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Newsgroups: sci.military From: Rick Anderson <r_anderson@nova.enet.dec.com> Subject: List of Naval-related movies (long) Message-ID: <C39v94.MCK@law7.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> Organization: DEC Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1993 17:29:28 GMT Lines: 514

From Rick Anderson <r_anderson@nova.enet.dec.com>

Enclosed below is a list of naval-related movies put together by a colleague of mine. Please feel free to send me comments, suggestions or additions to this list. Thanks in advance. Rick

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NAVAL AIR & CARRIERS ================================================================

Helldivers (1931, C.Gable) Shot on Saratoga. Loads of Curtis Helldivers. Dirigible (1931, J.Holt) USN air experiments in Antarctica. Wings of the Navy (1939) Shot at Pensacola, North Island. Pilot is followed through training (N3N's, NS1's) to PBY-2A Catalinas ^ Flight Command (1939, Robert Taylor) Shot on the Enterprise, and with VF-6 at North Island on F3F-1 Bips. Pilot develops blind landing equipment, saves his CO, gets accepted, wins the girl. * ^ Ships with Wings (1941, J.Clements) British, a few good shots of Ark Royal, Swordfish, Skuas, Barracudas, etc. Typical early war flag waving BS. Ark royal attacks and devastates the Germans at a "secret" Med. island base, washed out airman redeems himself with sacrifice. ** ^ Dive Bomber (1941, Errol Flynn) Shot at North Island and on the Enterprise. Great colour film of Biplanes! Flying South on This Plane (1942,Japanese) WWII movie about Pearl Harbour attack. Torpedo Squadron's Move Out(1944, Japanese) WWII movie.. Kamikazes. ** V ^ Wing and a Prayer (1944, Don Ameche) Some film shot on Yorktown (II) as it worked up, with an airwing of Hellcats, Helldivers, and Avengers. Story of an Avenger torpedo squadron, resenting the tough CAG CDR, at Midway, from Carrier "X". Only Avengers flew at Midway, and they were land based. Newsreel footage is well integrated, along with some model work. Includes shots of rare hangar deck cat shot and over the bow Avenger landings. This Man's Navy (1945, Wallace Beery) Blimps! Shot at Lakehurst , Del Mar, Moffett Field, Santa Ana. ^ High Barbaree (1947, Van Johnson) Shot at North Island. Story of PBY crew shot down off Tulgai, telling their story through flash-backs. Used 2 PBY's brought out of mothballs. ** ^ Task Force (1949, Gary Cooper) Shot on Antietam, Bairoko (as Langley), North Island ** V ^ Flat Top (1952, Sterling Hayden) Shot on Princeton on route to it's second Korean cruise. Plenty of CAG-19 Corsairs and Avengers. ** V ^ Men of The Fighting Lady(1954, Van Johnson) Shot on Orsikany *** V ^ Bridges at Toko-Ri(1954, W.Holden)Reservist is recalled to fly Panthers in Korea. Apparently shot on Oriskany as well. Plenty of good colour film of Panthers and H-5 rescue choppers. Noteable for it's portrait of sailors that might resent the war, or let loose off duty, but still function as %100 professsionals when on duty. Something missing from almost all Vietnam flics. Jet Carrier (1954) Filmed on Yorktown (II) off California. Air Strike (1955, R.Denning)) ^ The Eternal Sea (1955, S.Hayden) Story of John Hoskins, Carrier Commander Battle Stations (1956, William Bendix) Shot on Princeton again, with Vc-3 Corsairs and VS-23 TBM-3's. Fictionalized account of the Franklin and it's survival. Lots of newsreel footage of Franklin. Crowded Sky (1960, D.Andrews) Navy T-33 collides with airliner. *** V ^ Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) Story of Dec.7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour. Parts shot on Yorktown, also DD's Philip, Sproston, Brister, Newell, Sheldrake for attack scenes at Pearl. Part was shot in Japan, they built a *full-size replica(deck-up)* of the IJN BB Nagoto, a replica of 3/4 of the deck of the Akagi. There was another replica of the hangar deck. The actual attack was filmed on location with over 30 replica Japanese aircraft. 29 were flown off of Yorktown using carrier qaulified pilots. 45 mockup B-17's, PBY's and P-40 were made, and blown at the actual remains of Ford NAS. A full scale reproduction of the aft end of Arizona was built on two barges. I Bombed Pearl Harbour(1972, Japanese) Co-production with Tora-Tora-Tora. Poorly dubbed into English. Apparently poorly made in relation to Tora, for some odd reason since they had access to most of the same footage. ** V ^ Midway (1976, H. Fonda) Some shot on Lexington with two Wildcats, plus Tora footage. Also shot at Pensacola, Point Mugu, Fort McArthur, Long Beach N.B. [Fonda actually served under Nimitz at Guam, Glen Ford, also in here, was a CG seaman on a forward picket at Midway.] Tells the story, but not very well as a story. It works better if you know the history. Chraltin Heston's mission switchs a/c types 4 times in one sortie! ** V ^ Final Countdown (1980, K.Douglas) Nimitz goes back in time to Dec.6 1941. Shot on Nimitz, two stars for the hardware only, SF story is not very credible. ** V ^ Top Gun (1986, T.Cruise) Two stars for hardware only. Shot partly on Enterprise off California, with interiors shot aboard. Ranger at North Island. Also at NAS Miramar, and at NAS Fallon for some air-to air. The F-14A's bore fictious markings but they were from VF-114, VF-213, VF-1, VF-51. F-5E's played "Mig-21's". V Supercarriers (1988, R.Jeakel) Pilot for TV show *** V ^ Flight of the Intruder(1991, W.Dafoe) Shot on the Independance. Look for current low-vis A-6's in some shots.

