Submarine D-1

'Butch' Rogers (Pat O'Brien) welcomes new recruits to submarine school. 'Sock' McGillis (Wayne Morris) keeps badmouthing him. They are competing over Ann Sawyer (Doris Weston) after an earlier incident with Sock's best friend Tom. Butch and his class join submarine D-1 USS Dolphin under Lt. Commander Dan Matthews (George Brent) on a mission.

They are supposed to be on a mission. The lackadaisical attitude do not engender any tension. They keep stopping at ports and going to nightclubs. This should be a simple rescue mission movie. It's over an hour before the movie gets to that point and it finally becomes an interesting thriller. The Navy can use some new futuristic gears and do some underwater work. It's the only part of any interest, but even here, the pacing is rather slow.

Enjoyable inter-War military adventure drama featuring the U.S. Navy submarine service. Based upon the story "Submarine 262" by Frank "Spig" Wead, who wrote a number of similar screenplays highlighting various parts of the fleet. This particular drama features the use of the McCann Rescue Chamber and Momsen Lung in a dramatic rescue of men from a sunken submarine off the coast of Point Loma, California. George Brent is remarkably low key and effective as the Commanding Officer. Also included is a love triangle between Chief Petty Officer Butch Rogers (Pat O'Brien), Petty Officer First Class (later Chief Petty Officer) Sock McGillis (Wayne Morris), and Ann Sawyer (Doris Weston). Comic relief by Lucky (Frank McHugh). Some development of what it takes to be a successful sailor in the submarine service - the ship is as strong as its weakest sailor. A young Broderick Crawford appears in a small part and Ronald Reagan was cast in one of his earliest appearances in a bit part but his scenes were left on the cutting room floor. Good shots of the rest of the Pacific Fleet as they work through Fleet Problem 20. Recommended.

"Submarine D-1" is a typical but terrific Warner Brothers, pre-WW2 movie on the glory of the U.S. Navy and in particular the submarine service. It has a great cast lead by Pat O'Brien, George Brent, Wayne Morris, and Frank McHugh but does not have Broderick Crawford among its players.

"Submarine D-1" contains great performances by Pat O'Brien as the Chief Petty Officer, Wayne Morris as the cocky sailor who finally matures into a first-rate CPO, and George Brent as the dedicated and somewhat fatherly submarine captain. Frank McHugh is also on hand as Warner Brothers' guaranteed laugh-getter for sure-fire comic relief. Henry O'Neil is well-cast as the wise-old admiral.

"Submarine D-1" is loaded with action, thrills, and comedy but contrary to many film sources Broderick Crawford is not in the film. I watched the entire film from beginning to end and can absolutely verify that he does not appear in this otherwise great old movie.

Sorry to give this film such a low rating but just too many errors. First, the sign at the beginning saying U. S. Submarine Base New London, CT should say Groton, CT.", not New London. Next, as they were rescuing the men some of CPO's and officers were in full dress uniforms. REALY? Many of them managed to keep their caps on. While in Panama on their way to San Diego, they were wearing their winter blues. Then as Frank McHugh was meeting his girl friend at the dock, he somehow managed to be wearing completely dry clothes. Also, now in San Diego they were wearing winter blues. It's too bad as I was expecting to enjoy this film, it went into the drinl.

Given the fact that every sub in this movie ends up at the bottom of the ocean floor during sea trials I would venture to guess that Admiral Karl Dönitz saw this and figured, "Acht Di leiber! Our U-Boats vill annnnnhiliate zose Americahns!" This would lull anyone into thinking our sub fleet was sub par. But technically, this isn't a bad movie... it's just it's so predictable. George Brent's acting is as bland as the Navy's powdered eggs and lovable lug Wayne Morris is a near-idiot that somehow makes Chief (the Navy sure must've been different than when I was in it--- no board and no initiation!). Frank McHugh does a swell job of playing Lucky, a symbiotic twin of the character Droopy he played 3 years earlier in HERE COMES THE NAVY. Nice stock shots of the Panama Canal and much better than the usual Warner Bros. middling level special effects. All in all, I hope that this was planned as a cunning piece of disinformation rather than a testimonial to the skills of the U.S. Navy in the mid-1930's. I wonder if Swede Monson ever saw this?