Torpedo Run
Encyclopedia
Torpedo Run is a 1958
Metrocolor
war film
starring Glenn Ford
as a World War II
submarine
commander in the Pacific
who is obsessed with sinking a particular Japanese aircraft carrier.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
/Commander
Barney Doyle (Glenn Ford
), searches for the Shinaru, one of the Japanese aircraft carrier
s that led the attack on Pearl Harbor
. Doyle receives word that the target has an escort, including a transport ship carrying his wife and child, who were captured in the Philippines
.
As luck would have it, Grayfish finds the ships. Doyle's second in command, Lieutenant
/Lieutenant Commander
Archer Sloan (Ernest Borgnine
) tries to talk his friend out of risking the lives of his family, but Doyle proceeds with the attack. To their horror, their torpedo
es sink the transport. The Japanese make no attempt to rescue the survivors, hoping to lure the sub to the surface. Doyle is forced to leave the prisoners to drown.
Doyle manages to follow the Shinaru into Tokyo Bay
itself and tries again to sink his nemesis
, but fails and barely escapes from Japanese destroyer
s. The Grayfish then returns to Pearl Harbor. There, Vice Admiral
Setton (Philip Ober
) wants to promote Doyle to a desk job, but the anguished man begs for and gets one last chance at the Shinaru. Sloan turns down a command of his own to accompany him.
Doyle is assigned a quiet, out-of-the-way patrol area off the Alaska
n coast, but fortune is with him. He encounters the Shinaru once more. The sub sustains some damage from a collision and has to launch its attack using sonar
alone. After the torpedoes are away, the sub is sent to the bottom by the Shinaru' s escort. Fortunately, the crewmen are able to exit and use Momsen lung
s to reach the surface, where they are rescued by a sister sub. When they are brought aboard, they are told that they have sunk the Shinaru.
1958 in film
The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
Metrocolor
Metrocolor
Metrocolor is the trade name used by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for films processed at their laboratory. Virtually all of these films were actually shot on Kodak's Eastmancolor film.-External links:* at Internet Movie Database...
war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
starring Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
as a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
commander in the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
who is obsessed with sinking a particular Japanese aircraft carrier.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Plot
The American submarine Grayfish, under Lieutenant CommanderLieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
/Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Barney Doyle (Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
), searches for the Shinaru, one of the Japanese aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s that led the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. Doyle receives word that the target has an escort, including a transport ship carrying his wife and child, who were captured in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
As luck would have it, Grayfish finds the ships. Doyle's second in command, Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
/Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Archer Sloan (Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
) tries to talk his friend out of risking the lives of his family, but Doyle proceeds with the attack. To their horror, their torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es sink the transport. The Japanese make no attempt to rescue the survivors, hoping to lure the sub to the surface. Doyle is forced to leave the prisoners to drown.
Doyle manages to follow the Shinaru into Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
itself and tries again to sink his nemesis
Archenemy
An archenemy, archfoe, archvillain or archnemesis is the principal enemy of a character in a work of fiction, often described as the hero's worst enemy .- Etymology :The word archenemy or arch-enemy originated...
, but fails and barely escapes from Japanese destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s. The Grayfish then returns to Pearl Harbor. There, Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
Setton (Philip Ober
Philip Ober
Philip Ober was an American actor.Ober often appeared in roles as a straight man in farcical circumstances. One of his most memorable stage role was in Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit Personal Appearance opposite Gladys George. From 1954 to 1967 he frequently appeared in television series...
) wants to promote Doyle to a desk job, but the anguished man begs for and gets one last chance at the Shinaru. Sloan turns down a command of his own to accompany him.
Doyle is assigned a quiet, out-of-the-way patrol area off the Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
n coast, but fortune is with him. He encounters the Shinaru once more. The sub sustains some damage from a collision and has to launch its attack using sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
alone. After the torpedoes are away, the sub is sent to the bottom by the Shinaru
Momsen lung
The Momsen lung was a primitive underwater rebreather used before and during World War II by American submariners as emergency escape gear. The Momsen lung was invented by Charles B. Momsen . Submariners would train in a 100-foot deep escape training tower using this apparatus...
s to reach the surface, where they are rescued by a sister sub. When they are brought aboard, they are told that they have sunk the Shinaru.
Cast
- Glenn FordGlenn FordGlenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
as Lieutenant Commander/Commander Barney Doyle - Ernest BorgnineErnest BorgnineErnest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
as Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander Archer 'Archie' Sloan - Diane BrewsterDiane BrewsterDiane Brewster was an American television actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in US TV series of the 1950s and 60s: confidence trickster Samantha Crawford in Maverick; pretty young second-grade teacher Miss Canfield in Leave It to Beaver; and doomed wife Helen...
as Jane Doyle - Dean JonesDean Jones (actor)Dean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977, most notably The Love Bug.-Early years:...
as Lieutenant Jake 'Fuzz' Foley - L. Q. JonesL. Q. JonesL.Q. Jones is an American character actor and film director, known for his work in the films of Sam Peckinpah.-Life and career:...
as 'Hash' Benson - Philip OberPhilip OberPhilip Ober was an American actor.Ober often appeared in roles as a straight man in farcical circumstances. One of his most memorable stage role was in Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit Personal Appearance opposite Gladys George. From 1954 to 1967 he frequently appeared in television series...
as Vice Admiral Samuel Setton - Richard CarlyleRichard CarlyleRichard Carlyle was a movie, television and Broadway actor.-Career:He had a prolific career going back to the 1950s appearing in a variety of theater productions and as a character actor on numerous television series...
as Commander Don Adams - Fredd Wayne as Orville 'Goldy' Goldstein
- Don KeeferDon KeeferDonald "Don" H. Keefer is a retired American actor known for the versatility of his roles. He was born in Highspire in Dauphin County near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Keefer's first role was as Bernard in the 1951 film, Death of a Salesman, based on the Arthur Miller play...
as Ensign Ron Milligan - Robert HardyRobert HardyTimothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:...
as Lieutenant Redley (R.N.) - Paul PicerniPaul Picerni-Life and career:Picerni was born in New York City, New York. He was an Eagle Scout who joined the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, where he served as a B-24 Liberator bombardier in the China-Burma-India Theater. He flew 25 combat missions with the 493rd Bomb Squadron of the 7th...
as Lieutenant Burt Fisher