MAINLY SUBS =================================================================== Behind the Door (1919)Silent about "blood-thirsty" U-boats in WW1. Men without Women (1930) Subs! Sub sinks, 14 men try to escape. Watch for John Wayne in a bit part as one of the crew. The Seas Beneath Us(1930) Supposed to be subs as well. Hell Below (1933, R. Montgomery) Subs! An USN sub sinks in the Adriatic during WW1. Morgenrot (1933, German) Subs again! Lets hope one of these is still floating around! Another sub sinks, this time after being rammed by a British destroyer. Submarine D-1 (1937, Pat O'Brien) Neutral Port (1940, L.Banks)Merchant captain goes after U-Boat in neutral port 49th Parallel (1941, E.Portman)U-boat is sunk off Canada, stranding 6 crew. Realistic U-boat was a replica built in Canada (The RCN didn't have a spare sub). Submarine Raiders (1942) ** V ^ Destination Tokyo (1943, C.Grant)Good story of sub, "Copperfin" on mission to Tokyo Bay for Dolittle weather report. Appears to be filmed around Mare Island. Some model work, newsreel footage. Look for John Forsythe as one of the crew. Crash Dive (1943, T.Power)Disgruntled ex-PT commander takes over sub. Big special effects ending. Silver Fleet (1943,R.Richardson) Dutch shipping owner destroys U-boat and himself. V We Dive at Dawn (1943, J.Mills,) Royal navy sub "Sea Tiger" sinks German battleship. The Damned (1947, French Title "Les Maudets") U-boat tries to escape after VE day. Flying Missile (1950, G.Ford)USN Sub commander adds missiles. This must be based on V-1 launches tested about then. Mystery Submarine (1950) Morning Departure (1951, J.Mills, US Title "Operation Disaster") British V ^ Operation Pacific (1951, J.Wayne) Conflict on a sub, the "Thunderfish" ^ Submarine Command (1951, H.Holden) Holden is plagued with doubt during Korean war. Sealed Cargo (1951, D.Andrews) Sail captain battles U-boats off Newfoundland. Hell and High Water(1954) Sub verus Chinese communists Above Us the Waves(1956, J.Mills,British) Midgets attack on the Tirpitz V Hellcats of the Navy(1957, R.Reagan) Sub in Tushima Straits, 1944. ** V ^ Run Silent, Run Deep(1958, C.Gable)Good story of tension between Gable and Lancaster on sub ("Nerka") run to Tokyo bay. V Torpedo Run (1958, G.Ford) Ford pursues Jap carrier to Tokyo Bay because it's shielded by a transport with his family on board ("Grayfish"). * V ^ Up Periscope (1959, J.Garner) Routine sub movie, with Garner an underwater demo man sent in 1942 to steal the Japanese codes single handed, clashing with sub commander Pat O'Brien. Shot at Pearl using an Gato (??) class sub. Japanese attack with a T-28 and a DE. Closing scene as they pull up to the dock with band playing, has a 1950's carrier pulling out behind! (Forrestal class ??). Underwater shots of a completely different class of US subs are from some earlier movie. The Battle of the Coral Sea(1959, C.Robertson) Mystery Submarine (1963, British, UK Title "Decoy" J.R. Justice)Tale of British manned U-boat, that ends up being "recaptured" by the RN. * ^ Submarine X-1 (1968, J. Caan, British Midgets)Appears to be filmed up a Scottish loch with one of the RN 1950's midgets. ** V ^ Murphy's War (1971, P. O'Toole) Filmed with Argentine Navy sub. O'Toole goes after a U-boat up a South American river that had sank his ship using a Grumman Duck biplane. ** V ^ Gray Lady Down (1978, C.Heston) *** V ^ Das Boot (1981, German, US Title "The Boat") journalist goes on harrowing U-Boat patrol. Shot with 3 full scale mock-ups, originally as a 6 hour minseries.

