Phantom Below | |
---|---|
Screenplay by | Mark Sanderson |
Story by | Stephen P. Jarchow |
Directed by | Brian Trenchard-Smith |
Starring | Adrian Paul Catherine Dent Mike Doyle Matt Battaglia Mark Deklin |
Theme music composer | David Reynolds |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Brian Trenchard-Smith |
Cinematography | Paul Atkins Mark Gerasimenko |
Editor | Stephen Mirrione |
Running time | 95 minutes |
Budget | $1.6 million [1] |
Original release | |
Release | April 1, 2005 |
Phantom Below (also known as USS Poseidon: Phantom Below and Tides of War) is the first film released by Hawaii-based studio Pacific Films. Its world premiere was at the Hawaii International Film Festival on March 31, 2005. The film is notable in that it has three different editions: one for general audiences, another with eight additional minutes for Japanese audiences, and one with a homosexual theme (Tides of War) [2] as an original film production for LGBT-interest television channel here!.
It was filmed entirely on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and employed hundreds of local actors and crew members. It was produced and directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and stars Adrian Paul as Commander Frank Habley and Mike Doyle as his lover, Lt. Commander Tom Palatonio.
The film takes place primarily in the waters off the coast of North Korea with some scenes set in Hawaii. As it opens, an American submarine under the command of Commander Habley is attacked by an enemy submarine that has no sonar signature. Although it survives the fight, the American submarine is badly damaged and Tom, Habley's executive officer and lover, is killed.
Upon return to base in Pearl Harbor, Commander Habley is subjected to a court martial. The Navy does not believe his story and it appears his career is over until he is recruited to command a covert mission to tap an underwater cable lying between North Korea and mainland China. This is a highly sensitive and dangerous task because tensions are rising between the United States and North Korea, and it appears the two nations are on the brink of war. Habley's mission is complicated by the presence of Lieutenant Claire Trifoli, Tom's sister, who blames him for her brother's death.
The movie was partly financed by a Japanese DVD and TV distributor looking for a submarine drama to cash in on the release publicity for an upcoming $12-million Japanese submarine drama. They partnered with the here! Network, a new video on demand channel catering to the gay and lesbian market which needed an original movie to launch the channel. It was decided to make two versions, a non-gay version for Japan and a gay one for other markets. [1] Director Brian Trenchard-Smith:
For me, the gay version is better drama. The hero has a secret. We were at the height of the ‘don’t ask/don’t tell’ debate at that time. Formula is always enlivened by a serious social issue. It intrigued me as a heterosexual to add a genre cocktail to the B-movie shelf of Gay Cinema. Gay movies can be about more than just coming out. They can be as testosterone charged as FAST 5. Why shouldn’t the gay audience have their own action heroes? [1]
The film was shot in Hawaii over 15 days without official army or navy co-operation because the plot had the sub commander in love with his executive officer. [1] Brian Trenchard-Smith also made In Her Line of Fire , another action film aimed at gay audiences. [3]
Dubbing is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production where additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio, for the purpose of achieving the final product.
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war films often end with them. Themes explored include combat, survival and escape, camaraderie between soldiers, sacrifice, the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and the moral and human issues raised by war. War films are often categorized by their milieu, such as the Korean War; the most popular subjects are the Second World War and the American Civil War. The stories told may be fiction, historical drama, or biographical. Critics have noted similarities between the Western and the war film.
Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American romantic war drama film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer and written by Randall Wallace. It stars Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore, and Alec Baldwin. The film features a heavily fictionalized version of the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, focusing on a love story set amidst the lead up to the attack, its aftermath, and the Doolittle Raid.
Adrian Paul Hewett is an English actor best known for the title role of Duncan MacLeod on the television series Highlander: The Series. In 1997, he founded the Peace Fund charitable organisation.
The submarine film is a subgenre of war film in which most of the plot revolves around a submarine below the ocean's surface. Films of this subgenre typically focus on a small but determined crew of submariners battling against enemy submarines or submarine-hunter ships, or against other problems ranging from disputes amongst the crew, threats of mutiny, life-threatening mechanical breakdowns, or the daily difficulties of living on a submarine.
