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Crash Dive was one of many films to be released during WWII. Its pluses are good acting, supplied by Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews and award winning special effects. The story takes place in and around our then American sub base in New London Ct. In between battles with the German navy, a love story evolves with Tyrone Power and Dana Andrews after the same woman played by Anne Baxter.James Gleason is a bonus as one of the sub's seasoned crew memebers.

Crash Dive is a typical WWII propaganda film with a stirring musical score by Hugo Friedhofer that prompts any young man to want to enlist in the navy. The cast is uniformly good, especially Tyrone Power as he cleverly tries to woo a reluctant Anne Baxter. Sub skipper Dana Andrews always excelled in military roles. The plot borders on the ridiculous. A German naval base in the north Atlantic- where? An American submarine conducting offensive operations in the Atlantic would likely have been attacked on sight by Allied forces who would naturally assume all subs in the Atlantic were German (such was the fate of one U.S. sub which left New London for the Panama Canal and was never heard from again). Good action scenes for a film of this genre with many of the clichés that would be repeated in other WWII submarine films.

Fantastic special effects highlight this World War II submarine drama starring Tyrone Power, Dana Andrews, and Anne Baxter - Power's last before going into the Marines.

Power is charming as a man who captures the heart of Anne Baxter, who though he doesn't know it, just happens to be the girl of Dana Andrews, Power's new commanding officer.

Out on the submarine, there's some exciting action as the sub searches for a secret base set up by the Nazis. One interesting subplot is the friendship of Oliver, a black soldier, with Mac, portrayed by James Gleason. Ben Carter, who played Oliver, does a great job, and his role as a concerned friend and brave soldier is not the usual stereotypical one blacks were often forced to play.

The ending, of course, is pure propaganda as Power, supposedly talking to his uncle, talks about the fighting men, subs, PT boats, and the like all doing their job.

I'm in no way trying to denigrate it - propaganda is a fascinating part of film history and at that time was deemed important to the war movement. It's all very interesting to view today. And Power is gorgeous.

Taken from a story written by W.R. Burnett, this Navy yarn was directed by Archie Mayo. Typical Navy tale for War films of this sort were routinely produced during the 40's. It involves the standard war time plot of two men falling for the same woman. In this case we have our devilishly handsome officer Tyrone Power playing Lt. Ward Stewart who has a definite wartime preference for P.T.Boats and considers them the undependable heart of the U.S. Naval fleet. Unfortunately, he is being reassigned to Submarine duty with a stern commander, namely Lt. Cmdr. Dewey Connors (Dane Andrewa) as the ships's Captain. As per the formula scripts of the war-time era, the two men are in love with the same beautiful leading lady Jean Hewlett (Anne Baxter) and want to marry her. Although both find time to woe her, they also deal with war time problems, namely the enemy. Hazzards abound in the deadly seas they patrol, so much so it doesn't seem likely the officers will survive. The movie becomes standard stuff and because it's filled with guns, bombs and exciting situations, it promises to be interesting. Once that is accepted, the movie is good War-time exciting fun and could lead to you buying some war bonds after the show. If one is a fan of the two leading me, this becomes good entertainment. Nuff said, especially with additional cast members like James Gleason and Harry Morgan. Recommend for the patriotic crowd. ****

Archie Mayo's film lurches between a straightforward war movie (with impressive effects in the later section, concerning an attack on a submarine) and a tug of love romance between two friends and the girl they both want to marry. The balance between the two stories isn't always effective, and perhaps the film would have been better one thing or the other.

However, Tyrone Power is top-billed - in his last movie before real-life active service - and close following in the cast are Dana Andrews, reliable as ever in what could have been a unsympathetic role, and Anne Baxter as the schoolmistress who wins their hearts. All are very good. James Gleason, as 'Mac', is as watchable as ever, while the great May Whitty makes an impact when the focus moves away from the boys at sea.

'Crash Dive' is perhaps a noble failure, but yet another interesting war film, this time propaganda for the submarine units. It is also of note for the blink-and-you-miss-him film debut of Steve Forrest (younger brother of Dana Andrews).