Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Robert J. Maxwell Handsome young Navy Commander William Holden boards the submarine Tigershark, just out of mothballs, ready for war in Korea. In films these boats are always named after aggressive fishes. No submarine is named Flounder or Guppy. Alone on the empty boat he reminisces about his experience as Executive Officer in World War II. His narration carries us through the flashback. "Yes. You might as well get used to it again. It's HIS boat. It will always be his boat. Funny how things work out." It's the kind of thought that people have in movies but rarely in real life.No matter. This isn't designed to be a poetic masterpiece. It's functional and familiar and exciting, rather like a submarine chasing a convoy.In World War II, we witness the familiar scene of the captain being wounded by a strafing Japanese airplane and Holden, next in command, having to order the boat to dive -- under the fierce protestations of Chief William Bendix. By the time they are able to make a search, the skipper's body is long gone. But Holden has earned Bendix's eternal enmity. Moreover, he loathes himself.He marries his girl friend, Patricia Olsen, but he's haunted during the post-war years, is mean to friends, excoriates his wife until she decides to leave him. Then, the Korean War. The Tigershark is taken out of mothballs and Holden is the skipper again. Guess who the Chief Torpedoman is. So the troubled Holden is once again helming the Tigershark, this time towards wintry Korean waters.The mission is to help evacuate troops surrounded by the enemy. Holden succeeds courageously, brilliantly, and earns back Bendix's respect and his own. Furthermore, Nancy Olsen appears willing to resume their marriage.These submarine movies are usually fun, and this one lacks most of the familiar incidents, the extended depth charges, taking her below the design limits, the popping rivets, the shattered chronometer, the panicky crew member. In real life, it must have been a very cozy existence with everyone living on top of everyone else in a steel tube, the wardroom the size of a walk-in closet.An enjoyable and stylish genre movie.

Robert W. Anderson I couldn't disagree more with the reviewer who credits this as Mr. Bendix's best roll. He was good in most of the rolls he took on with the possible exception of The Babe Ruth story. I have three best William Bendix films: Life Boat, Wake Island, and Kill the Umpire. In this film he's play the chief torpedo-man on the Tiger Shark a boat and crew haunted by the loss of their captain on the last day of the war. Bendix's character blames the man who took command during the emergency that resulted in the loss of the captain. After the war William Holden's character has to come to grips with the memory of that day and the loss of his friend. The piece time navy and his conscience put to much pressure on his marriage and he finds himself redeployed aboard the Tiger Shark with many of the old crew for a new war in Korea. The sub is used to assist in the rescue of some commando's stranded ashore in Korea. During this mission the captain finds he has to use tactics he wouldn't have used before.

moonspinner55 Another military drama via submarine, this time giving William Holden his turn underwater. He plays a Naval Commander aboard the Tiger Shark in the final days of WWII; as second-in-command to the captain, he makes a decision in the midst of battle which costs the captain his life. Haunted by this alleged failure (which the captain's own widow tells him was not his fault), Holden hopes to redeem himself during the Korean War. One-part military drama, another part soul-searching soaper. Holden gets surly as his self-confidence plummets, lashing out at his new bride (Nancy Olson, who gave up a $300-a-week advertising job just to play housewife!), while disgruntled Chief Petty Officer William Bendix gives Holden such a rough time--when nobody else does--that his personal motives come under question. The dialogue is so rote that only exceptionally talented actors could get by with it, with Holden doing double-duty, narrating in flashback (a device which fared better for Holden in "Sunset Blvd."). Still, that grave voice-over gives the movie its only dramatic thrust, as what we're seeing on the screen is rather dull and predictable. Film is curiously stifled emotionally, though it has solid cinematography by Lionel Lindon. ** from ****

lbailey52-1 Just saw the movie on TCM. Recommended for submarine buffs. Fairly accurate commands and procedures. They took bits of true stories as most of these kinds of movies tend to do. Howard Gilmore was awarded the Medal of Honor for ordering his boat down after being wounded and realizing that to make it below would delay the dive and probably lose the boat. Gene Fluckey, another Medal of Honor winner and also known as The Galloping Ghost of the China Coast, took his boat into a Chinese harbor filled with Japanese shipping, sank a few and ran in shallow water, dodging gunfire until he had enough water to dive. Bill Holden should have been running as soon as he surfaced to send his radio message. In summary, better than average and pretty enjoyable if you know a little historical background.