OLDIES ================================================================ Old Ironsides (1926) War of 1812. Must be a silent. Drake of England (1935) Spanish Armada. Reasonably accurate historically, but models are obvious. *** V ^ Mutiny on the Bounty(1935, C.Gable) Exteriors shot on the derelict Scottish clipper "Balclutha" (1886), now restored in San Francisco. Not very accurate historical, but quite a movie. V Fire Over England (1936, L.Olivier) Drake/Armada V ^ That Hamilton Women(1941, L.Olivier, UK Title "Lady Hamilton") Nelson's love affair. Accurate historically, but not a lot of naval action (Trafalgar was shot with models). ** V Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951, G.Peck) Napoleonic epic. ** ^ John Paul Jones (1959, R.Stack) Biography *** V ^ Damn the Defiant (1962, A.Guiness, UK title "HMS Defiant") Naploneonic ^ Seven Seas to Calais (1962, R.Taylor) Drake, heavily fictionalized. V Billy Budd (1962, R.Ryan) ** V ^ The Mutiny on the Bounty(1962, M.Brando)Even less accurate than 1935 movie, except for the ship Full size Bounty replica now at St. Petersberg, Florida. The Nelson Affair (1973, G.Jackson, UK Title "A Bequest to the Nation") Naval action was shot indoors! ** V ^ The Bounty (1984, M.Gibson) Far more accurate, but not as watchable as 1935 flic. ** V ^ Ironclads (1991, E.G.Marshall) Monitor and Merrimack. Shot with effective models. Mainly a (probably fictional) spy story One of the few recent navy movies, the only one that deals with the civil war, and the only one that covers the early ironships.

