CRASH DIVE (1943)

Despite the title, and despite being released well after the U.S. entered the war, this is really a throwback to the pre-WWII pseudo-wartime action movies that were actually romantic triangles in disguise. Tyrone Power is a Navy lieutenant who is pulled away from the P.T. boats he loves to serve as second-in-command on a submarine stationed at New London, Connecticut. He and his commander, Dana Andrews, quickly become buddies and they and their crew acquit themselves well after running into a Nazi ship (disguised as a Swedish freighter), but back home, trouble brews when Power flirts with a pretty schoolteacher (Anne Baxter), not realizing she's Andrews' longtime girlfriend. After a comic misadventure in Washington, D.C., Baxter falls for Power, and Andrews finds out what's going on just as the men ship out on a dangerous mission to raid a Nazi island base. Tensions on the sub are high until the raid, when, of course, the men re-bond in order to kick some Nazi ass. Despite the corny set-up, this is an above-average film of its type, due in part to good use of Technicolor (which still looks great after all these years) and also due to the script and acting. Power and Baxter are lovely and have chemistry, and Andrews does what has to be done in a relatively thankless role; since Power is far better looking, and first-billed, you know that he'll end up with Baxter. The Washington shenanigans are fun and verge on screwball comedy, and the climactic raid sequence is, despite looking very stagy, exciting. The only other major subplot involves old-timer James Gleason, who is trying to keep his heart condition a secret, and the black cook, Ben Carter, who knows Gleason's secret and keeps an eye on him. Harry Morgan (later Col. Potter on TV's MASH) is seen briefly on the sub, and Dane May Whitty has a small role as Power's grandmother. Parts of this were shot at the real New London sub base. Quite fun and worth seeing, as long as you know you're not getting a gritty, realistic war story. [FMC]