Torpedo Alley (1953)

the audience applauded

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

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

One of the most cliché written screenplays ever is the nail in the coffin for this already familiar war drama of life in military training and the first mission its cynical trainee (Mark Stevens) goes through. He's not exactly a character to root for (even being an American during World War II) because he's just not likable, and the forced romance between him and nurse Dorothy Malone just never seems realistically established. This breaks one of the main unspoken laws of writing in the sense that just because you have certain characters saying certain lines doesn't mean that the audience will be suckers enough to believe it. Charles Winninger is slightly amusing as Malone's pop in one of his later roles. A submarine training scene in a water tower is perhaps the only unique thing about the film, the rest of the story so familiar and having been so many times before so much better in tons of movies made a decade before.

While not in the class of "Run Silent, Run Deep", "The Enemy Below", "U-571", "Das Boot", "Up Periscope" or "Crash Dive" this is still a very watchable sub film. There are no really gripping battle sequences, though the ones that do occur are well done and at least 35% of the film is devoted to the training of submariners which, while interesting, does make the story slow down. Where many war movies concentrate on battle, here there is more character development, romantic entanglements and inter-character friction and interaction than combat. I enjoyed the movie but I felt it was somewhat plodding in spots and I had trouble really caring about the characters. The actors all did very well with what they had, but there is no major conflict to tie it all together. Perhaps because it revolves around the Korean War era it does not have the urgency found in most of the WW2 movies. A good movie but, in my opinion, not a great one.

Mark Stevens, Dorothy Malone, James Millican, Douglas Kennedy and Bill Williams star in this action-oriented sea yarn from the 1950's. It is a tale of Mark Stevens as a Navy Pilot that is lost at sea. He is rescued by a submarine and he has guilt because he lost his crew in the crash. After he leaves the Navy after WWII he tries his hand at civilian work but has no real interest, He joins the Navy again just before the Korean War and goes to submarine school because he is too old for combat flying and does not want to be an flight instructor. He has met and fell in love with pretty Navy nurse who lives with her father a Navy Warrant Officer at New London where he is attending submarine school. Typical love lost, love won story that really takes away from the story of the submarine service and the gallant men who served during the Second World War and Korea. The scenes at the sub base at New London bring back memories of a time gone by and of the adventure of the when I was young. I thought it was a very good submarine film with a lot of training information. In 1952 this could have been a great recruiting film for the submarine forces. Today it is history for us old timers to think about relive our youth.

Mark Stevens,Dorothy Malone and Bill Williams star in this action-oriented sea yarn from the 1950's. It is a tale of failure, redemption, duty and romance. While the film does not compare favorably to such war films as Destination Tokyo or Torpedo Run, Mark Stevens does do a great job as the lead officer. The script seemed routine though ..........Stevens, who starred in the film Jack Slade, had a long and productive career in acting, never quite reaching the star status he so richly deserved. This film again demonstrates his ability to make a mediocre film watchable.