MAINLY SURFACE ACTION ================================================================= Potemkin (1925, Russian silent, "Battleship Potemkin") Classic movie on Soviet revolution shot on dreadnought. Today We Live (1933, G.Cooper) Torpedo boats Here Come's the Navy(1934, J.Cagney) Brown on Resolution(1935, J.Mills, Also "Forever England", US title "Born for Glory") Single man captures German WW1 ship. Submarine Patrol (1936, P.Foster) WW1 Subchasers Sea Devils (1937, P.Foster) USCG Action V ^ Long Voyage Home (1940, J.Wayne) Merchant marine Convoy (1941, British) *** V ^ In Which We Serve (1942, N.Coward) Story of fictional destroyer based on Mountbatten's loss of HMS Kelly. Shot on a soundstage with a full scale mockup. Stand By for Action(1942, R.Taylor) Destroyers V Navy Comes Through(1942, P.O'Brien) V ^ Action in the North Atlantic (1943, H.Bogart) Corvette K225 (1943, R.Scott, UK Title "The Nelson Touch") Commander of new corvette revenges his lost ship. RCN, Filmed during workup by HMCS Kitchener (K225!) and 5 convoy roundtrips by the director. Very rare instance of real combat footage that fits the story exactly. V Destroyer (1943, E.G. Robinson) V ^ The Sullivans (1944, W.Bond, also called "The Fighting Sullivans") Story of 5 brothers who go down together on the USS Juneau. *** V ^ They Were Expendable(1945, R.Montgomery) PT boats in the Philipines. One of the best wartime navy movies. Montgomery was a *real* PT captain. Fighting Coast Guard (1951, B.Donlevy) ** ^ The Gift Horse (1952, T.Howard, UK Title "Glory at Sea") Brit reluctantly takes charge of an old US DD (?). Sailor of the King(1953,J.Hunter) WW2 naval action.(UK Title Single-Handed") Remake of "Brown on Resolution". Okinawa (1952, P.O'Brien) Destroyer fights off Kamikazes, "USS BLAKE". Sea of Lost Ships (1953, W.Brennan) USCG *** V ^ The Cruel Sea (1953, J.Hawkins) Story of the frigate "Compass Rose" and her years at war, and the stress on the crew. No false heroics, from a novel. ^ The Ship That Died of Shame(1955, R.Attenbourgh) V ^ The Sea Chase (1955, J.Wayne) Wayne as German Merchant Marine captain sneaking back to the Reich in 1939! ** V ^ Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956, A.Quayle, originally "The Battle of The River Plate"). Not a lot of action. ** V ^ Away All Boats (1956, J.Chandler) Story of assault transport through Pacific war. Shot with APA 212 Montrose (as "PAC22 Belinda") Appears to be shot around Hawaii. Great colour film of damage control and Amphib ops., overly heroic captain Chandler. Watch for Clint Eastwood as one of the crew. Battlestations (1956, W.Bendix) ** V ^ The Enemy Below (1957, R.Mitchum) Mitchum as DD captain hunting U-boat. ** V ^ The Deep Six (1959, A.Ladd) DD in the Aleutions, Ladd comes to terms with killing. ** V ^ Sink the Bismark (1960, K.More) They did. V ^ The Gallant Hours (1960, J.Cagney) Story of Bull Halsey. ^ Under 10 Flags (1960, Van Heflin)Story of german Q-ship. ** V ^ PT109 (1963, C. Robertson) Filmed in the Key West area using Ex-USAF crash rescue boats modified by ELCO with PT upper works. Story of JFK's war service and PT sinking. Ther're attacked a Jap T-6. "Chief Bensen" was played by real PT109 Crewman George Ross. ^ In Harm's Way (1965, J.Wayne)Wayne is an Admiral in the Pacific. Real stuff includes DD298 Cassiday. *** V ^ Sand Pebbles (1966, S.McQueen) McQueen on a Chinese river gunboat, "USS San Pablo", circa 1926. V ^ Hellboats (1970, J.Franciscus) This is probably the same as "MTB",neither of which appear in the film guides. MTB is about PT's at Malta. ** V ^ Mission of the Shark(1991, S.Keach) Sinking and survival of Indianapolis in the Pacific, and subsequent scape-goating of Captain McVey.

