Submarine Alert

Don't be too quick to judge this WWII espionage caper, while it appears to labour early on, it picks up the pace and delivers a coherent, economical jaunt through a Nazi plot to scuttle oil tankers en route to the allies, after acquiring a top secret transmitter that's capable of pinpointing the location of ships using pre-determined supply routes. Arlen is the recently unemployed radio engineer who inadvertently finds himself wanted by the FBI when he's duped into assisting the enemy.

Arlen is stoic in his patriotism, even giving a little call to arms rally in the film's post script, while Asther, Biberman and the prolific Marc Lawrence play the principal bad guys within contemporary stereotypes. Wendy Barrie plays an FBI operative whose ends up fighting the good fight alongside our noble hero.

It's a shame the film ends the way it does, as there needn't have been the unnecessary jingoism - this is a film after all, not a propaganda reel. Nevertheless, for your 66 minute investment you'll get a reasonably well paced espionage pot-boiler with a hint of intrigue, the usual raft of clichés and for bonus material, there's even a "MacGyver" moment to rally the allies into action. Solid plot and taut execution, just a shame that it morphs into trite propaganda.