One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Memorable, crazy movie

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Crash Dive shows America's heart on its sleeve in 1943. Filmed in stunning Technicolor and featuring the great Tyrone Power, along with fine support work by Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan, James Gleason, and Ben Carter, Crash Dive is a feel-good action/romance yarn that will stand up well to second or third viewings. Like many such vehicles, the movie is vulnerable to critical comments regarding technical issues ( like the German "sub base", and the submarine interiors) and the somewhat tiresome love triangle plot element. It also would have been nice to have seen crew members brought more to life ( like Destination Tokyo). Yet, the movie gives more focus on a black sailor (played estimably by Ben Carter) than you will see in other war pictures of the period. There are great exterior shots of New London Conn during the war too. Whenever I am on Rte 95 crossing the Mystic River, I gaze up and down that place and in my mind's eye I can envision USN subs--some doomed for Davey Jones Locker-- leaving for harm's way in 1943 in service to the Red Whit and Blue. That's the allure of Crash Dive. It brings it back to life. And when the credits roll by at the end, and you are urged to buy war bonds in this theater, somehow and only for a whisper of time, the echoes are awakened and the peril and glory are again alive.

"Crash Dive" is an entertaining war film with a nice cast. This may be one of the earliest war romances of two guys after the same girl. The story isn't very strong, and its propaganda aspect is quite obvious. The cast are all very good. I don't have squabbles with the fictitious aspects of movies like this that seem to bother some people. What makes this a very good film is the action and that it's filmed in color. It won the Oscar that year for special effects. It's interesting to me how real the special effects make the action seem. Films like this come across as much more realistic portrayals than so many movies of today that use Computer Generated Imagery. I wonder if any other viewers noticed one very curious aspect of this film – one that I didn't see any other reviewer comment on. It was completely devoid of sonar use. Most naval action movies of WW II used sonar. Submarines and surface ships had various types of listening devices. But in this film – set in 1943 – the absence of such technology is most interesting. Of course, it would have made it impossible for the Corsair to sneak into the German base on the tail of a freighter.

This is one of very few films shot partly at the submarine base in Groton, CT, aka Submarine Base New London, CT.A few naval combatants rarely seen in Technicolor are visible in the early part of the film. The PT boats seen near the beginning are the 77-foot Elco type. The submarine primarily featured as the fictional USS Corsair is the experimental USS Marlin (SS-205), with a conning tower modified to resemble her sister USS Mackerel (SS-204). A few O-class and R-class submarines, built in World War One and used for training in WW2, are visible in the background of some shots. For wartime security reasons, no submarine classes used in combat in WW2 appear in the film. The USS Semmes (AG-24 ex-DD-189) is seen in one shot; there are probably not many good Technicolor views of a four-stack destroyer available today. The Semmes was being used as a sonar testbed at the time.I personally did not like how the love story progressed, as Tyrone Power is consistently deceptive and gets the girl anyway.Another reviewer has assumed that the Nazi base would have to be near New England on the basis that WW2 submarines had a short range. This is incorrect. US submarines in WW2 routinely went from Pearl Harbor to Japan's home waters, patrolled for several weeks, and returned to Pearl Harbor on a single tank of diesel fuel. A Gato-class submarine could cover 11,000 miles without refueling, thus could have patrolled in German home waters while based in Groton if necessary. My assumption is that the Nazi base would be in Greenland, not likely given the realities of the war, but the raid on it still makes for good action.

Three-way submarine drama following an ambitious navy officer (Tyrone Power) who falls for a schoolteacher (Anne Baxter) prior to leaving for a mission aboard a submarine bound for German targets. He is unaware that she is the sweetheart of Dewey Connors (Dana Andrews) who is about to become his commanding officer. Engaging wartime adventure blending romance and action, with Oscar-winning special effects. Summary: Simple premise Impressive special effects Decent acting An interesting study of propaganda in film