Tonight's Movie: Submarine Command (1951) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The World War II/Korean War drama SUBMARINE COMMAND (1951) was recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

William Holden stars as Lt. Commander Ken White, who is haunted by an incident on his submarine, the Tiger Shark, which took place at the end of World War II.

During the postwar years Ken works a Navy desk job while suffering from what we now might call PTSD, causing his wife Carol (Nancy Olson) to wonder if he needs to see a psychiatrist, or at least leave the Navy.

Then, as the Korean War heats up, Ken finds himself again commanding the Tiger Shark, battling his inner demons along with the North Koreans.

I first saw this film thanks to TCM 15 years ago, reviewing it in 2009, and as I enjoyed it then I've been hoping ever since that it would have a release for home viewing. I'm delighted that it's now available at long last thanks to Kino Lorber.

To be sure, the film isn't perfect; Ken's increasing surliness becomes tiresome not only for Carol but the viewer, and the film's ending may be a little too pat given all that's gone before. Still, this is a solid, worthwhile movie with a very deep cast. As was the case on my first viewing, I found the film a good watch, especially as I have a fondness for submarine movies.

This is one of four films released in 1950-51 teaming Holden and Olson, who were very well matched, and they're joined in this by likeable Don Taylor as the couple's boozy ladies' man pilot friend.  All are attractive and charming. Holden can't really help the more annoying aspects of how his character was written; despite that we can see what Olson loves about him and admire his professional responsibility and courage.

The cast includes William Bendix, Arthur Franz, and Jack Kelly as men serving aboard the Tiger Shark, with Moroni Olsen as Ken's postwar commander and Darryl Hickman, who recently passed away, as Ken's young aide.

The supporting cast also includes Jack Gregson, Jerry Paris, Peggy Webber, Benson Fong, John Mitchum, Walter Reed and Noel Neill.

This 87-minute film was directed by John Farrow, with the story and screenplay by Jonathan Latimer.

Although much of the film features standard-issue black and white cinematography, there are some marvelous hazy dockside scenes I liked a lot, especially the farewell scene before the submarine heads off to Korea. Lionel Lindon was the photographer.

Kino Lober's Blu-ray print is from a 2020 HD master by Paramount Pictures from a 4K scan. Sound quality is very good.

This film is presented as a Special Edition with a cardboard slipcase; a commentary track by Steve Mitchell and Steven Jay Rubin; and a gallery of 10 trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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