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For some reason an American causing yacht finds itself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and in the way of a Japanese aircraft carrier. The bigger ship uses it as target practice leaving only "Sue" (Marguerite Chapman) as the sole survivor. Fortunately, she manages to get of an SOS and that was picked up by a nearby American submarine which races to her rescue. The submariners are puzzled by their inability to send or receive signals until they hear of the terrible news that Pearl Harbour has been devastated by a sudden, sneaky, attack. Now, complete with their damsel in distress, they concoct quite a cunning plan to lure the offending carrier to them and sink three fish into it! It's frequently interspersed with actuality and had the editing been a bit better, that might have helped out - but it isn't and coupled with a Japanese captain who was about as menacing as "Mr. Wong" and Peter Sellers' love child - on a bad day, the whole thing really just falls well short. Sure, it was made in 1942 and is a pretty shameless piece of propaganda but I'm not sure these are excuses enough for this rather cheap and cheerfully thrown together exercise in just about everything mediocre film-making has to offer. It doubtlessly made the audience feel a bit better at a very difficult time, but it has little to recommend it now.

To be fair, Submarine Raider was conceived, written, produced and released within 7 months of the attack on Pearl Harbour. The special effects are not great by today's standards, but for a low budget production with little time, they are adequate and consistent with what came out of many studios at the time (and later), as is the script. The American cast's acting is isnt bad but the Japanese, particularly the aircraft carrier captain played by Italian born Nino Pipitone isnt great. Submarine Raider could be put in a 'worst movie' list, but the context - a quick response to the start of America's involvement in WW2 lifts it away slightly from that by giving the American public a bit of rah rah...and as the captain says at the end, 'Remember Pearl Harbour'.

When the US entered WWII, Hollywood's studios suddenly became ultra-patriotic and they made a ton of propaganda films aimed at bolstering the war effort. Some were very good...a few were very poor...such as "Submarine Raider".

The story begins just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Soon after you see a Japanese aircraft carrier heading towards Hawaii, the ship blows up a nearby yacht and then sends a fighter plane out to strafe the survivors. What they don't realize is that an American submarine is nearby...and the captain of the ship is baffled as to why the carrier would attack a yacht. However, they soon get word that this and other Japanese carriers just attacked Pearl Harbor...and so the captain is determined to find the carrier and destroy it.

The basic story isn't bad and much of the acting decent. However, it's essentially a cheap B from Columbia and the Japanese are essentially cartoonish (such as pilots who laugh hysterically while bombing civilians) and their airplanes defy all the rules of aeronautics...such that if they REALLY could have flown this way (making tight u-turns, landing every second or two on the carrier, etc.) they would have won the war in a month! Additionally, the film promotes the commonly accepted myth that evil spies ('fifth columnists') abounded in Hawaii and this laid the groundwork for folks in the US accepting the internment of the Japanese-Americans.

Overall, a real mixed bag. The crew of the sub consists of some decent actors but one-dimensional writing make this a film that simply hasn't aged well.

It's easy to dismiss today the "slanty eyed Japs" statements and atmosphere in this film (why is "Kraut" not deemed "racist"?). However this took place only four years after the Imperial Japanese carried out the most appalling atrocities in China ( See here. WARNING EXPLICIT PHOTOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre#Massacre ). Compare with similar ISIS/Daesh atrocities and Presidents Trump's statements about Jihadist terrorists being "dirty, sneaky rats" and this film takes on an interesting dimension. At one point the intelligence agent refers to the Japanese 5th columnists as "rats". So where this film is relegated to obscure Freeview channels, deemed to be of exclusive interest to war movie die hard's, it actually throws a light on the peculiar modern tendency to deem criticisms and lurid remarks about the enemy as "racist" when lives are at stake. As noted above, the plot, acting and effects are not top notch but this piece has an interesting 1940's feel to it that can appeal to an audience beyond that of the historian.

In an era when propaganda films were coming out of Hollywood in a rush there were many that were A class, some which were B class, and then there was this one. I won't even comment on the bone-headed decisions the the two ship captains make or the historical accuracy that was missing. Rarely have I seen such obvious special effects such as planes making almost 90 degree turns in flight and clearly light weight model planes landing on the Japanese carrier. This was poorly written and planned and must have been rushed into production with a budget of about $1.38. If you want a good WW2 sub movie watch almost any film but this one.