''Crash Dive'' is a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

film in

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

released in 1943. It was directed by

Archie Mayo Archibald L. Mayo (January 29, 1891 – December 4, 1968) was a film director, screenwriter and actor. Early years The son of a tailor, Mayo was born in New York City. After attending the city's public schools, he studied at Columbia Unive ...

, written by Jo Swerling (from a story by W.R. Burnett), and starred

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (193 ...

Dana Andrews Carver Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 – December 17, 1992) was an American film actor who became a major star in what is now known as film noir and later in Western films. A leading man during the 1940s, he continued acting in less prestigio ...

, and

Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway theatre, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe, and t ...

. The film was the last for Power before assignment to

recruit training Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which Resocialization, resocializes its subjects for ...

, as he had already enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

Plot

Lieutenant Ward Stewart, commanding a

PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and it was valued for its maneuverability and speed. However, PT boats were hampe ...

, sinks a

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

, saving a lifeboat full of survivors. But upon his return to port, he is transferred to the submarine USS ''Corsair''. For Ward, this is a letdown, but there is a shortage of trained submarine officers that must be filled. So for now, Ward Stewart is an underwater warrior. At the

submarine base A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel. Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, N ...

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...

, he meets his new captain, Dewey Connors. It is a tense, uneasy encounter, as Stewart's lack of enthusiasm is undisguised. Stewart has arranged a weekend pass before the ''Corsair'' sails on a mission, and Connors takes a few hours off to meet his girlfriend; New London school teacher Jean Hewlett. Unfortunately Hewlett has to step in for another teacher who has take ill and chaperone some honor students on a trip - Connors declines to accompany her. Stewart takes a train bound for Washington D.C., the same train as Hewlett, and the two meet. Despite her initial resistance, he begins to romance her. Connors and Hewlett take dinner, where Hewlett suggests marriage. He has delayed marrying her until his promotion to commander comes through, which would allow him to support her financially. Stewart's infatuation with PT boats continues to irritate Connors, but the two become friends after they engage a Nazi

Q-ship Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, decoy vessels, special service ships, or mystery ships, were heavily armed merchantman, armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the c ...

. When Connors is wounded, Stewart takes command and sinks the ship. After their return to base, Stewart continues to woo Hewlett and charms her into joining him for dinner at a restaurant, which turns out to be his Uncle's home. The tension between Stewart and Connors re-emerges after Connors returns from a briefing in Washington with that coveted promotion. Stewart discovers that Connors is also in love with Jean and about to propose. He goes to confront her, but they end up revealing everything when Connors overhears them talking. The two submariners personal animosities must take a back seat to the war, as the DC briefing involved a secret island supply base for the Q-ship sunk earlier and other German raiders. Connors has now been tasked with locating and destroying it. Thus, the ''Corsair'' soon sails, as Jean sadly observes from just offshore. The search for the secret base results in the sighting of a German coastal tanker. Rather than sinking it, however, Connors and crew follow the tanker through a harbor's anti-submarine net. Having found their quarry, a landing party of 8, commanded by Stewart, is put ashore. They are to destroy as many German munitions as possible in 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the ''Corsair'' will sink every ship it can in the harbor. Among the members of Stewart's landing party are Chief Mac MacDonnell and Messman Oliver Jones. The Chief has concealed a heart condition from the Navy and Jones has quietly assisted him. Both know the Chief's ruse will be exposed at his next physical. And though the raid is a great success, Chief MacDonnell makes the ultimate sacrifice while covering the escape of Stewart and Jones from a squad of German riflemen. As soon as the two complete their swim to the boat, Connors submerges the boat and puts out to sea, despite being wounded by enemy fire. In the end, Connors and Stewart make peace and, after the ''Corsair'' returns to New London, Stewart and Jean are married.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):

Background

Part of the film was shot at

Naval Submarine Base New London Naval Submarine Base New London is the primary United States Navy East Coast submarine base, also known as the "Home of the Submarine Force." It is located in Groton, Connecticut directly across the Thames River from its namesake city of New L ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. are visible in the early part of the film. The PT boats seen near the beginning are the 77-foot Elco type. The submarine primarily featured as ''Corsair'' was the experimental , with a

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...

modified to resemble her

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

. A few O-class and R-class submarines, built in World War I and used for training in World War II, are visible in the background of some shots. For wartime security reasons, no submarine classes used in combat in World War II appear in the film. is seen in one shot; there are probably not many good Technicolor views of a four-stack destroyer available today. ''Semmes'' was being used as a

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

testbed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computing tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental research ...

at the time. One of the scenes in the film was similar to that in '' Destination Tokyo'' (1943) starring

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he ...

, where the submarines follow an enemy tanker into their naval base through a

minefield A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

. Another similar plot device was in the 1954 film '' Hell and High Water'' about an island base to be used to launch a

Tupolev Tu-4 The Tupolev Tu-4 (; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet Union, Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. The aircraft was a copy of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress, ha ...

, a copy of the

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a retired American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the Bo ...

, in U.S. markings for an sneak

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear expl ...

attack. One interesting feature of the film is the significant role of

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

actor Ben Carter as messman Oliver Cromwell Jones. While most World War II films (particularly those made during the war) feature few, if any, African-American characters, ''Crash Dive'' is a notable exception. Although Carter plays a stereotypical role as a low ranking sailor (at that time, Blacks could only serve as cooks and messmen), his character is more developed than most

characters of the time by being shown to be a confidant to a higher ranking crew member. Jones (Ben Carter) also participates in a commando raid late in the film. It is possible portions of the film were inspired by the actions of the Greenland Patrol, a U.S. Coast Guard unit which patrolled the waters off Greenland, looking for Nazi weather stations and submarines. One such weather station was captured in June, 1941, which among other things impeded accurate German weather forecasting. Its personnel were taken to Boston and interned. The incident was classified at the time because the United States was not at war with Germany. But after

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

, this information was released to the American public.What History Forgot, Episode 2/01, "Defying the Nazis." First aired March 5, 2016.

Awards

Fred Sersen and Roger Heman Sr. won the

Academy Award for Best Visual Effects The Academy Award for Best Visual Effects is presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the best achievement in visual effects. It has been handed to four members of the team directly responsible for creatin ...

at the

16th Academy Awards The 16th Academy Awards were held on March 2, 1944, to honor the films of 1943. This was the first Oscar ceremony held at a large public venue, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and the first ceremony without a banquet as part of the festivities. Th ...

References

External links

* *
''Crash Dive'' at AllMovie
* {{Jo Swerling 1943 films 1940s war films American war drama films American World War II films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Archie Mayo Films that won the Best Visual Effects Academy Award World War II films made in wartime World War II submarine films Films scored by David Buttolph Films with screenplays by Jo Swerling 20th Century Fox films 1943 drama films English-language war films