The Frogmen

The story in this one is nothing new-- the captain of an underwater demolition team (UDT) during WWII, who is a replacement to the previous beloved captain, must gain the respect of his men. The dialogue is at times a little hokey, and the performances are solid, but nothing stellar.

However, the project was obviously a heart-felt effort to capture, in detail, life aboard a WWII vessel, the procedures, the politics, and the rather fascinating methods and exploits of early UDTs, and that's what makes the film stand out. What you get is (I'm guessing) a pretty accurate representation of naval special forces in WWII, and it is quite interesting to watch how a team would covertly get in and out of shallow water near a beach to plant explosives and do recon, while being heavily shelled, often with nothing on them besides swim trunks, flippers and goggles! There are also a few very good, tense scenes. (the scene where their explosives expert has to disarm a torpedo with a tongue depressor is particularly nice-- expresses all the emotion and tension of such a moment without forcing it with a dramatic score).

Recommended to anyone interested in war history, or who enjoys a nicely crafted war movie.

The Frogmen is a film based on the exploits of the U.S. Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams during World War II. The primary task of these guys was to go in ahead of any island landing and clear away any obstacles put up by the enemy in the water. That meant going in ahead of the Marines as the Frogmen point out. Today that function is now that of the Navy Seals.

The plot is similar to Flying Leathernecks. Richard Widmark is the new commanding officer of the team assigned to Gary Merrill's ship and he's taking the place of a popular commander who was recently killed. He meets with a lot of resentment from the men, some of that resentment fueled by Dana Andrews who is the CPO of the team and very popular also with the crew. How Widmark and Andrews deal with their personal issues as well as get the job done is the basis of the film.

Nice underwater photography highlights the dangerous mission of these men. Both Widmark and Andrews despite their differences do get their assignments accomplished, not always in the most expeditious manner. These guys and their team are professionals in the real and the cinematic sense.

War films usually aren't chick flicks, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of female fans saw this one for a glimpse of some 20th Century Fox's top young talent topless like Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter.

Good an excuse as any to see a well made war film.

Richard Widmark plays the new skipper of an elite UDT (Unerwater Demolition Team) unit in WW2. In many ways it was typical of the patriotic fare that was popular back then. The skipper takes over for a popular commander that was lost in a previous mission. We watch as he agonizes over almost every decision he makes. He constantly second guesses himself and compares himself to the ever popular Cassidy at every turn. As you can imagine, he grudgingly gains the respect of the team while making these life or death decisions.

The support cast is reliable - even talented. Unavoidably for the genre, we have the guy from Brooklyn - in this case Canarsie - played believably for a change by Harvey Lembeck. Not once did I hear him say the word "goil". Dana Andrews plays a veteran CPO who identifies too well with his crew and resents the skipper. Gary Merrill does a very credible job as the captain of the transport ship that delivers the UDT crew to their targets.

A couple of things caught my attention. Although this movie was produced in 1951, it depicts what amounts to an experimental unit developed in WW2. I couldn't help but notice how primitive the operations were back then. No underwater breathing gear, no communications once they were in the water, simple slates and pencils to record the details of their mission. As a launch brought them into target range, they would jump into a rubber boat, then roll off into the water. Worse yet, at their pick up point, they had to tread water, raise their hand, and wait like sitting ducks to be pulled back into the rubber boat at speed.

This is not a silly movie. It celebrates the courage of men doing a very dangerous job under impossible conditions. There are a few clichés here, but nothing we can't overlook. A good action adventure flick, well worth watching.

As would be the case with DESTINATION GOBI (1953), which I’ve just watched, this unusual war film about a specialized outfit also happens to be a starring vehicle for Richard Widmark (and, similarly, featured no prominent female roles). Fox were noted for the documentary-style approach to their films for the first few years of the post-war era; this was a typical example, mixing realistic detail (while the underwater photography in itself is well done, the film tends to drag during these sequences) with a number of established Hollywood conventions.

Widmark begins by rubbing his men the wrong way because of their devotion to his predecessor, with Dana Andrews as his chief antagonist (especially after the former opts to leave the latter behind during a reconnaissance operation). At one point, however, Andrews has to take over a mission when Widmark becomes indisposed (where the former’s lack of responsibility leads to serious injuries sustained by one of the men); eventually, the two acquire a mutual respect – which occurs when a torpedo fired at the ship by the enemy fails to explode and has to be delicately dismantled.

The latter sequence is one of four suspense/action set-pieces in the film: the others being the two underwater missions themselves and the trial run for the first operation mentioned above. The supporting cast is led by Gary Merrill (acting as, more or less, the voice of conscience) and Jeffrey Hunter (as a brash young member of the team); also appearing, in unbilled roles, are subsequent favorite character actors James Gregory and Jack Warden.

Pity 'The Frogmen' isn't yet on DVD. It features the techniques developed and applied by WWII's U.S. Navy UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams), many of which techniques formed the basis for the methods employed by today's SEAL teams - and the UDT's did their bit with rebreather rigs that weren't nearly as sophisticated or reliable as today's high-tech SCUBA and rebreather gear. The UDT's were pioneers on the cutting edge of their mission, an edge the likes of which will not likely be seen again.

A standard plot is redeemed by fine performances from all, and by exciting action sequences that have not dated as much as one might suspect they would have by 2003.