dmill030

This seemingly forgotten and generally unavailable film withstands the years as a war film involving a British crew captained by Edward Judd aboard a captured German sub, their mission to infiltrate a German submarine "wolf pack" and give HQ its coordinates. The story emits echoes of how a captured U-boat enabled the British to crack the Enigma code, and seems realistic in showing how such a boat works and how its crew reacts under stress. The film was down with the cooperation of the Royal Navy and uses documentary footage of a depth charge attack. All told, a neat 90 minutes of storytelling.

This film isn't, of course, to be taken seriously. But it is fun, with Knotts the editor of a bankrupt ornithology magazine who, by misadventure, becomes the guiding light in an adult entertainment empire aimed at bird-watching of another sort. Other actors such as Edmond O'Brien, Ann Francis, and James Gregory do well with their roles, the latter especially amusing as a defense lawyer who both defends and decries the hapless Knotts in his trial as a purveyor of obscenity. His use of hyperbole and exaggeration work well in context. This film, doubtless criticized upon its release by those who wanted the old Knotts back again and others who doubted the humour of his on-screen predicament, is probably even funnier now than then.

I just watched the entire first season on DVD this weekend it literally made my day: great acting and characters, the location captured. I can state the latter because I first visited Manhattan in 1977 and spent a bit of time (as an onlooker) in the Times Square area, then full of adult stores and theatres, one of which I entered to see a cut version of "Deep Throat." Most memorably, I saw a beautiful blonde, neatly-dressed, standing in the Square with the universal symbol of her trade, the red umbrella. Anyway, this series is obviously well-researched, Maggie Gyllenhall is excellent and credible, and it does show that adult industry personnel are (often vulnerable) people who are despised for selling what the public wants but won't admit it does.