Inferno

When yet another atomic scientist goes missing behind the Iron Curtain, a private submarine expedition is put together to trail a freighter suspected of being able to lead the crew to what is believed to be the place where the Chinese are conducting nuclear research in preparation for a war. Former submarine commander Jones is contracted to lead the exhibition with a ragtag crew and a submarine in need of maintenance time that is not available to him. With Professor Montel technically in charge with his (female) assistant Professor Gerard by his side, the boat sets out on the mission of observation but with the ever present threat of danger in the hostile waters.

A bit of a romp this one as it revels more in the gaudy sweep of the telling rather than the tension from narrative detail. The plot doesn't really matter so much as it is a simple device for the voyage. Along the way we get personal conflicts, crew tensions and underwater stand-offs as well as some fire-fights. At no point was I hooked but it is rather entertaining in the way that school-boy adventure stories are – full of tough men, sacrifice and action. In this regard it suits the people making it and Fuller directs with simple but bright colours – easy to understand and engage with even if they are too simple to be real. So it is with the characters and plot but it still works. The romantic side of the story is a flop and I didn't see why a female character couldn't just be a character and had to be a love interest (well, obviously I understand why this decision is made, but I didn't see the value of it in the story).

The headlining of Richard Widmark is rarely a bad thing and he fits this tough action drama with his stern delivery and commanding presence. There is no doubting that Darvi is sexy and a good presence when it comes to being coy and flirtatious however when more is asked of her she is found wanting as she lacks the range. The rest of the cast fit in well around them – nobody brilliant of course but everyone able to be at the level required by the material.

Not that intelligent or complex a film but a solid enough wartime action film which will do the job if that's all you're looking for.

Hell and High Water is a great Fifties film with Richard Widmark and his handpicked crew of WWII veterans trying to foil a dastardly Communist plot to start WWIII.

Widmark is a former submarine commander who's been hired to check out a secret base that the Communist Chinese seem to be building in the islands north of Japan. The group that's hired him is some kind of consortium of western scientists who seem to be operating as a secret society. Like Captain Midnight or heaven forfend, the Tri-Lateral Commission.

Parts of the plot and definitely some of the footage is taken from another submarine picture that 20th Century Fox did, Crash Dive. It's so obvious, especially when you have Richard Widmark's voice with no closeups, over the footage from the previous film. That also concerned a secret Nazi base in the Atlantic and the submarine crew that went to clean them out.

Along for the ride in the submarine are scientists Victor Francen and his assistant Bella Darvi who was Darryl Zanuck's main squeeze at the time. Ms. Darvi had a short and tragic life and her story would make a real interesting picture.

Far more interesting than this, though I will say the submarine special effects are outstanding.

I thought the movie was good for it's era. Much better than some of the other fiction movies of it's time. The submarine scenes were very good. Especially the detail of water trickling down the periscope cylinder when they were submerged.

I too wondered where they were disposing of the buckets of water when they were supposed to be running silent. Again the scene was out of sequence.

Also the scene where Richard yells periscope up to look for the enemy sub, and they are surfacing. I thought it looked funny seeing the sub on top of the water and Richard is looking out the periscope.

Again good movie for it's time.

I saw this movie when it was released in theatre. I still remember how much fun it was to watch a submarine crew try to bring down a big bomber carrying the Atomic bomb with every weapon they could muster, including handguns. It had plenty of action for the time, although those used to long periods of action may find themselves disappointed. There are a couple of fairly exciting firefights, not including the final desperate attempt to save the US from being blamed for dropping an A-bomb on Korea and starting WW3. I'd like to see it again but haven't seen it in a long time..Hope it can be repeated on TV .I would definitely buy it if I had the chance..

Yeah, it telegraphs all of the big "reveals", it has some overly dramatic acting, the major plot points are easy to see coming, the "red shirts" are obvious, the scenes are kinda cheesy, the characters are all one-dimensional, the plot motivators are simple ("he needs fresh air" or "we didn't have time to test the torpedo tubes") but dang I loved it! It was almost like a bond movie without the gadgets, the unbelievable stunts, or the bad double entendres. It is an instant classic in my book; it is just on the edge of something that you can take seriously. If you go in not expecting much and you realize that this was made many years ago before all of the methods used in it became trite due to overuse, then you will walk away with a smile. There are many worse submarine movies, some of which consist of "I'm in charge!"..."No I'm in charge", while this one has some strategy, some minor humor, some action, and some larger-than-life threats, and some explosions.. all in all worth the rental.