Submarine Seahawk

Last updated
Submarine Seahawk
Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet
Screenplay by Lou Rusoff
Produced by Alex Gordon
Orville H. Hampton
Starring John Bentley
Brett Halsey
Wayne Heffley
Cinematography Gilbert Warrenton
Edited byHomer Powell
Ronald Sinclair
Music by Alexander Laszlo
Production
company
Golden State Productions
Distributed by American International Pictures
Release date
  • December 1958 (1958-12)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Submarine Seahawk is a 1958 World War II film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring John Bentley and Brett Halsey. The film was originally released as a double feature with Paratroop Command . The plot tells the story of a by-the-book officer (in his first command in the Pacific war) who is ordered to take his submarine on a reconnaissance mission to locate a fleet of Japanese fighting ships the Allies have lost track of. At first, the rest of the crew resent his distant manner and the way he keeps avoiding taking on the Japanese.

Contents

Plot

The plot tells the story of a by-the-book officer (in his first command in the Pacific war) who is ordered to take his submarine on a reconnaissance mission to locate a fleet of Japanese fighting ships the Allies have lost track of. At first, the rest of the crew resent his distant manner and the way he keeps avoiding taking on the Japanese.

Cast

Production

Submarine Seahawk was the last film produced by Alex Gordon for AIP. Gordon was unhappy that he was never given money owed for his films - a complaint echoed by others who worked for AIP including Jack Rabin, Edward Bernds, Herman Cohen, Sid Pink and Bert I. Gordon. [1] Gordon also recalled his permission to use footage to from the 1943 Warner Bros. films Destination Tokyo and Air Force through his brother Richard Gordon. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Husband E. Kimmel</span> US Navy admiral (1882-1968)

Husband Edward Kimmel was a United States Navy four-star admiral who was the commander in chief of the United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was removed from that command after the attack, in December 1941, and was reverted to his permanent two-star rank of rear admiral due to no longer holding a four-star assignment. He retired from the Navy in early 1942. The United States Senate voted to restore Kimmel's permanent rank to four stars in 1999, but President Clinton did not act on the resolution, and neither have any of his successors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Leyte Gulf</span> Largest naval battle of World War II

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar, and Luzon from 23 to 26 October 1944 between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), as part of the invasion of Leyte, which aimed to isolate Japan from the colonies that it had occupied in Southeast Asia, a vital source of industrial and oil supplies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Halsey Jr.</span> United States Navy admiral (1882–1959)

William Frederick "Bull" Halsey Jr. was an American Navy admiral during World War II. He is one of four officers to have attained the rank of five-star fleet admiral of the United States Navy, the others being William Leahy, Ernest King, and Chester W. Nimitz.

<i>Hellcats of the Navy</i> 1957 film by Nathan H. Juran

Hellcats of the Navy is a 1957 American black-and-white World War II submarine film drama from Columbia Pictures, produced by Charles H. Schneer and directed by Nathan Juran. The film stars Ronald Reagan and his wife, billed under her screen name Nancy Davis, and Arthur Franz. This was the only feature film in which the Reagans acted together, either before or after their 1952 marriage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine Raiders</span> US military unit, created 1942

The Marine Raiders were a special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare. "Edson's" Raiders of 1st Marine Raider Battalion and "Carlson's" Raiders of 2nd Marine Raider Battalion are said to have been the first United States special operations forces to form and see combat during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Third Fleet</span> Numbered fleet of the United States Navy

The United States Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Third Fleet's area of responsibility includes approximately fifty million square miles of the eastern and northern Pacific Ocean areas including the Bering Sea, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and a sector of the Arctic. Major oil and trade sea lines of communication within this area are critically important to the economic health of the United States and friendly nations throughout the Pacific Rim region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underwater Demolition Team</span> US Navy special operations group

Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), or frogmen, were amphibious units created by the United States Navy during World War II with specialized non-tactical missions. They were predecessors of the navy's current SEAL teams.

This is the order of battle for the World War II Battle of Midway, which took place 4–7 June 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Coral Sea order of battle</span>

The Battle of the Coral Sea, a major engagement of the Pacific Theatre of World War II, was fought 4–8 May 1942 in the waters east of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Islands between elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States (U.S.) and Australia.

