The submarine is probably the most strange and terrifying weapon ever invented by man. A steel tube hiding underwater navigating by sound, firing torpedoes at unarmed freighters and getting hammered by depth charges and enemy airplanes. Surrounded by dark water ready to crush and drown its crew at any second. The submarine is a perfect set for both war-drama and horror.I find submarines fascinating and I've always loved submarine movies. It's too bad there aren't that many worth watching really. Apart from the masterpiece Das Boot there are just a few decent viewings but nothing that even come close to Wolfgang Petersens U-Boat survival drama. Except for Run Silent Run Deep that is.Set in the pacific during WWII on an American submarine fighting the Imperial Japanese Navy the film features both screen legends Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. Gable as the stubborn submarine captain and Lancaster as the younger lieutenant. The movie is directed by the famous and skillful Robert Wise. I'm not going into the script to much but it's a quite good boat and captain story with a mythical enemy ship and the usual drama among the crew. All in very fast pace.The big star here, besides Gable and Lancaster, is the submarine and its periscope, torpedoes and interior perfectly portrayed with impressive realism in everything from underwater combat to surface artillery bombardment. Every torpedo attack is arranged with periscope sighting, range and bearing calculation, and use of the analog computer (TDC) to track and destroy the target. To hit something with a torpedo is not a simple task. Specially not a fast moving destroyer shooting at you. Sonar, radar and all the radio communication is also done with the same close realism. It's all the details that makes this film special.The special effects are all very impressive with miniatures, explosions and fast moving torpedoes beautiful shot in black and white. The music and sound effects are also perfect. The sound is better then anything I've ever seen in an action movie from the late 1950s. The production is top notch.But this is still a movie made in 1957. Everyone is perfectly looking and clean-shaven even after weeks at sea. There are a few to many corners cut at the end. And it's a very straight forward all-male story of submarine warfare. But the crisp production and the fast paced action makes it exciting all the way to the showdown. Run Silent Run Deep is a perfect movie for the submarine connoisseur.

Pretty good war film with a fine performance by Clark Gable as 'Captain Richardson' who heads for a forbidden target position called the Bunghole Straits. Also appearing in an uncredited role is excellent actor John Gibson as 'Captain Blunt' who near the beginning of the film tells Lancaster that he'll have to wait for a command.When Richardson receives a new sub, he heads his ship for the Bunghole Straits to try and take on the Japanese on his own terms. Burt Lancaster and Don Rickles are in the cast. Rickles is a humorous presence even when he's not trying to be humorous. Good action and suspense with the usual dramatic subplot of crew jealousy involving who should get command of what.Gable and Gibson are the stars here. One of the better war films, this one is set almost entirely on the submarine.To the Bunghole Straits!

Robert Wise's 'Run Silent, Run Deep' was a moderate commercial success upon its release in 1958. In the years since then its reputation has grown and its influence upon other films of the submarine sub-genre are clear, such as in Tony Scott's excellent 'Crimson Tide' from 1995. Both films, for instance, share a similar story line with an Executive Officer and Captain butting heads and the former taking command of the boat. I wouldn't say that Robert Wise's direction is particularly visually dynamic like, say, Orson Welles or John Ford, but Wise always knew where to put the camera and coached great performances out of his actors. Gable and Lancaster are superb in this, especially Gable, whose Captain Ahab-esque character is the most interesting one in the picture.While I wouldn't say that 'Run Silent, Run Deep' is the greatest of all submarine pictures (that goes to 'Das Boot'), I would say it's certainly one of the best. Wise himself was such a versatile director that he made great films in nearly every genre like 'The Haunting' in the horror genre, 'West Side Story' and 'The Sound of Music' in the musical genre, 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' in the sci-fi genre, and 'The Sand Pebbles' in the epic war genre. Like those films, 'Run Silent, Run Deep' stands out as an impressive addition to a sub-genre with few great films over the decades.

I happen to love this film genre. When done well, it reaches a high level of tension and suspense. My dad, a WW2 USN vet, introduced me to this film on TV when I was a kid. He was an aviator who actually flew in PBY's that hunted enemy subs but all men in the Navy had great respect and admiration for the Silent Service. Submariners were an elite bunch. It was dangerous and the subs of the WW2 era were tiny, at least in comparison to modern nuclear subs. They hunted as lone wolves and if sunk, the chances of survival was slim.RSRD stars 2 of the great leading men of the era, Gable as Captain PJ Richardson and Lancaster as his XO, Jim Bledsoe. At 57 Gable was way too old to be believable as a sub skipper as was Lancaster, who was in his mid-40's, although he was in excellent shape and looked 10 years younger. Gable looked every day of 57 and more, this was one of his last films. Hollywood loves to sanitize war by having older men doing jobs that were generally covered by teenagers and guys in their 20's. But if you can buy into the plausibility of a guy of Gable's age being a sub commander, he does an excellent job as a man obsessed with hunting down the ship that sank his previous command. As the Nerka's XO Lancaster has to do a delicate balancing act. He and most of the crew are questioning their Skippers motives and believe he is willing to sacrifice them in order to settle his personal vendetta. But as a loyal Navy officer the notion of taking over command is verboten, until the commander is incapacitated and then he realizes, as commander that he must also take on the dangerous task of sinking the enemy. RSRD has all the elements we love in sub movies. The depth charge attack, the silent running scenes, listening to Tokyo Rose on the radio, the elation of sinking the enemy ships and the dramatic burial at sea. Robert Wise does a great job of capturing both the camaraderie and the excruciating tension of men living in close quarters never knowing if this may be their last day. Wise doesn't spend much time on back story, this is a tight 93 minutes without any wasted scenes. Familiar faces such as Jack Warden and Brad Dexter have good parts and a young Don Rickles provides a bit of comic relief, he incorporates a bit of the schtick that became the basis of his stand up persona. "Clear the decks, lookouts below. DIVE, DIVE!!" Terrific movie and great film genre!