Run Silent, Run Deep is another good one.
From the article.
“Tony Curtis said that he was inspired to join the navy after watching Cary Grant in Destination Tokyo. Years later he’d be cast as Grant’s second in command in another sub picture, Blake Edwards’ Operation Petticoat (1959), which Basinger describes as a “feminized” version of Destination Tokyo, right down to the boat going into combat painted pink.”
Destination Tokyo was shown briefly in a scene in Operation Pacific, a post WW2 movie submarine movie starring John Wayne.
Excellent movie. I wouldn’t be able to last a day under such claustrophobic conditions, especially submerged.
One of my favorite sub movies is The Enemy Below with Robert Mitchum as the American captain of a battle cruiser up against Curt Jurgens as the German captain of a U-boat. Battle of wits between two men fighting for their country and their crew.
Run Silent, Run Deep is another good one.
I am surprised that Steyn did not mention several cliches which occur in nearly every submarine drama, from the WW2 era right up to Das Boot. There are a well-defined handful of them, but the two most common are: (1) someone develops a medical condition which requires surgery, like appendicitis, and an untrained pharmacist’s mate has to perform it. The operation is successful and the mate finds strength and greater confidence as a result of the challenge. (2) For one or another reason, the submarine finds itself stuck on the bottom and the crew is running out of air. When all seems lost, a repair is made or whatever danger it was passes and the crew is saved. However in the meantime, the crisis serves as a time for the individual crew members to reflect on their lives, missed opportunities, and regrets.