SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - ABC's the Last Resort: Really brings the crazy

Red Brow · 11-08-12, 01:33 PM

I collect old US Sub movies. Beginning with Frank Capra's 1928 silent movie called 'Submarine' we see some drama/action scenes that became standard in such films by WWII. One that became standard was the 'ole torpedo rolls off it's torpedo-rack routine' that would crush a torpedo man. This usually follows some heavy jarring of the sub, such as a collision with a ship or a Japanese depth charge attack. Another routine was an intense conflict between seamen - in the case of Capra's film it was a love triangle between one of the sub's officers and his buddy who was a naval ship salvage expert.

In the early WWII movie 'Crash Dive' these routines were fleshed out further. Not only did the torpedo roll off its rack to crush a sailor, but when the captain went below to check it out he was injured in the head and was knocked out for sometime. The love triangle was intensified by having both suiters for the ladies hand in marriage brought into the same submarine as the Captain and his 2nd in command, a 'conflict team' that would even make a very slight appearance in Das Boot, and would become standard in nearly all American sub movies right up until Crimson Tide. In 'Hunt for Red October' the CIA company man Jack Ryan would come aboard the Dallas to take the roll of the Captain's opponent at least for a short stint.

This second movie would really establish several other needed formula scenes, such as a sub going to the bottom of the deep ocean, but only encountering perhaps 200 feet of water depth. Of course this was all portrayed in what looked like large aquariums or fish tanks. 'Crash Dive' also established the sub-movie tradition of an officer or captain that was wounded and left on deck as the sub submerged in a crash dive. Here too was established the said man's seeming last words: "Take her down! Take her down! (i.e. forget me)" This same formula even appears decades later in the movie U-571, though there the captain is about to drown in the ocean and is yelling his commands for his second in command to submerge the hijacked U-boat.

Another formula scene that developed later during WWII was the transformation of the 'love triangle conflict' into one about how the captain would not allow his second in command to be given his own sub until he either grew up or learned how to sacrifice his men when the action called for it. This reappears in U-571.

If you want a movie about a WWII sub that avoids all these formulas, watch 'Submarine Attack' about an Italian sub that sinks a Danish freighter.

11-08-12, 01:33 PM	#102
Red Brow A-ganger Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Colorado Posts: 72 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I collect old US Sub movies I collect old US Sub movies. Beginning with Frank Capra's 1928 silent movie called 'Submarine' we see some drama/action scenes that became standard in such films by WWII. One that became standard was the 'ole torpedo rolls off it's torpedo-rack routine' that would crush a torpedo man. This usually follows some heavy jarring of the sub, such as a collision with a ship or a Japanese depth charge attack. Another routine was an intense conflict between seamen - in the case of Capra's film it was a love triangle between one of the sub's officers and his buddy who was a naval ship salvage expert. In the early WWII movie 'Crash Dive' these routines were fleshed out further. Not only did the torpedo roll off its rack to crush a sailor, but when the captain went below to check it out he was injured in the head and was knocked out for sometime. The love triangle was intensified by having both suiters for the ladies hand in marriage brought into the same submarine as the Captain and his 2nd in command, a 'conflict team' that would even make a very slight appearance in Das Boot, and would become standard in nearly all American sub movies right up until Crimson Tide. In 'Hunt for Red October' the CIA company man Jack Ryan would come aboard the Dallas to take the roll of the Captain's opponent at least for a short stint. This second movie would really establish several other needed formula scenes, such as a sub going to the bottom of the deep ocean, but only encountering perhaps 200 feet of water depth. Of course this was all portrayed in what looked like large aquariums or fish tanks. 'Crash Dive' also established the sub-movie tradition of an officer or captain that was wounded and left on deck as the sub submerged in a crash dive. Here too was established the said man's seeming last words: "Take her down! Take her down! (i.e. forget me)" This same formula even appears decades later in the movie U-571, though there the captain is about to drown in the ocean and is yelling his commands for his second in command to submerge the hijacked U-boat. Another formula scene that developed later during WWII was the transformation of the 'love triangle conflict' into one about how the captain would not allow his second in command to be given his own sub until he either grew up or learned how to sacrifice his men when the action called for it. This reappears in U-571. If you want a movie about a WWII sub that avoids all these formulas, watch 'Submarine Attack' about an Italian sub that sinks a Danish freighter.