In Harm's Way is a 1965 American epic historical romantic war film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, and Patricia Neal, with a supporting cast featuring Henry Fonda in a lengthy cameo, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Stanley Holloway, Burgess Meredith, Brandon deWilde, Jill Haworth, Dana Andrews, and Franchot Tone. Produced with Panavision motion picture equipment, it was one of the last black-and-white World War II epics, and Wayne's last black-and-white film. The screenplay was written by Wendell Mayes, based on the 1962 novel Harm's Way, by James Bassett.
Destination Tokyo is a 1943 black and white American submarine war film. The film was directed by Delmer Daves in his directorial debut, and the screenplay was written by Daves and Albert Maltz, based on an original story by former submariner Steve Fisher. The film stars Cary Grant and John Garfield and features Dane Clark, Robert Hutton, and Warner Anderson, along with John Ridgely, Alan Hale Sr. and William Prince.
Midway, released in the United Kingdom as Battle of Midway, is a 1976 American war film that chronicles the Battle of Midway, a turning point in the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II. Directed by Jack Smight and produced by Walter Mirisch from a screenplay by Donald S. Sanford, the film starred Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda, supported by a large international cast of guest stars including James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Ed Nelson, Hal Holbrook, Robert Webber, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, Pat Morita, Dabney Coleman, Erik Estrada and Tom Selleck.
Operation Pacific is a 1951 black-and-white World War II submarine war drama from Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by Louis Edelman, and written as well as directed by George Waggner. John Wayne and Patricia Neal star and Ward Bond and Philip Carey play supporting roles.
Crimson Tide is a 1995 American submarine action thriller film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. It takes place during a period of political turmoil in Russia, in which ultranationalists threaten to launch nuclear missiles at the United States and Japan.
BMX Bandits is a 1983 Australian crime comedy action film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starring Nicole Kidman.
Tōru Furusawa is a Japanese voice actor.
Greg Ellis is an English actor who has worked in film, television, video games, and theatre. He is, among other roles, known for playing Chief Engineer Olson in Star Trek (2009), Theodore Groves in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, and Trevor Wilcox in Touch (2013), as well as voice roles such as Anders in Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening (2010), Cullen in multiple Dragon Age games, and Jet-Vac in Skylanders Academy (2016–2018).
Brian Medwin Trenchard-Smith is an English-Australian filmmaker and author, known for his idiosyncratic and satirical low-budget genre films. His filmography covers action, science fiction, martial arts, dystopian fiction, comedy, war, family, thriller, romance and erotica, and his works tend to be cross-genre pieces.
Submarine Command is a 1951 American war film directed by John Farrow and starring William Holden, Don Taylor, Nancy Olson, William Bendix, and Darryl Hickman. It is notable for being one of the first films to touch on post traumatic stress disorder. Holden invested $20,000 of his own money into the film. The film received a mixed reception: it was panned by some critics for its brooding melodrama while being praised by others.
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands are now a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U.S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887. The surprise attack on the harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, led the United States to declare war on the Empire of Japan, marking the United States' entry into World War II.
In Her Line of Fire is a 2006 American action film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starring Mariel Hemingway, David Keith, David Millbern and Jill Bennett.
Sahara is a 1995 American-Australian made-for-television action war film shot in Australia and directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starring Jim Belushi. Sahara is a remake of the 1943 film of the same title starring Humphrey Bogart.
Happy Face Murders is a 1999 American made-for-television crime drama film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. It is based on a real story.
Alice Through the Multiverse is a 2016 science fiction political thriller novel by the filmmaker Brian Trenchard-Smith. It is his first work as a novelist. Described by the author as "a sardonic take on agitprop fiction exploring themes of political corruption, justice, destiny and timeless love, with a bit of metaphysics thrown in for good measure", it is based on The Executioner's Daughter, an unproduced screenplay that Trenchard-Smith began developing in 2003.