
During shooting Gable pulled rank as the bigger star, influencing the script in order to preserve his Alpha male image. It makes the most of the compressed space, simmering hostilities, and incredibly risky moves a submarine can make. Setting a template for many submarine films to come, “ Run Silent, Run Deep” may be the big daddy of the undersea genre. “Rich” Richardson (Clark Gable) and Lieutenant Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster) combat each other, while their submarine, the USS Nerka, chases after a Japanese destroyer in the Pacific. Here’s a Disney live-action classic worth going underwater for.Ĭommander P.J. Verne’s vision of the Nautilus is uncannily accurate in predicting modern submarine design. The result: a new kind of seafaring adventure. Captain Nemo (James Mason) built his submerged craft, the Nautilus, for a very specific mission, which is thwarted when he’s discovered by three French naval explorers, (Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas, and Peter Lorre). “ 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea,” adapted from Jules Verne’s forward-thinking 1870 novel, offers the fantasy version of travel beneath the sea.
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Legend has it that this was the movie that prompted a young Tony Curtis to choose submarine service during the war. The film is philosophical, too, and makes its plea for peace. It also answers the question: what happens if you come down with appendicitis on a submarine, a crisis that really did occur on WWII subs. Take the plunge with this list of the best deep dives in cinema.Ĭharting a secret submarine mission led by Captain Cassidy (Cary Grant) to gather intel for Pacific theater high command during the Second World War, “ Destination Tokyo” is a suspenseful voyage rife with daring and narrow escapes. If it is gripping, thrilling, unbeatable dramatic tension that floats your boat, there is nothing like a submarine movie. There is little to match the stress of those manning the torpedoes-often, nuclear warheads-unless it is the stress of the commanding officers, responsible for decisions that could have global consequences. Submarine movies are, as a rule, nail-biters, and thanks to the historical evolution of sub warfare, generally take place during World War II or the Cold War.

Submarines perform wonderfully as containers for high-tension drama as the challenges of close quarters, the inability to see what’s going on above, and the vulnerability of sailors working at many fathoms beneath the sea become as compressed as the oxygen they breathe. Of all these, submarines are arguably the most claustrophobic. War is much more often a matter of confinement, in trenches, tanks and planes, as well as on ships and in submarines.

As the new WWII movie “Fury,” which takes place largely in a tank, reminds us, war is not just about being exposed to the enemy.
