Submarine Raider (1942)

One of my all time favorites.

Admirable film.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

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.

Marguerite Chapman is picked up by a submarine on its way to the Sea of Japan during the Second World War, and it looks like this movie was plundered for the Blake Edwards comedy OPERATION PETTICOAT almost twenty years later, except for the long spy subplot in which every Asian American crosses his eyes because he's a Jap spy.It's a competently managed programmer for the era, but this sort of movie was fairly commonplace during the Second World War and the cheapness of the production shines through, both in the cast and the lighting -- there are lots of day-for-night shots, outdoors scenes shot during the day which we're supposed to think are at night because they were printed dark --- black cars with blacker shadows. See it or don't see it and your life won't be much different either way.

Atrocious thy name is "Submarine Raider." Oh, it's not that the acting is bad. It isn't. Old friends Philip Ahn, Bruce Bennett, Richard Loo, Keye Luke, and Forrest Tucker perform well. However, a major character is miscast, special effects suck, there is no understanding of naval procedures, and the plot advances only because of stupid and wrong-headed behavior.Nino Pipitone should not have been cast as Captain Yamanada, the Japanese carrier's commander. Kangaroos look more Asiatic then he did. Instead, First Officer Philip Ahn should have played that role.The Japanese carrier, which is presented as the only one responsible for the Pearl Harbor attack, is depicted as having no screening ships (cruisers or destroyers) at all. It just blithely sallies forth alone. Then, there is the carrier's nemesis, an American submarine. Its Captain chooses to surface, with no weapons broken out, just after having received a nearby yacht's distress signal about a Japanese attack. When a Japanese plane is spotted, the sub doesn't dive for safety. Instead, it remains on the surface to fight with its only anti-aircraft weapon, a single machine gun.As to wrongheaded, the yacht's survivors clamor aboard a lifeboat never thinking that that too might be attacked by the Japanese. As a pilot starts to strafe them, they don't slip over the side into cover. Instead, one-by-one, they stand to face the plane, thus becoming easy targets. And, meanwhile, back in Hawaii, an American agent dooms himself by talking loudly about sensitive issues while potential (and, of course, real) Japanese spies surround him.Oy vey! What a turkey.

Lew Landers has made many little propaganda war movies in the early 40's. All action packed flicks. And this one makes no exception. No boredom during one hour. Some could say it's an average war movie from this period, but I consider it very interesting. It takes place in Pearl Harbor, just around December the 7th...Of course, the Japanese are all bad and American all good, but we can't expect something different. Anyway, I prefer this little film instead of great war movie classics twice much longer and talkative, even with more deeply described characters.And it's rather a rare film. Try it if you can.