Main Cast: James Garner, Edmond O'Brien, Andra Martin, Alan Hale, Jr., Carleton Carpenter
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 111 minutes
Plot
Lt. (jg) Ken Braden (James Garner) is a US Navy frogman and underwater demolitions expert who is assigned to a vital mission, and to a submarine captained by Commander Stevenson Edmond O'Brien. But Stevenson is a CO who may have seen too many men die -- the two immediately come into conflict over Braden's presence on the boat and his mission, a top secret foray into Japanese waters that jeopardizes the boat. The captain, in his strict adherence to regulations, makes it as difficult as possible for Braden to carry out his assignment, and Braden doesn't make matters easier between them by speaking his mind. And the crew's low morale only makes matters worse as the voyage progresses and the dangers around them mount. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Review
Gordon Douglas's Up Periscope was made primarily as a vehicle for James Garner, a newly-minted television star (of Maverick), to see if he could draw audiences into theaters as well (he could). But as a World War II thriller, it was caught in between the gap between the modestly budgeted, intensely personal brand of war movie typical of the 1950's, and the bigger budgeted epics of the 1960's. It was made in color and shot in Warnerscope; and it has a very colorful (and fairly large) supporting cast -- including Alan Hale, Jr., Carlton Carpenter, Henry Kulky, and a young Warren Oates (stealing scenes in his first movie role) -- but its budgetary limitations are obvious as well. The latter include the Max Steiner title theme, which is recycled from two earlier Warner Bros. war movies; and the extended dialogue sequences that cover screen time that might, in a bigger budgeted movie, be filled with more expensive action scenes. The psychological conflict at the center, between the James Garner and Edmond O'Brien characters, seems to have come out of Robert Wise's Run Silent, Run Deep, which is a better movie, but as for the rest, it's fairly diverting, at least once, and this was the kind of war movie that baby-boomers loved to watch because it pretended to more than it actually delivered, in terms of depth. It's superficial but diverting fun, with a slightly greater humor content than was usual in a film like this. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Jack T. Collis - Art Director, Gordon M. Douglas - Director, John Schreyer - Editor, Ray Heindorf - Composer (Music Score), Gordon Bau - Makeup, Carl Guthrie - Cinematographer, Aubrey Schenk - Producer, William Wallace - Set Designer, Richard Landau - Screenwriter, Robb White - Book Author
Up Periscope is a 1959World War II drama starring James Garner as a Navy frogman fighting the Japanese. The supporting cast includes Edmond O'Brien, Andra Martin, and Alan Hale, Jr.. The film was written by Richard H. Landau and Robb White from White's novel, produced by Aubrey Schenk, and directed by Gordon Douglas. While references were acknowledged to protect the interests of Robert White's novel, the hollywood background is unmistakable: the 1943 Delmer Davies and Steve Fischer movie called Destination Tokyo. That movie starred Cary Grant and James Garfield and featured frequent Errol Flynn sidekick Alan Hale, Sr. (father of "Up Periscope" player Alan Hale, Jr.) as "Cookie" the submarine's cook. The younger Hale appears in "Up Periscope" as a long tenured Ensign who, instead of cleaning up the galley, cleans up all the minor duties not taken by senior officers. From the movies theme music to the general character of the film, "Up Periscope" stands to "Destination Tokyo" as an enjoyable successor.
Lt. Kenneth Braden, a newly trained Navy "frogman", is unexpectedly ordered to report to duty, without being able to notify Sally Johnson, his new girl friend that he has taken a serious interest in. Reporting for duty he is told she is an officer of Naval Intelligence and was responsible for a recent confirmation of his character and fitness for duty. Commander Stevenson, under pressure from his crew because of the death of a crew member on his last mission, is ordered to bring Braden into a Japanese harbor inlet so that Braden can attempt the capture of the current Japanese communication cypher tables. The plot becomes: will they make it out alive?
Between the Two Movies - Watching Our Culture Change
How military characters are portrayed in each movie is a rather remarkable comparison. The open human heart of Destination Tokyo is replaced with the cold hand of military command in Up Periscope. Where sailor's in Destination Tokyo were rewarded with "a clean sweep", the crew in Up Periscope experience the modernist's "uncertain relief from mounting tension".
