La dernière torpille

The movie has a pretty interesting approach for '50's standards, by inserting lots of flashback sequences, with the home-front, that however also happen to be incredibly sappy. It does at parts make the movie a melodramatic one.

Submarine movies just never have been any of the best or most exciting, action packed movies because of their restraints, with a couple of well known exceptions of course. The movie has a good beginning but as it heads toward the ending the movie starts to drag and become less interesting, when the movie becomes more personal and gets filled with some more emotional aspects.

It even manages to put in a personal and family dramatic main plot-line in the movie. What an accomplishment for a submarine movie! Yes, it helps to make the movie more original and less formulaic but it also of course isn't the most interesting approach thinkable, especially not since it gets stretched out for the movie its entire duration.

The miniature effects were pretty good looking. I mean I have seen far worse, even from movies that were made much later. Although they are hard from convincing by todays standards of course.

Glenn Ford was a great choice for the main lead, as the tough looking but sensitive commander. Ernest Borgnine forms a good duo with him, as the submarine's lieutenant. The rest of the character remain mostly in the back.

A decent enough genre attempt.

7/10

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In 1942, the commander of the submarine USS Grayfish, Barney Doyle (Glenn Ford) commands a motley crew such as : Lt. Jake 'Fuzz' Foley (Dean Jones) , 'Hash' Benson (L.Q. Jones) , Lt. Redley (Robert Hardy) , Lt. Burt Fisher (Paul Picerni) and especially the second-in command Lt. Archer 'Archie' Sloan (Ernest Borgnine) with whom Barney has a special relationship . Doyle is a stiff captain who plans to sink a Japanese carrier . As their main target is the Japanese aircraft Akagi, which led the attack on Pearl Harbor. But there is a freighter in the way , and on board are his wife and child . Doyle is tormented by the fact that his spouse and baby daughter were taken prisoner when the Japanese invaded the Philippines and he has no word from them for almost 10 months . They're really prisoners of the Japs and whom we have grown to love in flashbacks . Shortly after , Barney is overjoyed when reliable sources confirm that they are alive . There was good reason for the Japanese to let him know however : all of the civilians are being transported to Japan . At the end takes place the confrontation and square off in the Pacific Ocean and Tokyo bay .

Standards submarine melodramatics about an US submarine that must torpedo a Japanese carrier which holds some of the crews family members . Glenn Ford gives a good acting as an able ship's captain well respected by his men and effective at sea , who pursues the ship that led the attack on Pear Harbour back Tokyo . Although the film relies heavily on the deep relationship between Lt. Cmdr. Barney Doyle/Glenn Ford and Lt. Archer 'Archie' Sloan/Ernest Borgnine . This nail-biter is a tightly-knit drama centered on the relentless sea maneuvers of a sub going after a carrier and vice versa . Sometimes slow , generally worthwhile watching . As a main premise results to be an engaging issue : a ship transporting his family is acting as a shield for the Akagi carrier forcing Doyle to make a terrible decision, as his country comes first and he blows the freighter out of water . The film is known as one of the most famous WWII submarine movies, though some scenes at sea, however, suffer from the utilization of obvious models in a just as obvious studio tank . Secondary cast is frankly good such as : Diane Brewster, Dean Jones , L.Q. Jones , Philip Ober , Richard Carlyle and Robert Hardy . George J. Folsey's colorful and vivid cinematography , including spectacular maritime scenes , set in the Pacific Ocean of World War II ; in fact , this movie's ocean scenes were filmed in the Pacific Ocean. .¨Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1958) wishes to thank the Department of Defense and the United States Navy for their assistance in the production of this motion picture."

The motion picture was professionally directed by Joseph Pevney who also made other WWII films as ¨Away all boats¨. Pevney shot all kinds of genres as Comedy , Film Noir , Mystery , Drama , such as : ¨Who is the black Dahilia ?¨, ¨The strange door¨, ¨Man of a thousand faces¨, ¨Mysterious Island of beautiful women¨, ¨Cash McCall¨, ¨Tammy and the bachelor¨, ¨Istanbul¨, ¨Because of you¨ and Westerns as ¨Night of Grizzly¨ .



