Tragedia submarina

An American submarine crashes in to a cargo ship off the coast of China and the surviving crew members await rescue

Yeah you've seen this type of movie a few times before . This one is slightly different because it's set in peace time , is directed by John Ford and comes from 1930 which was an era when talkies were making a breakthrough

Actually you have to take onboard as to what films were like in those days. THE JAZZZ SINGER was the first talky but films didn't explode in to full length talkies until a couple of years later and films in the last year of the 1920s often used sound and dialogue as an aural impact aesthetic. In this case MEN WITHOUT WOMEN is somewhat typical featuring a few spoken scenes , sound effects and caption cards featuring dialogue

For the story itself a bunch of men trapped in in a slowly flooding submarine is a movie cliché but to be fair it wouldn't have been in 1930. Narrative wise it also contradicts itself by having a song and dance number featuring a female of the species . As it stands this early John Ford remains interesting for a number of reason including having John Wayne in an uncredited cameo without being any type of masterpiece