Well starred by Edmond O'Brien and James Garner , Warner Brothers' "Maverick" Man and with agreeable cast ; there's plenty of emotion and thrills in the final action scenes keep you eyes peeled . This is a great production ready right now in his big-screen , meticulously mounted and efficiently directed by Gordon Douglas . In 1942, Navy Lieutenant Kenneth Braden from the underwater demolition team is sent to a Japanese island to photograph secret radio codes . As a rebellious demolition expert ,James Garner, assigned to serve on Edmond O'Brien's by-the-book sub . His assignment : to sneak onto Japanese-held island and steal a top-secret code book . This underwater actioner contains suspense , thrills , intrigue , a love story and many other things . Although being a routine submarine movie also packs some thrilling moments and results to be pretty good . This nail-biter is a tightly-knit drama centered on the relentless sea maneuvers of a submarine sailing undercover toward a Japanese island . Thrilling as well as exciting battle of wits between two officers : James Garner-Edmond O'Brien , who gradually come to respect each other . Trouble is Commander Paul Stevenson/Edmond O'Brien , may not wait for Lt. J.G. Kenneth M. Braden/James Garner to complete his assignment before taking the submarine back underwater . Both of whom are a compellingly balanced match as two clever as well astute commanders . Interesting screenplay , being based on the novel by Robb White and script written by Richard Landau . The film is famous as one of the best WWII submarine movies though some scenes at sea , however, suffer from the utilization of obvious models in a just as obvious studio tank . Adequate special effects , though all underwater miniature submarine shots were reused from the film Destination : Tokyo (1943) . The main cast , support actors and technicians spent about a month filming on board this ship . Inexorable duel of great stars into a submarine , as nice acting by James Garner as a demolition expert unwillingly assigned to a sub and Edmond O'Brien as stiff-upper-lip commander . Secondary cast is frankly good such as a likable veteran Alan Hale Jr. as Lt. Pat Malone , beautiful Andra Martin , a very young Edd Byrnes as Pharmacist Mate Ash , Frank Gifford , Bernie Hamilton , and this picture marks the feature film movie debuts for Wareen Oates as a sailor who is constantly eating and always to be found in the mess hall heating . Colorful and vivid cinematography by Carl E. Guthrie in excitement Technicolor smash , including spectacular maritime scenes . Thrilling as well as suspenseful musical score . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Gordon Douglas who captures the claustrophobic up and undersea tension . Rating : 6.5/10 . Better than average , well worth watching . This nail-biting sea epic represents one of a select group of a few World War II submarine movies which have nice special effects and breathtaking sound editing . These movies include ¨Crash Dive¨ ; ¨Torpedo Run¨ and ¨The Enemy Below ¨. Furthermore , other important films about submarines are the followings : ¨Run Silent Run Deep¨ by Robert Wise , ¨Crimson tide¨ by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman; ¨K19¨ with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and the best ¨Das Boot¨ (1982) by Wolfgang Petersen with Jurgen Prochnow .

BY THE YEAR of Anno Domini 1959, Television had take the upper hand in the struggle for supremacy of filmed stories. IOt was during this era that the small screen in our living rooms managed to dim the lights on so many, many of the old neighborhood movie houses that once populated our cities. It was by this time that the big Studios capitulated to the Networks; albeit in one, particular area.FOLLOWING YEARS of actively opposing any venturing into active participation in TV production; even to the point of forbidding their stars to do guest shots on television.* EVEN THESE Studio Moguls were compelled to rethink this position; opting that, "if we can't lick 'em, we might as well join 'em!" Before long, the Studios were in TV; enthusiastically supporting what they formerly held out against.STARTING OUT IN a manner that would seem to have been borrowed from Walt Disney's DISNEYLAND Show; MGM, 20th Century-Fox and Warner Brothers all had weekly hour long anthology series. In them, there would be some look at the history of movies, showcasing some of their old successes. They might interview a current Star and plug his/her current release. (Can you say, "Infomercial?" SO WAS THERE and then a sort of "cross pollination" between Actors on the Big and Small screens. Movie Stars did Guest Shots on TV and those starring in popular series would.............YES, THEY WOULD be featured in theatrical films. Our honoree of today, is just such an example.WITH THE PRODUCTION of UP PERISCOPE, the wheel had, indeed, the wheel had spun a full. The film starred James Garner (star of WB's hit series, MAVERICK) and also prominently featured Ed Byrnnes (popular as supporting character,"Kookie", on the same Studio's hot detective show, 77 SUNSERT STRIP.IN WHAT HAD echoes of Warner's DESTINATION TOKYO, the production team had assembled a great cast. Edmund O'Brien, Andra Martin, Alan Hale, Jr., footballer Frank Gifford and gruff, perennial Sgt. or Chief Petty Officer, Henry Kulky. Also look for a young Warren Oates as a seaman.THE STORY WAS somewhat similar to the previously mentioned DESTINATION TOKYO: but it had more of a "back home" subplot featuring Mr. Garner and his love life than the other film. There was a sort of modernization in the storyline; which was not made during the War, and hence lacked any element of propaganda.THE ACTION WAS good and it was filmed in Warnercolor; an advantage that the old, wartime productions lacked.WE DO RECOMMEND it, if you haven't viewed it, you may be pleasantly surprised. It's just too bad that they didn't make more movies like this in the 1950's. Maybe then there would be more Neighborhood Movie Houses still open today!NOTE:* This boycotting of television was a direct reversal of the Studios' policies about old time Radio; where they used it to their advantage at every possible instance. (Perhaps the Movies and Television were too similar, no?)

This is a great film with a well done script about an American Naval Lieutenant Ken Braden played by James Garner assigned to a submarine commanded by Edmond O'Brien (a very underrated actor of his time) as Captain Stevenson. Braden's mission is to go ashore as a frogman on a Japanese held island to retrieve a wireless code unable to be cracked by U.S. intelligence. Stevenson is haunted by the loss of a rating on a previous sortie and wants to exact careful handling of his current mission at the expense of making Braden's operational plan a difficult one. With a submerged time deadline imposed on Braden to find and photograph the information he skilfully swims to the island and after activating an incendiary device to alight fuel drums at the Japanese base in order to create a diversion, successfully enters the radio room behind the back of the on duty officer and snaps the pages of the code. Returning to the sub he is behind the time deadline and oxygen on the sub is rapidly depleting. A crew member constantly taps a wrench on the sub's hull to guide Braden back and Stevenson gives in to just sufficient extra time to allow him to return. On arrival back at Pearl Harbor Braden sees Intelligence Officer Sally Johnson, played by a stunning Andra Martin, at the dock waiting to greet him. She had been commissioned at the beginning of the movie to evaluate his suitability for the assignment but a love affair blossomed to now give this movie a supposedly happy ever after ending. Mention must also be made of the role of Alan Hale Jr. (ex Gilligan's Island) as Ensign Malone who gives the movie a well deserved comedy touch. Absorbing viewing.

I was expecting a fairly mediocre and routine "sub flick" and was pleasantly surprised to find an above average and pretty engrossing movie. The story has some grit and conflict, especially in the hostility of the crew for its "by the book" captain, played with convincing war-weariness by the always-reliable Edmond O'Brien, whose efforts are matched by a very young James Garner. Production values are high, and it's worth catching it in letterbox format. Some of the mistakes in commando procedures have been noted, to which I would add the lack of facial camouflage, as Garner's strikingly white face floats conspicuously above the water in his nighttime swim, an easy target for lookouts. None the less, a pretty good war flick.