What War films have you seen? Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr - 2016 Edition.

CONTAINS SPOILERS

THE SILENT SERVICE "The Jack at Tokyo" 1957

This is the first episode of the U.S. war series, "The Silent Service". The series was about the exploits of the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet. Each episode is a stand-alone tale of the actions of a particular submarine. Most of the stories are about actions against the Japanese Navy and merchant fleet in the Pacific. There is also the odd tale from the Korean conflict. The series ran for 78 episodes during 1957 and 1958. The stories were all based on actual events. Some pretty good attention to detail here with the U.S Navy allowing filming on several WW 2 era Gato class subs.

Each episode started and ended with retired Real Admiral Thomas M. Dykers giving a breakdown of the action. Dykers became a writer, producer and technical adviser after leaving the service. He worked on films such as, TORPEDO ALLEY, FLAT TOP, THE FROGMEN, HELL AND HIGH WATER and SUBMARINE COMMAND.

This episode is about the "U.S.S. Jack". The "Jack" is damaged by a Japanese aircraft after the submarine made a successful attack on a Japanese convoy. The problem for the sub and crew is, that if they surface to repair the damage, they will be seen by the mad as hell Japanese convoy escorts.

Being under a series of depth charge attacks does not help matters. The chief engineer, Douglas Henderson, discovers that the damage is in a main flooding tank pipe. The pipe is just big enough for the smallish Henderson to squeeze into. He works his way up the pipe and finds the hole. He barely manages to make his way back without getting stuck. That night, the submarine surfaces and repairs the damage. And just in time too, as another Japanese convoy is coming over the horizon.

The "Jack" attacks and manages to sink four enemy tankers. It is then back to Pearl Harbor for supplies and more repairs.

The rest of the cast includes Myron Healey, Don Durant, Steve Mitchell and Brad Trumbull. The "Jack" was under the command of the series creator and producer, Thomas M. Dykers.

The episode was directed by long time low budget b-film man, Stuart E McGowan. The man worked in film and television as a director, producer and writer from 1930 till 1978.

The "Jack" had a successful war and ended up sinking 76,687 tons of Japanese shipping.

CONTAINS SPOILERS

NAVY LOG : "The Death of Dillinger San" 1956

NAVY LOG was a series that ran from 1956 to 1958. It was an anthology series based on real stories and exploits of the U.S. Navy during WW2, The Korean War and the then current, Cold War. The series ran for a total of 102 episodes. The series features plenty of just unclassified footage of various naval actions etc. The Navy was more than happy to help with tech and film footage.

This particular episode is the first of the second season productions. The U.S. Navy has intercepted top secret radio messages from the Japanese High Command to their base at Rabaul on New Britain Island. It seems that the top Admiral in the Japanese Navy, Yamamoto, is doing an inspection of various bases in the Solomon Islands. The U.S. Admiral in charge, Nimitz, strongly suggests that they should ambush the man.

The problem for the Navy is that they have no carriers in the area. But the Army has long range P-38 Lightning fighters based at Guadalcanal. The Army is ordered to cooperate with the Navy and set up the ambush.

The trick here is timing, the Army fighters will be flying at the extreme end of their range. They will only have a limited loiter time in the kill area. They do have Yamamoto's arrival time at a local Japanese base.

The timing is perfect and the ambush comes off with minimal U.S. losses. Yamamoto's transport and several of the escorting Zeros are flamed.

The cast is made up of, Selmer Jackson, Jack Jordon, Robert Knapp, Robert Carson and in an early role, Stuart Whitman.

Not bad for a low budget production. Military history buffs will enjoy the all the assorted combat footage used to pad out the runtime. The title, Dillinger San refers to the code name for Admiral Yamamoto.

Back to Bataan (1945)

I send out 100 men, they find nothing. I send out ten men, they don't come back.

Is it churlish to complain about overt flag waving in war movies? Or to decry propaganda prose in the same? Back to Bataan is guilty as charged, yet such is the composition of Edward Dmytryk's film, and its focus on a part of the war we rarely have seen on film, it matters not.

We are in 1942, and after the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese, U.S. Army Col. Joseph Madden (John Wayne) stays behind to lead the local guerrilla resistance against the Japanese army. With that synopsis it isn't hard to figure out what sort of pic we are going to get, yet to purely consider this as a macho beefcake movie is a little unfair.

Sure it's bookended by blistering action, as Duke Wayne (very restrained turn actually) and Anthony Quinn cut a swathe through the RKO sound stages, but there's lots of intelligent human interactions here to mark it as being in the least knowing of the campaign.

It often grasps for the sentimental branch, while the racist barbs and portrayal of the Japanese does sting at times. But this is exciting and thoughtful stuff, boosted no end by Dmytryk's sturdy direction and Nicholas Musuraca's monochrome photography (a film noir lovers dream pairing!). Better than routine war movie. 7/10

The Spikeopath - Hospital Number 217

The Silent Service (1957) - The Jack at Tokyo (1957)

Good stuff, great stat as well mate 

The Spikeopath - Hospital Number 217

Navy Log (1955) - The Death of Dillinger-San (1956)

Have we had one from this series before? 4 seasons so it must have been popular enough.

The Spikeopath - Hospital Number 217

First one that I watched.

Have not seen this one in quite a few years but recall liking it. Time to add it to the rewatch list. Tick applied.

CONTAINS SPOILERS

THE SILENT SERVICE "The Trout at Rainbow's End" 1957

This is the second episode of the U.S. war series, "The Silent Service". The series was about the exploits of the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet. Each episode is a stand-alone tale of the actions of a particular submarine. Most of the stories are about actions against the Japanese Navy and merchant fleet in the Pacific. There is also the odd tale from the Korean conflict. The series ran for 78 episodes during 1957 and 1958. The stories were all based on actual events. Some pretty good attention to detail here with the U.S Navy allowing filming on several WW 2 era Gato class subs.

Each episode started and ended with retired Real Admiral Thomas M. Dykers giving a breakdown of the action. Dykers became a writer, producer and technical adviser after leaving the service. He worked on films such as, TORPEDO ALLEY, FLAT TOP, THE FROGMEN, HELL AND HIGH WATER and SUBMARINE COMMAND.

This episode is about the "Trout". It is January 1942 and the "Trout" is loaded with as much ammunition as can be crammed into her. Extra torpedoes and the lead ballast are landed to make extra room for munitions. The "Trout" has been assigned to transport the ammo to Corregidor in the Philippines.

They make record time from Pearl Harbor to the fortress. Now they need to sneak in at night through the minefields. The problem here is that the chart they have is 6 months out of date. They manage to make it to the dock after several close calls with drifting mines. They unload the ammo to a grateful garrison. They also pass out most of their food supply to the Army troops.

Now that the submarine has been off loaded, they are too light to dive. They had landed their lead ballast in Pearl to ship more ammo. They end up loading the "Trout" with over 20 tons of gold and silver from various Philippine banks. After a day spent sitting on the bottom to avoid Japanese air attack, they set sail for Pearl Harbor. They made a small detour in order to sink a Japanese ship. The submarine makes it home and off loads the gold and silver.

The "Trout" would make 11 war patrols between 1941 and 1944, sinking 12 enemy ships totalling 37,000 tons. In Feb 1944 the "Trout" failed to return from her 11th patrol and was listed as lost with all hands.

The cast includes, Robert Karnes, Dennis McCarthy, Joseph Sargent and Roy Engel. Of note here is Joseph Sargent, the actor would switch to directing and worked in both television and film. His film work included, COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT, THE MAN, WHITE LIGHTNING, MacARTHUR and THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE.