Film Snail

5.6

Submarine Command

NR·1951·87m

War

Drama

War

Drama

Summary

Submarine commander Ken White is forced to suddenly submerge, leaving his captain and another crew member to die outside the sub during WW II. Subsequent years of meaningless navy ground assignments and the animosity of a former sailor, leave White (now a captain) feeling guilty and empty. His life spirals downward and his wife is about to leave him. Suddenly, he is forced into a dangerous rescue situation at the start of the Koren War.... reassigned to the same submarine where all of his problems began.

Cast

William Holden

Lt. Cmdr. Ken White

Nancy Olson

Carol

William Bendix

CPO Boyer

Don Taylor

Lt. Cmdr. Peter Morris

Arthur Franz

Lt. Arnie Carlson

Darryl Hickman

Ens. Jack Wheelwright

Peggy Webber

Mrs. Alice Rice

Moroni Olsen

Rear Adm. Joshua Rice

Jack Gregson

Cmdr. Joshua Rice

Jack Kelly

Lt. Paul Barton

Don Dunning

Quartermaster Perkins

Jerry Paris

Sgt. Gentry

Charles Meredith

Adm. Tobias

Philip Van Zandt

Gavin

Gordon Polk

Ralph

Walter Reed

Chief O'Flynn

George D. Wallace

Chief Herb Bixby

John Close

Frogman (as John V. Close)

Harold Fong

Korean Officer

Leslie Banning

Richard Bergren

Gwen Caldwell

James Cornell

Thomas M. Dykers

Marietta Elliott

Benson Fong

Don House

Frank Iwanaga

Jerry James

Paul Lees

Nelson Leigh

Mark Lowell

Freeman Lusk

Warren Mace

Mike Mahoney

Bill McLean

Harry Mendoza

John Mitchum

Rollin Moriyama

Noel Neill

Steve Pendleton

Joey Ray

Jack Roberts

Don Shelton

Bob Tidwell

Crane Whitley

Fred Zendar

Crew

Director

John Farrow

Screenplay, Story

Jonathan Latimer

Reviews

Geronimo1967

July 22, 2024

William Holden stars in/narrates this rather humdrum submariner story from the end of WWII and the commencement of the Korean War that offers little by way of uniqueness or jeopardy. Holden, himself, is fine - but the tale of an executive officer making a tough, ultimately tragic, battle decision that causes him to become a pariah to many of his crew is just too old hat, as is the ending which offers a redemption that was never really in doubt. Technically, it conveys some of the claustrophobic aspects of living and working on a submarine well; and William Bendix as "CPO Boyer" demonstrates how effectively a man can hold a grudge, but (no pun intended) it's all just a bit too shallow and procedural. Worth a watch for the photography, but the story is neither here nor there...