Too much of everything

A Masterpiece!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Sometimes a film can be bad and it can still maintain your interest. Up Periscope is bad and boring which is worse. In fact I had problems staying awake and I like James Garner but even he could not save this.Garner whilst furtively vetted by someone who he thinks is a sweetheart is selected to swim ashore to a Japanese held island and steal a code book.Edmond O'Brien is the skipper of the submarine who is by the book and makes it clear more than once that if he is not back in time, he will be left behind and there starts a testy relationship.Garner and O'Brien are fine. The script is dull and full of clichés. It seems there was a lack of imagination in the writing as if this was a quickie B film being knocked out at the least time possible. The directing is by the book basics lacking any verve or energy. Its a poor show.

See it – Not a run-of-the-mill submarine movie. James Garner stars as an underwater demolitionist expert in World War II who just happens to be fluent in Japanese. But for some reason he is hand-picked by the government to go on a secret mission that requires neither. His mission involves hitching a ride on a submarine, commanded by an uptight captain who does everything strictly by the book. The submarine takes Garner's character undetected to a Japanese island, where his mission is to scuba dive from the sub to the island, sneak into the enemy outpost, and photograph documents for military intelligence. Most of the movie takes place on the sub. The sub encounters an enemy battleship and enemy planes. The best part of the film is the last 30 minutes, when Garner's character finally gets off the sub and gets to sneak around in the jungle. Despite its unique plot, the rest of the movie is very average, including the action. 2.5 action rating.

Robb White's World War II naval-combat/coming-of-age novel is one of my lifetime favorites, so I eagerly anticipated seeing this movie on video. Unfortunately, the book spoiled it for me. I'm sure I would have liked this movie much better if I had never read the book. To be fair, this is a good war flick on its own merits.

O'Brien is the sub commander, who loses the trust of his crew, Garner the naval officer assigned a commando mission-but the real story here is the vintage cast-Richard Bakalyan and Warren Oates are joined by TV's familiar faces: Edd (Kooky) Byrnes, Henry (Otto Schmidlapp from "Life of Riley") Kulka, and Alan (the Skipper from "Gilligan's Island") Hale Jr. The fine performances are punctuated by adequate action scenes that result in a very watchable picture.