatural jargon, which is make-believe navy talk, that is sometimes irritating on the ol' cranium and at other times slightly amusing to the proletarian in me. This is basically a harmless WW11 war film that is watchable for insomniacs turning the TV dials late at night in search of something benign. It is one of those rare 1950s WW11 films where the Japs are not even cursed out -- the men could have been fighting the Greeks and no one would have known the difference.
The sub goes by the name of Seahawk, celebrated for being a fighting ship. The proud sub crew reacts with baseball cheers when the home team torpedoes a Jap destroyer and with boos when they can't fire their 'fish.'It's one of those 'gung ho' movies, where the only dissension comes from one of the officers who goes over-the-top in being too gung ho.
I recommend this film for those who didn't like "The Yellow Submarine" but like any other submarine film which doesn't have a cast of rock singers. This is one of those films that has a simple plot and pads it with supposedly human interest stories, as it highlights one character from among the officers and one from the enlisted men.
The officer who the film hones in on, is the new skipper of the Seahawk, Paul Turner (Bentley). He is given command even though his captain, Dean Stoker (Heffley), gave him a negative report and the executive officer, Bill Hallohan (Maxwell), can't stand him. They think he is too cold to the men and too academic to be in charge of his own boat. But their superiors pick him to take charge when the present captain is promoted to be a desk jockey. Turner has the qualifications that are necessary for the next mission, being a scholar and an expert in Japanese boats, having been assigned by the service before the war to help the Japs build their boats. The mission will change the role of the submarine from one of shooting into one of reconnaissance, as the orders are to find some 30-odd missing Jap war ships. The importance of the mission, is that by locating where the Japs are building up a reserve force, the navy will know where to strike them first.
The enlisted man the film hones in on, is the tiny, bespectacled Seaman Ellis Bellis (Henry). He looks like a nerd, is a hick from Kansas, doesn't drink booze or look at other women and talks only about marrying his farm girl Nancy. The men, in what goes for spoofing humor, feel they should get him drunk, and the chief officer Andy Flowers (Steve Mitchell) becomes in charge of seeing that he gets drunk and hooks up with a prostitute (Mabel). The fruition of the chief's project comes close, but the Shore Patrol comes to the nerd's rescue and carries him back to the sub for the emergency departure of the Seahawk, just before he is about to become romantic with the prostitute.
The gist of the story is about the feelings the crew of the Seahawk have about their new captain, as they grumble that the new captain is inexperienced and is a coward because he doesn't allow them to sink the near-by Japanese warships.
Turner must put up with the new radio officer (Halsey) assigned to the sub, who tries to sabotage his efforts with the other men, and even tries to take over command. He will be reclassified when they get back to Pearl, as Turner learns how to be tolerant with the men while exercising his command. Halsey's acting efforts nearly sabotaged the film, as his strained performance was just blah! The film's purpose was to build tension for its action-packed climax, but by having an inferior complex because of the thinness of the story and the characters all being dullards, an effort was made instead to show how courageous the captain was and how he was, predictably, able to win the men over to his side.
The best scene in the movie was reserved for the climax, with the men trapped in the Jap submarine nets, as the American airplanes are destroying all the ships that are trapped along with them. The captain must figure a way to get his leaky sub out of there and take the boat safely back to Pearl, and as they say in Kansas, that ain't easy Maisie.
REVIEWED ON 6/5/2000 GRADE: C-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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