The Deep Six (1958)

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

THE DEEP SIX 1958This 1958 film was a co-production between Warner Brothers and Alan Ladd's Jaguar Productions. The film is a WW2 drama with Alan Ladd in the lead. The rest of the cast includes, James Whitmore, Keenan Wynn, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Dianne Foster, William Bendix and Joey Bishop. Alan Ladd plays ad artist who works for an agency in New York. He has the hots for his boss, Dianne Foster. Ladd makes a few moves on the pretty Miss Foster, but, before he can close the deal, he gets a letter calling him up for service. Ladd is a member of the Navy reserve and is assigned to a destroyer. Now we find out that Ladd is from a Quaker family, and has been raised to avoid doing harm to another person. Ladd has not been a practising Quaker for years. He joins his ship and is welcomed aboard by the Captain, James Whitmore. The welcome is far less friendly from the executive officer, Keenan Wynn. Wynn is not pleased with the fact that Ladd is a Quaker. Wynn is a bitter man having been at Pearl Harbor on December 7th. He had lost family when the USS ARIZONA had been sunk. Ladd is put in charge of a twin 40 mm anti-aircraft mount. His gun crew includes, Joey Bishop, (in his 1st role) Perry Lopez and Ross Bagdasarian. Also in the mix here is William Bendix as a Chief Petty Officer and Efrem Zimbalist Jr as the ship's doctor. Every chance Wynn has he insults Ladd, or complains to the Captain that Ladd will let them down in combat. This of course wears on Ladd causing inner conflict over his personal values. The ship stops off in San Francisco where Ladd gets a surprise leave. And who is waiting for him there? Miss Foster of course. She has fallen for Ladd and wants to introduce him to her family who just happen to live down the coast.Everything is going nicely when Foster's sister, Barbara Eiler, gets news that her husband was lost in combat. The man had been on a ship that went down off Guadalcanal. Ladd now feels guilty about asking Foster to marry him. He tells her that they must wait till the war is over. Ladd's ship is now sent to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands. Ladd's problems come to a head, when a he can't bring himself to order his gun crew to fire on an approaching aircraft. It turns out to be an American plane, so no big deal. Ladd though goes to the Captain and tells him of his hesitation to fire. Ladd is taken off the gun and assigned to damage control. Wynn in now convinced he has been right about Ladd the whole time. Ladd shows that he is no coward when the ship is hit by a bomb during a Japanese air raid. The bomb fails to explode, so Ladd, along with William Bendix dig the thing out from between decks. They haul it topside and toss it overboard, where it explodes.The ship is now sent to pick up the crew of a downed recon plane stranded on one of the Japanese held, Aleutian Islands. Ladd volunteers to lead the rescue party ashore. The mission quickly goes sideways as the Japanese put in an unwanted appearance. There is a brisk battle with Ladd calling in supporting fire from the destroyer. Petty Officer Bendix is wounded forcing Ladd to decide to kill, or be killed. He uses his Thompson to mow down a group of attacking Japanese, collecting a round himself in the exchange. They cart Bendix and the rescued airmen back to the ship. Bendix does not make it back. The ship returns to San Francisco where the wounded Ladd is discharged into the waiting arms of Miss Foster. While all this has been going on, the ship's doctor, Zimbalist, has discovered that the exc, Wynn, has been stealing morphine from the drug locker. He has been self-medicating over a stomach problem.The film was directed by former cinematographer turned helmsman, Rudolph Mate. The 5 time Oscar nominated (Gilda, Sahara, Cover Girl, etc.) Mate cranked out several solid westerns and film noir as a director. These include DOA, THE DARK PAST, SIEGE AT RED RIVER, THE VIOLENT MEN and UNION STATION.The cinematography here was handled by Ladd favourite, John F Seitz. Seitz would be the director of photography on 22 diff Ladd films. Among these, SAIGON, CALCUTTA, THE GREAT GATSBY, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER, BOTNAY BAY, THE BIG LAND and THIS GUN FOR HIRE. He also shot, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE LOST WEEKEND, SUNSET BLVD and THE BIG CLOCK. Seitz received 7 Oscar nominations over his 1916 to 1960 career. The film suffers from a rather meandering script which has little to do with the source novel by, Martin Dibner. The changes from the novel (which I have read) are not for the better. The usually reliable Mate seems somewhat "lost at sea" here. The cast are all okay, though Ladd is really a bit old for the part. (and I'm a Ladd fan) The film needed to be tightened up and cut down from the 108 minute run time. Worth a watch, but is not one of Ladd's better films. This was the seventh time William Bendix and Alan Ladd appeared in the same film. Both would die in 1964, Ladd at 50 and Bendix at age 58.

