Im Pazifik ist der Teufel los

The story isn't much, but the miniature footage is pretty good for an AIP quickie and the stock footage is quite well integrated for once. It won't set your world alight but it's certainly better than some of the other AIP war films (Paratroop Command, Tank Batallion, etc.)

"Submarine Seahawk" is the sort of war film that should be pretty awful. After all, it reuses some footage from another film, is made by American-International Pictures, a couple of the characters are indifferentlbroadly written and the budget is minimal...with mostly no-name actors. Yet, despite this, it's surprisingly effective and worth seeing...even if it does currently have a paltry 4.9 overall rating.

The film begins with the crew of the Seahawk sinking a Japanese ship with their final torpedo. But instead of meeting up with a nearby supply depot for more torpedoes, the ship is ordered to Pearl Harbor. Once they arrive, they learn why. The ship's commander is being given a promotion to a desk job and the cold and generally disliked Lt. Commander Turner is being given command. While the skipper wanted one of his other officers to receive command, he was informed that Turner is needed because he is so knowledgeable about Japanese ships....and their next mission is NOT to sink boats but to do reconnaissance. It seems that the Japanese have pulled all their best ships out of action and the US command wants to know where these boats are.

With these orders, the crew is not happy. After all, they want to sink ships. And at least initially, they hate that Turner is avoiding fights and is only interested in relaying his reports back to Pearl. What's next? See the film.

Apart from a couple characters who are one dimensional, such as Lt. Shore and the nerdy seaman, the film actually worked well. The prior footage was integrated well and despite the cast being unknowns, the acting was pretty good. Underrated and worth seeing.

For an old movie, this movie did not interest me like the World War II movies starring John Wayne. The acting is iffy, there is not much action, and the dialogue is not funny and makes the story even more boring. There are better movies than this out there.

You've seen this movie before, done by everybody from Cary Grant ("Destination Tokyo") to Clark Gable ("Run Silent Run Deep") to Glenn Ford ("Torpedo Run"), and done better in pretty much every case.

This is a cast of nobody-you-ever-heard-of (for good reasons; I hope they didn't quit their day jobs) in a stock WWII plot about a sub on a secret mission. The acting is atrocious, the characters are incredibly clichéd (especially annoying: the short enlisted "comic relief" Jerry Lewis clone), and there are plot holes big enough to drive a submarine through.

If that were all it had, I'd give "Submarine Seahawk" maybe 2 stars, as an almost complete waste of film. However, this movie is saved from the scrap pile by better than average effects (some borrowed from other films), particularly in the climactic scene of the air assault on the Japanese flotilla. It's the explosions, fires, and splashes that usually give the model work in naval movies that shot-in-the-bathtub look. But especially considering how long ago this movie was made (and its obviously meager budget) those visuals were very nicely done. If for no other reason (and I sure can't think of any) this movie is worth watching for the impressive effects in that scene.

What's the best way to see "Submarine Seahawk"? Do as I did the first time I saw it, and miss the first hour or so. (I only wish I had missed that part again on my second viewing.) 9 stars for the attack scene, 2 for the rest of the movie.

This movie directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet is only for those searching desperately a time waster at all costs. This is probably the less interesting war films about submarines I have ever seen. Not a crap, because it is a B picture from the late fifties, and I have great tenderness for this period. I don't know any of the characters and I guess poor Spencer Gordon Bennet had great financial issues to direct this. I highly prefer from him the serials he made for Republic Pictures in the forties and his last two movies: BOUNTY KILLER and REQUIEM FOR A GUNFIGHTER. Nothing more to say about this feature.