cinemajesty
Film Review: "Run Silent Run Deep" (1958)Director Robert Wise (1914-2005), before producing his high-end Hollywood productions of 1960s, comes this minor Submarine action drama, starring acting stars Burt Lancaster (1913-1994) and Clark Gable (1901-1960) neatly put together as on-screen characters of a 1st officer and his captain on a U.S. American submarine in the Pacific of WW2. The picture tinted in black & white can not create a blast as to say the character-driven suspenseful moments as the preliminary released competitor project "The Enemy Below" (1957) by 20th Century Fox, where actor Robert Mitchum and Curd Jürgens owned the suspense level 90 Minute through the picture even sharing only one scene together. Here the acting collaborators do not get along, much to the disadvantage of a struggling, seemingly forced directions by Robert Wise. An improved version of a closed-to-the-same set up picture of two Hollywood stars fighting for survival and personal convictions on a submarine is available with the movie called "Crimson Tide" starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington directed by Tony Scott (1944-2012) from the year 1995. © 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)
Richie-67-485852
Good entertainment and realistic scenes with action of a sub at sea and at war during world war 2. Strong lead actors and a good supporting cast make us believe the story no problem. For its time, this was premium entertainment worth the price of admission. Objectively speaking, the subject matter is a shocking one. While we root for our side to prevail, there is also a sense of the other side wanting the same making us consider that war is a futile and cruel gesture yet we still depend on it as a final word in some instances. All this is understandable but sobering. So we root for our side and let it go at that. I like snacking while movie watching. This one is not bad for a decent meal with a tasty drink. Remember that this movie is several decades old making us appreciate the realism that went into the making of this. When seeing it for the first time, we don't have the luxury of a contrast or a close-up so we can notice the miniatures etc. Great scene of a man almost being washed out to sea by accident. Quite an idea for its time. Please enjoy and dive! dive!
edmundcharles-55
ALL:Before the 'Hunt for Red October' there was 'Run Silent, Run Deep'- a classic Hollywood drama about a WWII submarine and two Alpha male Navy officers vying for the control of their submarine and the loyalty of its crew. The film deviates from the book, although this fact does not detract from the movie. The script, acting and script are mature, exciting and without needless or dull scenes. The novel was written by a WWI navy submariner and serving US Navy Commander, Commander Edward L. Beach, Jr. , so this helped to ensure for a realistic submarine story.This movie ranks up with the great top submarine movies which in my own personal order are: 1) Das Boot 2) Run Silent Run Deep 3) K-19: The Widowmaker 4) Hunt for Red OctoberI only exclude the 'Hunt for Red October' in the top three listing because it is more a story that focuses on the personality of the Soviet officer over the SSBN Typhoon class submarine (Note: Typhoon class ballistic submarines by interest of design and long range) were primarily watered in Soviet controlled waters vice going on international blue water and continental shelf domains as these journeys were both un-necessary and greatly exposed the huge vessels to un-necessary detection).
James Hitchcock
Films about submarine warfare have long been a popular sub-genre of the war film, possibly because their claustrophobic setting allows ample scope for psychological analysis and character development. There were a number produced during and in the years following World War II, such as this one or the British-made "Above Us the Waves", but there have also been more recent examples such as the German "Das Boot" (also about World War II) and "The Hunt for Red October", "Crimson Tide" and "K-19 The Widowmaker", all with a Cold War setting. "Run Silent, Run Deep" shares with the last two films mentioned above the theme of a conflict between the submarine commander and his second- in-command. In all three films the two men have very different personalities and in each case the commander is an obsessive, driven character while his executive officer is more relaxed. All three films cast two major stars opposite one another- Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington in "Crimson Tide", Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson in "K-19" and Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster here. Gable's character, Commander P.J. Richardson, is the captain of a submarine which is sunk by a Japanese destroyer in the Bungo Straits. He persuades the Navy Board to give him command of another submarine, the USS Nerka, thus bringing him into conflict with the Nerka's executive officer, Lieutenant Jim Bledsoe, who possesses the necessary qualifications for command and believes that he should have been promoted to the captaincy. The crew also dislike Richardson, a strict disciplinarian who forces them to go through endless drills, and would much prefer to serve under the more easygoing Bledsoe. As the film progresses it becomes clear that Richardson is obsessed with avenging the loss of his previous submarine by sinking the destroyer responsible, even though he is under orders to avoid the Bungo Straits. The purpose of his repeated drills is to perfect a daring manoeuvre which he believes will give him an advantage over the enemy ship. The film is on one level a tense and exciting action/adventure drama, and works very well as such. On a deeper level, however, it is also a psychological study of the two men and a study in style of leadership. Both Gable and the scriptwriters resisted the temptation to make Richardson a simple villain. Certainly, he is a difficult, prickly character, unpopular with the crew and his subordinate officers. His cavalier interpretation of orders would not win him many friends among his superiors if they knew what he was up to. Yet his leadership inspires his men to brilliant feats of seamanship, enabling them to sink three Japanese vessels. Although on a human level the likable Bledsoe is well-versed in the arts of making friends and influencing people, he is also more cautious and pragmatic. There is a strong implication that, had he been in command, the crew might not have accomplished so much. The two men are very well played by Gable and Lancaster. In 1958 Gable was of course coming to the end of his career- he only had another two years to live, although in that period he was to make another five films- but Lancaster's still had another thirty years to run, and the film came at a time when his career was undergoing a change of direction. Although there had been exceptions, such as "The Killers" and "From Here to Eternity", most of his films from the forties and fifties had been action adventures in which he had played physically demanding roles. For a war film, "Run Silent, Run Deep" does not contain much in the way of physical action- most of the action sequences were created using models- but rather looks forward to the sort of thoughtful, character-driven movies in which Lancaster was to specialise in the sixties and seventies.Robert Wise is today best remembered as the director of those two famous musicals, "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music", but he was a versatile director who could work in most genres, including films noirs, Westerns, disaster movies and war films. "Run Silent, Run Deep" is never going to equal something like "The Sound of Music" in the affections of the public, but it serves as a very good example of another side of Wise's talents. It rates as one of the best submarine dramas ever made. 8/10