<i>Operation Pacific</i> 1951 war drama film by George Waggner

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.

<i>The Frogmen</i> 1951 American black and white WWII drama film by Lloyd Bacon

The Frogmen is a 1951 American black-and-white World War II drama film from Twentieth Century Fox, produced by Samuel G. Engel, directed by Lloyd Bacon, that stars Richard Widmark, Dana Andrews, and Gary Merrill. The film's storyline is based on operations by United States Navy Underwater Demolition Teams, popularly known as "frogmen", against the Japanese Army and naval forces. It was the first such film about scuba diving and became a popular cultural hit.

USS <i>Hull</i> (DD-350) Farragut-class destroyer

USS Hull (DD-350) was a Farragut-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Isaac Hull.

<i>Submarine Command</i> 1951 film by John Farrow

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 whilst being praised by others.

<i>The Atomic Submarine</i> 1959 film

The Atomic Submarine is a 1959 independently made, American black-and-white science-fiction film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring Arthur Franz, Dick Foran, Brett Halsey, Joi Lansing and Jean Moorhead, with John Hilliard as the voice of the alien. The film was produced by Alex Gordon and distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bentley (actor)</span> English actor

John Bentley was a British film actor. He had a successful career as a leading man from the 1940s to the late 50s and was a popular heart-throb who appeared in many British b-movies during that time. Later in his career, in the 1970s he appeared as Hugh Mortimer, Meg Richardson's ill-fated third husband in the famous English soap opera Crossroads. He also starred in the jungle adventure series African Patrol (1957) as Chief Inspector Paul Derek and made various other guest appearances in many popular TV series from the late 50s onwards.

Operation Thunderhead was a highly classified combat mission conducted by U.S. Navy SEAL Team One and Underwater Demolition Team 11 (UDT-11) in 1972. The mission was conducted off the coast of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War to rescue two U.S. airmen said to be escaping from a prisoner of war prison in Hanoi. The prisoners, including Air Force Colonel John A. Dramesi were planning to steal a boat and travel down the Red River to the Gulf of Tonkin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allied naval bombardments of Japan during World War II</span> Naval attacks on Japan by the Allies during World War II

During the last weeks of World War II, warships of the United States Navy, the Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy bombarded industrial and military facilities in Japan. Most of these bombardments were conducted by battleships and cruisers, and caused heavy damage to several of the targeted factories, as well as nearby civilian areas. A major goal of the attacks was to provoke the Japanese military into committing some of its reserve force of aircraft into battle. However, the Japanese did not attempt to attack the Allied bombardment forces, and none of the involved warships suffered any damage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okinawa naval order of battle</span>

For the April 1945 invasion of Okinawa, the Allies assembled the most powerful naval force in history. Since the few remaining capital ships of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet had been sunk or otherwise put out of action at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Allies were effectively unopposed in terms of major surface vessels; a single mission consisting of the superbattleship Yamato and a few escorts was undertaken, but the task force did not get within 200 nautical miles of the invasion area. The main Japanese naval opposition within the invasion area came from hundreds of Imperial Japanese Navy Shin'yō-class suicide motorboats and Maru-Ni Imperial Japanese Army attack boats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guadalcanal naval order of battle</span>

On 7 August 1942, US and Australian naval forces undertook the invasion of the Japanese-held islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the lower Solomon Islands chain, the first Allied offensive in the Pacific Theatre. The landing of the US 1st Marine Division on the beaches of Savo Sound began the unexpectedly long and extremely arduous Guadalcanal Campaign, lasting officially until 9 February 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Marianas naval order of battle</span>

On 15 June 1944, United States Marine and Army forces landed on the southwest coast of the island of Saipan in the central Marianas chain. US forces declared Saipan secure on 9 July.

References

  1. Smith, Gary A. (2013). American International Pictures: The Golden Years. Bear Manor Media. p. 104.
  2. Weaver, Tom (1 January 2003). "Alex Gordon Interview". Eye on Science Fiction: 20 Interviews with Classic SF and Horror Filmmakers. McFarland. p. 95.