thinker1691 Choosing from among the war time navel stories written by Richard Sale, director Joseph Pevney selected this one entitled " Torpedo Run. " It tells the saga of Lt. Commander Barney Doyal (Glenn Ford), a Submarine commander who remembers the Akagi, the attack ship which lead the attack on Pearl harbor on December 7th 1941. Believing his immediate family is safe and out of Harms way, Doyal is out at sea searching for the enemy when his Superiors send him a message that his family has been put aboard a transport ship, being used to Screen and protect the Akagi and dares him to attack his aircraft Carrier while Doyal's family is screening it. Doyal is a professional navy commander and realizes what he must do, despite his second in command Lt. Archie Slone', (Ernest Borgnine) advice and objections. This film was highly nominated for an Oscar in the 1950's and the very special effects which went into the movie gives audiences the reasons why. The cast also include Dean Jones and L.Q. Jones. This film should be part of any war time collection as it has become a true Classic. Easily recommended. ****

Theo Robertson This is one of these films that we don't get nowadays and hasn't been produced for decades . Hardly surprising since 1945 only two submarines have killed ships in conflict . The first one being the Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor that sunk the Indian frigate INS Khukri in the 1971 India - Pakistan war and the last time was the Argentine Cruiser The General Belgrano being sunk by HMS Conqueror in the 1982 Falklands War . On top of the 1981 movie DAS BOOT has got to be the last word on this sub genre of war movie . It's very easy to express tension in these type of movies , of having silent routine as enemy ships patrol over head dropping depth charges and have close ups of submarine crewmen with beads of sweat slowly dripping down there foreheads but DAS BOOT did this type of drama so effectively and so vividly any successor would be a very pale imitation TORPEDO RUN on its own merits isn't a bad film . It doesn't break any new ground but follows the formula rather well . Like so many other films especially American war films there's a fair bit of artistic licence used such as no American submarine actually penetrated the Tokyo harbour during the war and the mega massive Japanese aircraft carrier is an invention for the film . There is a slightly annoying aspect and that is many of the model shots look unconvincing but this is common problem seeing as scale involving fire and water are impossible to achieve on screen and even DAS BOOT suffered slightly from this One thing the film does deserve great credit for is the British character Lt Redley played by Robert Hardy . All too often recent American productions such as SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and BAND OF BROTHERS portray the Brits as either amateurish buffoons needing rescuing by the tough , brave and resourceful Americans or make an already bad situation much worse leaving the hard pressed Americans to pick up the pieces while the British stop to drink some tea . Here we see Redley put forward a suggestion that gets the crew out of a very tight spot . Nice to see the war shown as a joint effort amongst allies who had a mutual respect for one another

nomoons11 This is a pretty decent little war drama. It's not high on the "must see" list but it's got Glenn Ford in it so...it's worth a watch.The subs captain is living in Manila with his wife and child before the war starts in the Pacific. His wife in Manila, decides to stay behind and hide in the hills/mts. if and when the Japanese invade. The captain tries to put his foot down but she won't have it, she's staying with their child. Well the Japs invade and they imprison her and the child. The Japs know what sub captains are in the area and decide to take a troop ship of prison camp detainees, 2 who include his wife and child, all the way to Japan. They use the ship to block a heavily fortified Carrier ship from being torpedo'd by the captain. Well, they make the wrong move. The captain tries to shoot the Carrier anyhow...and misses...hitting and sinking the transport ship...killing his wife and child. From here on out its a cat and mouse game of finding the carrier ship he missed. What I got out of this film is making good and bad choices. If he would have laid down the law with his wife, they would have been somewhere else..alive and well....but he acquiesces and lets her have her way. Down the line he eventually shoots the boat by mistake. Both of these were difficult choices that he now...has to live with.So what would you have done?

vandino1 These submarine films always follow the pattern of playing out the relationship of the determined Captain and the watchful, suspicious second in command. This one features Ford as the Captain and Borgnine as the Lieutenant. Same old routine. The film starts fine then gradually becomes absurd as feverish Ford turns into Captain Ahab relentlessly in search of his white whale---in this case the Japanese carrier Shinaru. Seems the Navy is perfectly willing to accommodate Ford on his obsessive mission, and Borgnine is even willing to reject the offer of a command of his own vessel in order to stick by Ahab-Ford's side. Oh, sure. And what started all this? In an earlier scene, Ford is "forced" to torpedo a transport filled with 1400 civilians, including Ford's wife and child (caught in Manila) that is being used as a screen to protect the Shinaru. Absurd! Both the Navy and Ford's character, fully aware the transport is there, would never take that kind of chance. The potentially staggering loss would have been a calamity that would never have been sanctioned. This is just a ridiculous contrivance to fuel Ford's obsession. In addition, the filmmakers try to have it both ways by never stating whether or not Ford's family survives or not. Borgnine is merely there as the Voice of Reason. His only other duty seems to be offering Ford coffee in every other scene.Otherwise, this film is a second-rate action film. The supporting actors have almost nothing to work with, leaving them blanks we could care less about. Interesting to see a young Al Freeman, Jr. on board, since there were few black submariners in the service. So, not historically inaccurate. The stock footage of U.S. destroyers used to play Japanese destroyers IS inaccurate, obviously. And the special effects are variable; effective at times and painfully obvious at others. And the multi-depth charge walloping Ford's sub takes is very impressive, but also hard to believe that the sub isn't blown to pieces considering most of the charges explode right on top of it. One other odd note is the lack of a music score credit. The score is perfectly fine yet whoever provided it was either denied credit or took their name off it. Wonder why.