This ¨Torpedo run¨ represents one of a select group of a few World War II submarine movies which have won the one single Academy Award in a technical category, that's just only the one Oscar in either special effects or sound editing. These movies include ¨Crash Dive¨ ; ¨Enemy below ¨(57) by Dick Powell with Curt Jurgens, Robert Mitchum , and ¨U-571¨. The non-WW II sub-movie, ¨The Hunt for Red October¨ also won just the one Oscar as did the WW 2 part sub-movie 49th Parallel , but for Best Original Story . Furthermore , other important films about submarine are ¨Run Silent Run Deep¨, ¨Crimson tide¨ by Tony Scott with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman; ¨K19¨ with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and the best ¨Das Boot¨ (1982) by Wolfgang Petersen with Jurgen Prochnow .

This is not such a successful movie. Glenn Ford is solid as always and Ernest Borgnine delivers a serviceable performance, but the problem is the script and direction. The story is on the sluggish side and after the midway point you don't have a sense of enough really at stake. The flashbacks to civilian life also take the audience out of the war story in a way that releases any built-up tension. Then the movie has to start all over.

The effects are also not terribly good, even by 1958 standards. Too many model shots of ships, and the interior of the sub really does feel like a studio set, especially due to the lighting design.

One thing that is especially interesting about TORPEDO RUN is a sub evacuation sequence in which the seamen exit the submarine at the floor of the ocean using Momsen-lungs, special breathing devices. These devices are very rarely shown in submarine movies.

A much, much better sub movie was released a few months before this one: RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP.

The Pacific, 1942, and Submarine commander Lt. Cmdr. Barney Doyle (Glenn Ford) is pursuing the Japanese ship that led the attack on Pearl Harbor back to Tokyo, where to all intents and purposes, he plans to enact revenge. But there's a major problem in the form of a freighter that is being used as a screen in front of the ship. For this freighter houses American prisoners of war, among them Doyle's own wife and child.

A well put together psychological thriller by director Joseph Pevney that is formed from a novel by Richard Sale {who co-writes the screenplay with William Wister Haines}. Tho the usual problems that exist with WW2 film's from this era are evident here {racist undertones, jingoistic sloganeering & hierarchy back slapping}, Torpedo Run manages to break away from its inheritance to become a taut involving aquatic drama fit to be named alongside the best in the submarine sub-genre of war movies.

Glenn Ford's performance is well layered and credible. Few actors from his generation are as undervalued for playing personally conflicted characters as he is, and here as Doyle he is on top characterisation form. He is ably supported by Ernest Borgnine as Lt. Archer 'Archie' Sloan, Doyle's right hand man, friend and professional conscious. It's with the two actors that the plot rightly focuses on, but this sadly puts the supporting characters in the shade. Thus the one truly important thing lacking from the piece is a total group dynamic expose. But thanks to the strong lead performances, and Pevney's no tricks directing, the film survives its failing. There's also added weight thrown into the narrative with the use of flashbacks to show how Doyle's relationship with his wife evolved. This helps us to be privy to Doyle's torment as he must make a career and life altering decision in the midst of war. The action is of good quality, especially the eventual showdown between the rivals. And as one who personally likes to see the forgotten art of model work used effectively, this film also scores high on the exciting scale for like minded film fans.

Far from perfect for sure, but there's much to admire and be involved with to make it a solid recommend to fans of WW2 human dramas. 7/10

The Leonard Maltin movie guide describes this World War 2 movie as being "sluggish". To some degree I would have to agree. Despite the movie taking place on the ocean battlefield, there often seems to be some sort of spark missing, with an almost casual feeling taking place instead. While I'm not looking for Michael Bay speed and edits, more adrenaline should have been injected. The leisurely pace is not the only thing dated. While some of the Oscar-nominated special effects *are* good, there are a few special effects shots that may provoke giggles from modern day audiences. And the ending wraps things up a little suddenly, and may be unsatisfying to some viewers.

Fortunately, there is more good than negative stuff. Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine give solid and believable performances. (And there is fun seeing L.Q. Jones and Dean Jones among the supporting players.) And while the movie may be leisurely at times, it doesn't get to the point of being boring. If you are looking for a submarine warfare movie, you could do worse.