Operation Pacific

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.

A world war II film set on a submarine with John Wayne, who takes over command after the commander, played by Ward Bond, is killed. It's your basic submarine film, nothing special about this one, but it is well made. John Wayne plays John Wayne, Patricia Neal does a good job and in one scene on the sub, you can see the men watch Destination Tokyo with Cary Grant.

... in that it is overall what I would expect from the genre and the actor. John Wayne stars as Lt. Cmdr. Duke Gifford, the first mate aboard a US Navy submarine fighting in the Pacific theater during WWII. He and his fellow submariners brave depth charges and leaky hulls while battling Japanese forces.When they make it back to base, Duke tries to rekindle the flame with his ex-wife, Navy nurse Lt. Mary Stuart (Patricia Neal), but she's also seeing Navy airman Lt. Bob Perry (Philip Carey). Ward Bond, of John Ford's stock company (although this is not a Ford film) and Milburn Stone also make an appearance.

The submarine action is exciting and well-executed, with fine miniature work and editing. Things really bog down, though, when the plot moves back to base and the tired love triangle comes to the forefront. The opening scenes, involving the rescue of a group of nuns and small children, is very corny. All-in-all, I liked the movie well enough, and I would recommend it for fans of John Wayne action films.

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.

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.