Copyright 17 July 1954 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 1 February 1954 (sic). U.S. release: February 1954. U.K. release: 14 June 1954. London opening at Odeon Marble Arch. Australian release: 10 June 1954. Sydney opening at the Plaza. 9,235 feet. 102 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A submarine loaded with "scientists" foils a Communist plot to start WW3 by dropping an atomic bomb on Korea.NOTES: Film debut of Bella Darvi. This was the fifth CinemaScope film and one of only two nominations for an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, losing out to "20,000 Leagues under the Sea". COMMENT: Director Sam Fuller liked one line of dialogue so much — "Each man has his own reason for living and his own price for dying" — he repeats it no fewer than 3 times, making 4 in all. This is a good instance of the pretensions of this hokey piece of anti-Red Chinese propaganda. While the politics have not improved with age it does seem a measure more exciting now than it did. What were routine action spots in 1954 now look good. The acting, however, is still unpleasantly boorish (Widmark, Mitchell, Kulky), pretentious (Francen), or downright embarrassingly hammy (Darvi, who is unflatteringly photographed to boot). David Wayne's part as a medical orderly is so small it's almost a "bit".The director manages somehow to spin out enough excitement and action to last 103 minutes, though the confined space of the "sub" restricts flowing camera-work and the CinemaScope screen precludes dramatic camera angles. Only the use of "condition red" makes the direction at all inventive. Sets look real enough, but process screen is obvious and production values are limited. Film begins with a quick tour of world capitals and exploits the CinemaScope screen with a plane landing and atomic explosions but most action takes place in either the cramped quarters of a sub or in a miniature tank — neither ideal CinemaScope material. Newman's rousing and familiar theme is monotonously over-employed. Photography is handicapped by CinemaScope's graininess though night work is very accomplished. Fuller's penchant for realistic action comes across very dramatically in a couple of gruesome sequences with Francen's hand and the discovery of a "stoolie".

HELL AND HIGH WATER is one in a run of war and western pictures put out by director Samuel Fuller during the 1950s. This one's a very average sort of story in which Richard Widmark leads an unorthodox crew on a secret mission up to the Arctic Circle where the Red Chinese are up to no good with nuclear weapons.It's a submarine film making liberal use of stock footage from previous movies. Now, while I enjoyed the premise and set-up of this movie - it's nice to see the crew a little more relaxed than they would be in a wartime thriller - the execution is strictly pedestrian and this feels more like a B-movie than an A-list picture. Part of the reason it's so watchable is Widmark himself, who delivers a solid leading performance that brings out some of the nuance of his character.The rest of the cast don't fare so well, particularly female scientist Bella Darvi who has been shoehorned into the picture and doesn't really fit; rumour has it she was only in the film as she was the producer's girlfriend at the time. I was delighted to see Cameron Mitchell in an early role but he does play a pretty minor character in this film. Victor Francen is more interesting as the nuclear scientist who comes along for the ride.HELL AND HIGH WATER isn't a bad film per se, and the action sequences are adroitly staged by sure-hand director Fuller. A run-in with a rival Chinese submarine is a highlight of the undersea action, and there's a surprisingly gruesome accident which works well in a shocking, vivid way. The last third of the film descends into stereotypical gung-ho antics but I had no problem with that as it helps breathe life into the picture. The special effects are quite wonky but passable for the era.

HELL AND HIGH WATER was produced in 1954 when 20th Century-Fox was showing off their spectacular new CinemaScope process and Sterephonic Sound --- and thereby dominating the box office like they wouldn't do again until the Star Wars movies. They made the most of previously seldom filmed Paris, London, Rome, Tokyo location shots -- combined with excellent storytelling. With this movie they hired Samuel Fuller to direct it, one of the few directors with name recognition.A group of ex-Navy men are hired as mercenaries to take a submarine to an island in the Arctic to allow two scientists to investigate the suspected existence of nuclear weapons there.......When I saw this film in 1954, it was as movies were made to be shown. It played the 3,450 seat Loew's Capitol Theater which had an atmosphere fit for royalty; plus the widest screen, best stereo, best projection we ever had in Washington, DC. Loew's Capitol --- which lives on only in memory --- makes our present Kennedy Center look like a tar paper shack in comparison. Hell and High Water just came out in DVD but the CinemaScope effect is muted in that format; still we're used to that now.I rated this film a 10. In 1954 I might have said 8. But that was then and this is now. A few days ago a movie came out called SUPERBAD -- an instantly disposable piece of tripe, but thanks to 2007's low standards SUPERBAD ranks #81 in the all-time great movie list -- the CASABLANCA of the Bevis and Butthead Era. HELL AND HIGH WATER is a much better movie than any 2007 film, so by today's if-it-has-a-pulse-give-it-an-A standards it's gotta rate a 10.

Nobody ever claimed Samuel Fuller was an artist, especially not Fuller himself. He was to movies the same thing he was to newspapers, a cigar-chomping primitive. This, along with Fixed Bayonets and Pickup on South Street, is among his best movies. It's his usual stuff -- big closeups, rudimentary dialogue and character -- souped up by a larger budget than usual. A lot of it went for special effects. The Big Boom of the atomic bomb, still something of a fearful novelty in those days. And, for the first time in my memory, a war movie delineates the trajectory of tracer bullets. (Only it's hard to see on the small screen.)The story is simple enough. A bunch of mercenaries of varied backgrounds is hired to man a submarine and gather intelligence and they undergo the usual dangers, except that there are no depth charges. There is a crude and horny seaman who is the source of some laughs. There is one of those non-English speakers (a Chinese guy) who sings a traditional American song by Cole Porter and mixes it up with a lot of slang. There is the egghead that is usually found in a Howard Hawks movie. There is the love interest, a discovery of the producer and his wife, who is named Bella Darvi (DAR Daryll, and VI = Virginia). She wound up addicted to gambling and her career was practically nonexistent. Our sub rams and sinks a Chinese sub. (Isn't that against some kind of law?) Everybody gets on deck and shoots at a passing airplane, to good effect. The professor loses a thumb in a horrific scene. In another awful scene, the slangy Chinese guy gets his brains beaten out. I don't know, but I kind of enjoy it. Nice technicolor, good battle scenes, and Richard Widmark is always dependable if not necessarily memorable. Sam Fuller had absolutely no aspirations and he lives up to them here.