MISC. =============================================================== Navy Blue and Gold(1937, J.Stewart) Annapolis An Annapolis Story(1953, J.Derek) Shipbuilders (1943) Clyde shipyard during the war, I assume they built warships. The Navy Way (1943) Boot Destination Gobi (1953, R.Widmark) Navy Weathermen fight off Japanese in the Gobi Desert. *** V ^ The Caine Mutiny (1954, H.Bogart) Court room drama on DD mutiny. Made with USN co-operation only after a struggle, after the producers agreed to have Caine go off because of battle-fatigue. V Silent Enemy (1958, British, J.Clements)RN Frogmen. *** V ^ The Best Years of Our Lives(1946, D.Andrews) Going home after WWII. This one swept the Oscars. ** V ^ Fighting Seabees (1944, J.Wayne)Wayne forms Seabees with naval officer. One of the few movies where Wayne screws up and gets men killed. The Frogmen (1951, R.Widmark)Frogmen sabotage Japanese invasion obstacles. *** V ^ Mister Roberts (1955, H.Fonda) Comedy on supply transport. Underwater Warrior(1958, D.Dailey) Frogmen, apparently based on a true story of a Korean war era diver. *** V ^ The Last Detail (1973, J.Nicholson) Two long timers escort a sailor to the brig. Partly filmed in Toronto V ^ Cinderella Liberty(1973, J. Caan) ** V ^ Officer and a Gentlemen (1982, R.Gere) Jerk manages to pass Officers boot selection V ^ Purple Hearts (1984, C.Ladd) Set in Vietnam. Medical?? V Caine Mutiny-Court Martial(1998, J.Daniels)Remake for TV. ** V ^ Philadelphia Experiment(1984)Science fiction. V A Few Good Men (1992, T.Cruise) Court room drama.

COLD WAR/TERRORIST CLASHES ===================================================================

** V ^ The Bedford Incident(1965, R.Widmark) Obsessive DD captain hunts down a Russian sub. V ^ The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming (1966, C.Reiner) ** V ^ Ice Station Zebra (1968, R.Hudson) V ^ On the Beach (1959, G.Peck) ** V ^ The Hunt for Red October(198 , S.Connery) Good action flic. V The Finest Hour (198?)USN Seals Action V The Patriot (1986, L.Neilsen) Navy SEALS action * V ^ NAVY SEALS (1990, C. Sheen)Typical shoot up bad arabs with big guns. V Full Fathom Five (1990,J.Moriarty)Russ sub seized by terrorists ** V Under Seige (1992,S.Segal)Shot on Alabama, Missouri used for external film. Terrorists attack Washington capital with BB.

MiniSeries ================================================================= War and Remberance()Shot with models, also the Lexington. and Barry as a "Cruiser". Pearl Some footage from Tora Winds of War Some footage from Tora From Here to Eternity- Footage from, you guessed it.

Documentaries ================================================================= The Fighting Lady (1945) Documentary movie shot on Yorktown (II). Also used film shot on Lexington, Wasp, Essex, Hornet, Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga Life and Death of USS Hornet - Documentary Movie ** V ^ Victory At Sea (1954) Documentary Movie from TV series.

Honourable/Dishonourable Mentions ================================================================== Tell It to The Marines(1926, L.Caney) Partly filmed onboard the US Pacific Fleet during war games. First movie made with co-operation of USN. ** V ^ Thirty Seconds over Tokyo(,)Shot with large models, 135" section of the Hornet deck bulit ona soundstage with two real B-25's, and a lot of well-integrated newsreel film. * V ^ Apocalypse Now A lot of film on a riverine craft, but forget it as naval history. Makes riverine look as bad as everything else in the movie *** V ^ The Longest Day (,J.Wayne) Amphib section was filmed using 1600 Marines and 25 ships of the 6th fleet of Corsica. ** V ^ McArthur (,G.Peck) surender signing shot on real spot on Missouri, amphib bit shot at Coronado beach.

The "shot on" is for the real film stuff. Almost all used sound stages, models, some with carrier deck replicas, and most used various combat films.

V - Available on VHS Video cassette ^ - Still floating around recently on the tube (in the US/Canada)or PAY-TV.

Ratings *** Great, highly reccomended, realistic. May be famous as a classic. [You may get the wife and kids to watch.]

** Good, some good footage, story okay. [Wife leaves, kids stay.] Some of the recent action flicks like "Top Gun" fit in here, only for their entertainment value,

* Not really reccommended, usually 'B'movie, may have silly story, heroics, etc. [Wife, kid and even the dog leave.]

-- ********************************************************** * Rick Anderson * Digital Equipment Corporation * * "My timing is Digital" * Database Systems Division * **********************************************************