La fuerza silente

Duke E. Gifford (John Wayne) is second in command of the USS Thunderfish, a submarine which is firing off torpedoes that either explode too early or never explode at all. It's a dilemma that he'll eventually take up personally. Even more personal is his quest to win back his ex-wife (Patricia Neal), a nurse; but he'll have to win her back from a navy flier who also happens to be his commander's little brother.

We know this movie is going to be an eye-roller during the opening scene in which the Thunderfish is transporting two nuns, a baby and a group of orphans who go running past a ludicrously tolerant crew as they're trying to sink a Japanese ship. While the action scenes are good, nearly every human moment in this film is phony; and the few that aren't are thanks to the usual expert performance from Patricia Neal, not from writer-director George Waggner.

The special effects and production values in this submarine drama are okay, but occasionally we'll see a cable pulling a torpedo or a night-time sky that has a ceiling and a corner. Max Steiner's score underlines every banality in the script and then underlines it twice more. At one point a crew member laughs at the Hollywood hokum in the Cary Grant film, "Destination Tokyo." If only he could have been out in the audience for his own picture.

I love this movie for two reasons:

1) It causes me to relive my submarine war patrols in WWII. 2) It's a typical John Wayne movie.

It would probably not excite a viewer who does not care for John Wayne or war movies, but for anyone who participated in WWII in submarines, it's a must have.

For the current generation, it would be worthwhile just to get the feel of how things were in those days. For many of my vintage, watching this movie over and over, as I do, is a priceless reminder of those days when a few did so much for so many.

It's hard to decide which genre provided John Wayne the greater opportunity to showcase his talents - the "Western" or the "War Movie". Clearly, he excelled at both (and had more than a few opportunities to demonstrate it). Personally, I've always been a greater fan of his westerns, but when this film appeared on one of my favorite cable channels this afternoon, I found myself willingly drawn in. Although a lot of its elements are standard WWII fare, Operation Pacific still demonstrates why the genre has proven so successful to Hollywood.

This one includes all the cliches - the tragedy of lives lost for a just cause (in this case, the war in the Pacific), the heroism of the men who gave up their lives for that cause (here it's a submarine crew based out of "Pearl"), and the women forced to wait patiently while the men they loved went into harm's way.

Although a lot of this seems outdated and stereotyped some 50 years later, the movies that were made during and immediately following WWII nevertheless reflect the ideals and values that drove an entire nation (and generation) to act and feel as it did. My own father, who was a Navy man during the war, was a big fan of John Wayne. I have to believe that Wayne personified some of the very same values my father had come to embrace as a youth and during his time in the military. For me, this adds some validity and perspective.

I know this is not considered to be Wayne's best war film (and admit to not being an enthusiastic student of the genre), but I'm confident that it's a good example of why these films were (and remain) so popular.

Good warfare movie well starred by John Wayne as Duke E Gifford , a sub-officer during the Pacific campaign and in the Pearl Harbor zone who surveys the area and diving under water . The film starts with a foreword : ¨When the Pacific Fleet was destroyed by the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor , it remained for the submarines to carry the war to the enemy. In the four years that followed our undersea craft sank six million tons of Japanese shipping including some of the proudest ships pf the ImperiaL Navy. Fifty-two of our submarines and thirty-five hundred officers and men were lost. It is to these men and the entire silent service that this picture is humbly dedicated ¨. At the beginning Wayne and crew rescue nuns and children from a Pacific island . Later on , in Pearl Harbor is developed a loving triangle between Wayne, Patricia Neal and Philip Carey . After that, the submarine commanded by Ward Bond and John Wayne attacks freighters and cruisers, executing on varied activities as interception and rescue . But in attack on freighters, torpedoes fired at ideal angle hit target failed to explode as the torpedoes lead a hit right under the stack and nothing happens.

The movie contains warlike action with battles well assembled , thrills, emotion and a love story. Passable special effects by F . Koenekamp though with various scale models and some stock-footage. Acceptable production design and enough budget by Warner Bros , and very superior compared with those at John Wayne 's habitual studio such as Republic or Poverty Row , as Wayne played several more for them . As technical adviser appears Vice-Admiral Charles Lockwood who was commandant of American subs in Pacific. With John Ford's usual players as Ward Bond, Jack Pennick and of course the great Wayne and brief secondary roles for William Campbell and Martin Milner. It's a cool realization with roaring battle scenes and full of emotion , suspense and romance. This large-scale picture is professionally directed by George Waggner and it packs a splendid score by the classic Max Steiner and appropriate cinematography by Bert Glennon . The film is dedicated to the men who lost their lives in submarines and to the United States Navy for its aid and cooperation in making this picture possible, our grateful thanks.

A very good WW2 movie. John Wayne is 'Duke' Gifford, an ultra devoted commander that leads his submarine crew up against the best the Japanese can put in the water or in the air.

Ward Bond plays 'Pop' Perry, Gifford's mentor and growing naval legend. A young Patricia Neal portrays the love interest. Fleshing out the cast is Cliff Clark, Philip Carey, Martin Milner and Jack Pennick.

If you love submarine movies, this is one of the better ones.