L'engin fantastique

Submarine commander Glen Ford wants in on the new guided missile program that Admiral Henry O'Neill is trying to get funding for. Ford also wants O'Neill's secretary, Viveca Lindfors. Neither goal is as easy to attain as he imagines, despite the conniving of his quartermaster, Joe Sawyer.

Glen Ford always looks realistic in a Naval uniform, even though he was a Marine during the Second World War. As for the impulse behind this movie, I suspect that the cooperation of the Navy was motivated in part to get Congressional funding for their guided missile program. Although the script goes pretty gar into the sacrifices-our-boys-make-for-this-country territory, it's mostly standard fare with some good shots of missiles taking off and passing over a flotilla. Director Henry gets good performances out of a cast that includes John Qualen, Jerry Paris, and Paul Harvey.

Of course McHale's Navy didn't appear until over a decade after this movie was made, but there are elements of this movie that remind me of McHale's Navy...stealing supplies, crewmen horsing around. The attempts at comedy were largely unsuccessful however.

This movie involves the implementation of Commander Talbot's (Glenn Ford) vision of missiles being launched from submarines. And he, and his crew, go through major contortions (a la McHale's Navy style) to get this accomplished. Of course, while so occupied, romance intervenes. And the girl's (Viveca Lindfors) father is a major stumbling block. He is a pacifist who is strongly against the commander's efforts.

Although slow moving, this film is still quite watchable. The acting is fair and the story is reasonable. It is obviously pro-military and I'm sure heartily embraced by the Dept. of Defense. For the amount of money which appears to have been spent on this production...very little...it turned out fairly well.

Although this is not a war movie per se, fans of WW2 era material will probably enjoy this one. My vote: 6 out of 10.

This film is in my 16mm collection and is quite old with various splices which makes it difficult to do a decent technical analysis. Additionally 16mm films are generally limited to mono sound tracks and substandard sound fidelity. If this film is available on video or DVD, I am unaware of it.

Paradoxically this early Cold War public information film masquerading as a feature would probably have worked better had less money been spent on it.

The basic storyline about launching missiles from cruisers is absorbing enough without the lengthy romantic and melodramatic digressions inserted into it without adding much to the film other than it's running time; while the casting of veteran character actors like John Qualen as Viveca Lindfors' 'comical' uncle and Henry O'Neill as her warm-hearted boss further heighten the old-fashioned feel of the piece.

This movie like so many old movies shows the relationship between officers and enlisted men as a bunch of friendly guys working together. This is not factual. Even on these tiny WWII subs, the enlisted men and officers were kept apart. The officers had their own separate mess and cook. Officers never fraternized with enlisted men. If you have never been in a WWII sub, it is informative. Even in these incredibly close quarters Naval discipline was enforced. In several scenes in this movie the sub Commander greets enlisted men as if they were high school pals. The real Navy was not at all like McHale's Navy.

Disapline in theUSA non existent ado as you like on atop secret base What a waste of a great cast and a show up for the USA forces Walt Disney where were you