The Deep Six

Early scenes : French Restaurant and Ladd's Beach House are Paradise Cove, Malibu area.

This movie was really quite bad. No action, the conflicts were not well dramatized. Alan Ladd did not seem to be giving much of an effort here at all. He looked about 15 years older than his 45 years. However, there are a lot of famous actors in it and only fun part of this was in guessing their names. "Hey, that was Jerry(the beaver) Mathers!" From beginning to end this movie never really got off the ground. The pacing seemed very slow and if I'm not mistaken it was done with a small budget. At one point the destroyer they were on changed to an aircraft carrier during a Japanese strafing run. All the action scenes and scenes were rushed and seemed uninteresting. William Bendix was probably the best of the bunch at the time. The story lines of the side characters were never developed to a point where anyone could care about them.

Alexander 'Alec' Austen (Alan Ladd) flirts with Susan Cahill (Dianne Foster). They work at an ad agency on Madison Avenue. It's September '42. He is called back to active duty in the Navy. He's a Quaker and has pacifist leanings. He struggles with his beliefs in the midst of the war.

My initial issue is Alan Ladd's age. He's in his mid-forties. It's a little old to be so conflicted in his beliefs. It's an interesting subject matter, but the movie is struggling to handle it. I don't know what he's doing in the Navy anyways. It would make more sense if he got drafted, but he's at the upper most age. He seems to be a lapsed Quaker, but he never says it outright. Maybe the point is that everyone is supposed to fight or there are no pacifists in the foxhole. Edge is too overly hateful. This ends up being an average war movie in its execution. That would be fine, but the interesting subject matter is lost in a muddle.

With the exception of William Bendix and James Whitmore the performance of the cast is flat. Alan Ladd sleepwalks through the picture as if he would rather be somewhere else. Film does not achieve its goal of exploring the inner turmoil between the Quaker beliefs and the need to fight in war.

I recently read the Bev Linet book on Alan Ladd. The book consistently talks about Alan's decline at Warner Bros. The problem with that is the half dozen of his post Paramount pictures I've seen have all been good. Linet's book, written in the 1970's, uses the old New York Times reviews as reference. The trouble there is the Times seemed to hate movies, not just Alan Ladd's. So when you are basing his films on Times reviews and not watching the actual films, you might be off target.

This is a good film. It looks good. The star looks good. It's not 1942 Ladd. But he's trim and fit. The supporting cast is excellent and deep. William Bendix; Keenan Wynn; James Whitmore; Efrem Zimbalist Jr,; Peter Hansen and Joey Bishop. All brings something to the story and their roles. The romance is believable. It's right to have Diane Foster, a 30 year old executive, engaged to another man in the beginning. Too many films gloss the romantic subplot and pretend a beautiful 30 year old woman has waited her whole life for "The man of her dreams" to appear.

The plot is simple but interesting. Ladd plays a commercial artist of a Quaker upbringing. He's a reserve Navy Lieutenant who is called to service during WW2. His superior officer doesn't like Ladd's religious background and fears he won't deliver when needed. Events conspire to make other sailors also question if Ladd can be depended on in action. Will he come through, when needed most?

Alan was a sensitive actor. When he was at ease he was brilliant. For example, with Van Heflin in Shane. His scenes with Bill Bendix here are of the same class. Two old friends back together doing what they do best. Entertaining the public.