Towards the tail end of his career, the quality of Alan Ladd's films slipped significantly. Oddly, despite his success in "Shane" (1953), his successive films became increasingly formulaic and weak. I am not completely sure why. Because of this, I was happy with seeing "Deep Six" because although it wasn't a great film, it was a very good one and an improvement over his usual movie from this period in his career.In this film, Ladd plays a Quaker serving in the Navy during WWII. Unlike his usual pugnacious persona, this character is more thoughtful and quiet than you would expect. His religious faith and his duty become a significant problem, as he finds that he does have difficulty killing. How's he going to work all this out? With his good buddy Frenchie (William Bendix).Bendix is a common actor in Alan Ladd films and they were in about a half dozen films together. However, they were never better together than in this film--mostly because Bendix's character was really well written and fun to watch. Unfortunately, not all the other characters are as multidimensional and the film, oddly, leaves Frenchie's fate a bit in doubt--for this, the film loses a point. Otherwise, entertaining and with some unexpected depth.By the way, the history teacher in me was irritated that the clothing and hairstyles on the women were clearly mid-1950s--not at all the sorts you'd have seen during WWII. This was sloppy--as well as the poor use of stock footage where a Japanese plane switched from silver to green in mid-flight!!

Raised by a peace-loving Quaker mother, artist Alan Ladd (as Alexander "Alec" Austen) is nevertheless enlisted for World War II service. This interrupts his romance with attractive younger Dianne Foster (as Susan Cahill). In the Navy, Mr. Ladd meets a typical group of movie sailors. These include frequent co-star William Bendix (as "Frenchy" Shapiro), secretive Keenan Wynn (as Mike Edge), commander James Whitmore (as Warren Meredith) and roommate Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (as Doctor Blanchard). Stand up comic Joey Bishop plays an oddly attractive young sailor, and future "Alvin and the Chipmunks" creator Ross Bagdasarian provides the crew with dozens of Armenian woman. Ladd is made gunnery officer, but his pacifist past causes him to freeze when it's time to shoot. Ladd must learn how to kill or put his crew in danger...***** The Deep Six (1/15/58) Rudolph Mate ~ Alan Ladd, William Bendix, Dianne Foster, Joey Bishop

I could not disagree more with CHRIS from South Adelaide who I feel really gave this film short shrift. Alec Austen is a commercial artist and Naval reservist called to active duty in WWII. Having long forsaken his Quaker upbringing he is thus completely blindsided when after reporting for duty on a destroyer he finds himself seriously conflicted regarding the taking of life. Alan Ladd, though in decline personally and professionally at this point in his life, is, nevertheless, very good as the troubled Alec. This film is further buoyed by an absolutely outstanding supporting cast including: James Whitmore, Keenan Wynn, William Bendix, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Jeanette Nolan and Joey Bishop. Other familiar faces include Perry Lopez,(Cowhand Pete Ramirez in THE LONE RANGER movie and a crewman in MR. ROBERTS) and Ross Bagdasarian who, aided by his chipmunks Alvin, Simon & Theodore, would later gain recording and TV fame as David Seville. The storyline is also unique in that the main WWII theater of operations setting is the Northeast Pacific and the Aleutians. Director Rudolph Mate's other credits as Director or Director of Photography include GILDA, SAHARA (1943) and PRIDE OF THE YANKEES. Alas, it has not yet found it's way to DVD. THE DEEP SIX is not SAVING PRIVATE RYAN or TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH, it is a solid production worthy of a look.