Crash Dive

Tyrone Power and Dana Andrews take on the Nazi's in their submarine. When it comes to nautical movies you just can't beat a good old submarine story, the claustriphobic atmosphere of the sub, the inevitable sweating in the dark, listening to the ping of the sonar and anticipating the rocking explosions of the depth charges... And it's all in glorious colour, which is unusual for a war movie actually made during the war. Throw in a love triangle and a commando attack on a secret Nazi base and you have a solid patriotic entertainment (it even encourages you to buy war bonds over the final credits!).

This is one of these propaganda and efficienty made warfare movies of the 40s that delivers comic relief in the form of romance . WWII glory movie with a love triangle, submarine battles and agreeable scenes. It deals with second-in-command, a handsome lieutenant : handsome Tyrone Power, who falls hopelessly in love for school teacher : Anne Baxter, only to find out after that she is Submarine Commander Dana Andrews' fiance. Once this little tidbit information is disclosed, things go wrong. Later on, the two sea officers embark on a mission to destroy a Nazi port and a submarine responsible for laying mines in the North Atlantic. And subsequently taking place a terrestrial intervention by a brave commando to vanquish the Nazi enemy fortress, using machine gun, dynamite and other destructive means.

Nice film containing good action, thrills , evocative and impressive sea battles and adequate special effects with a lot of explosions. As FX, miniatures and scale models are pretty well, however, some boats look like toys. Based on a story by prestigious W. R. Burnett and script by Jo Swerling, though it relies heavily on the silly and improbable love story with a non-sense triangular romance. It provides an excessively jingoist view point, as at its final part, it pays a real tribute to Navy, its Cruisers, PTs, Destroyers , Submarines and its crews. Stars three big name actors of the Forties and Fifties, the good-looking Tyrone Power, the always brilliant Dana Andrews and Academy-Award winning Anne Baxter as the woman loved by two naval commanders aboard the same sub. This one has the bonus of a fine support cast, such as : the veteran James Gleason, Dame May Witty, Henry (Harry) Morgan, John Archer, Ben Carter, Frank Conroy, Stanley Andrews, among others.

It contains a thrilling and moving musical score by David Buttolph. As well as shimmering and glimmer cinematography in Technicolor by master cameraman Leon Shamroy who won three Oscars to his name by 1945, and he photographed several super-productions. The motion picture was professionally and skillfully directed by Archie Mayo, though with not originality, being a simple super-patriotic movie. Archie Mayo had a decent cinematic career, directing acceptable films, such as : Night after night, The Mayor of hell, Bordertown, It is love I'm after, Four sons, Confirm or deny, Orchestra wives, Night in Casablanca, being his greatest hit : The petrified forest. Rating : 6/10 acceptable and passable wartime picture that will appeal to genre lovers.

Archie Mayo's film lurches between a straightforward war movie (with impressive effects in the later section, concerning an attack on a submarine) and a tug of love romance between two friends and the girl they both want to marry. The balance between the two stories isn't always effective, and perhaps the film would have been better one thing or the other.

However, Tyrone Power is top-billed - in his last movie before real-life active service - and close following in the cast are Dana Andrews, reliable as ever in what could have been a unsympathetic role, and Anne Baxter as the schoolmistress who wins their hearts. All are very good. James Gleason, as 'Mac', is as watchable as ever, while the great May Whitty makes an impact when the focus moves away from the boys at sea.

'Crash Dive' is perhaps a noble failure, but yet another interesting war film, this time propaganda for the submarine units. It is also of note for the blink-and-you-miss-him film debut of Steve Forrest (younger brother of Dana Andrews).

There is plenty more of director Archie Mayo's films to be seen, but of the films already seen of his he has generally struck me as a very competent if not exceptional director. Most of the seen films of his ranged for me between average and pretty good, with a few very good ones ('It's Love I'm After', 'The Petrified Forest' and 'Legion'). Tyrone Power is not a favourite of mine either, but starred in a fair share of good and more films and showed more than once that he had acting ability in him.

'Crash Dive' was seen for those two main reasons. Other reasons being my love of classic/golden age film and seeing that the special effects won an Oscar (so wanted to see if the win was deserved and whether they held up today). Finally seeing it, 'Crash Dive' struck me as an uneven film that doesn't completely thrill with some noticeable flaws. Yet it also doesn't crash and burn either, with a lot of great things so there was enough for it to warrant a watch.

A lot of great things can be seen in 'Crash Dive'. First and foremost, the production values which are still mighty impressive. The Technicolor photography is truly ravishing, with colours that really pop up at you. The sets are not elaborate but don't look fake, but the standout visually is the special effects which were wholly deserving of the Oscar. They still look incredible, so much money and time clearly went into the ones featured in the climax, and they are used thrillingly towards the end. The music score is haunting and Mayo's direction in the action is accomplished.

Furthermore, the action does excite and move and does fare a lot better than what is going on in the more dramatic and romantic moments. Some of the script is intelligently done and the acting is fine. Power, in his last role before his military service, is a noble lead, while Dana Andrews is equally amiable and Anne Baxter has enough charm to her to make the romance believable. Really appreciated the sympathetic portrayal of Ben Carter's character, nothing stereotypical or demeaning here and nothing to be offended by either while Carter gives a dignified performance.

Mayo's direction is not as confident however in the non-action scenes and becomes rather undistinguished and like his heart wasn't in it. The romance is both bland and stale and too much of the storytelling borders on the ridiculous, complete with some rather leaden pacing.

It also gets rather heavy handed towards and at the end, don't like being talked down to and that's how the writing towards and at the end made me feel. The writing is on the most part daft and lacking in life and there wasn't enough to the film to make me connect all the way through for the characters, Carter's being the exception.

Overall, uneven with a lot of good but an equal amount of not so good. 6/10

Crash Dive was one of many films to be released during WWII. Its pluses are good acting, supplied by Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews and award winning special effects. The story takes place in and around our then American sub base in New London Ct. In between battles with the German navy, a love story evolves with Tyrone Power and Dana Andrews after the same woman played by Anne Baxter.James Gleason is a bonus as one of the sub's seasoned crew memebers.