September 11, 1943
A world war and another war that most people have forgotten about, this navy film isn't exactly the easiest film to get into although it isn't horrible. It's a reunion of William Holden and Nancy Olson from "Sunset Boulevard", and gives William Bendix one of his best performances even though it's a typical Bendix character. Holden is involved in a tragic mission during World War II which leads to some hidden emotional problems which affects his relationship with the beautiful Olson. After nearly a decade of hidden animosity, Bendix finds himself working once again with Holden on the Tiger Shark, the very same ship that they were on during the last years of World War II. For the sake of the mission, they must put their past behind them, and in a cramped space, it becomes all about succeeding in preventing this conflict from escalating into something worse than what happened before.
The claustrophobic setting for me was a metaphor for the closed-in setting and emotions which become complicated to truly understand as the plotline develops into something a bit convoluted and often slow. It's very different than other war movies I've seen, but that doesn't make it an automatic classic or a film I could genuinely say I loved or hated. Holden doesn't age at all in the near 10 years span, but I did find it ironic that September 11th is listed as the date everything begins to fall apart for Holden in the prologue that he narrates. I can see that director John Farrow was going for something different, and I can also see why people either seem to love or hate this movie basically have little to no feelings about it being memorable. Perhaps the issue is in the script because it is photographed in great detail and at times, it's easy to feel that agony of the men and what they are going through. So this is not a complete disaster, but just when I'm glad I watched once but would never dane to revisit.
A world war and another war that most people have forgotten about, this navy film isn't exactly the easiest film to get into although it isn't horrible. It's a reunion of William Holden and Nancy Olson from "Sunset Boulevard", and gives William Bendix one of his best performances even though it's a typical Bendix character. Holden is involved in a tragic mission during World War II which leads to some hidden emotional problems which affects his relationship with the beautiful Olson. After nearly a decade of hidden animosity, Bendix finds himself working once again with Holden on the Tiger Shark, the very same ship that they were on during the last years of World War II. For the sake of the mission, they must put their past behind them, and in a cramped space, it becomes all about succeeding in preventing this conflict from escalating into something worse than what happened before.
The claustrophobic setting for me was a metaphor for the closed-in setting and emotions which become complicated to truly understand as the plotline develops into something a bit convoluted and often slow. It's very different than other war movies I've seen, but that doesn't make it an automatic classic or a film I could genuinely say I loved or hated. Holden doesn't age at all in the near 10 years span, but I did find it ironic that September 11th is listed as the date everything begins to fall apart for Holden in the prologue that he narrates. I can see that director John Farrow was going for something different, and I can also see why people either seem to love or hate this movie basically have little to no feelings about it being memorable. Perhaps the issue is in the script because it is photographed in great detail and at times, it's easy to feel that agony of the men and what they are going through. So this is not a complete disaster, but just when I'm glad I watched once but would never dane to revisit.