Newsgroups: sci.military
From: Rick Anderson
Subject: List of Naval-related movies (long)
Message-ID:
Organization: DEC
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1993 17:29:28 GMT
Lines: 514
From Rick Anderson
Enclosed below is a list of naval-related movies put together
by a colleague of mine. Please feel free to send me comments,
suggestions or additions to this list.
Thanks in advance.
Rick
------------------------------ cut here ---------------------------------
NAVAL AIR & CARRIERS
================================================================
Helldivers (1931, C.Gable) Shot on Saratoga. Loads
of Curtis Helldivers.
Dirigible (1931, J.Holt) USN air experiments in
Antarctica.
Wings of the Navy (1939) Shot at Pensacola, North Island.
Pilot is followed through training
(N3N's, NS1's) to PBY-2A Catalinas
^ Flight Command (1939, Robert Taylor) Shot on the
Enterprise, and with VF-6 at North
Island on F3F-1 Bips. Pilot develops
blind landing equipment, saves his CO,
gets accepted, wins the girl.
* ^ Ships with Wings (1941, J.Clements) British, a few good
shots of Ark Royal, Swordfish, Skuas,
Barracudas, etc. Typical early war
flag waving BS. Ark royal attacks and
devastates the Germans at a "secret"
Med. island base, washed out airman
redeems himself with sacrifice.
** ^ Dive Bomber (1941, Errol Flynn) Shot at North Island
and on the Enterprise. Great colour
film of Biplanes!
Flying South on This Plane (1942,Japanese) WWII movie
about Pearl Harbour attack.
Torpedo Squadron's Move Out(1944, Japanese) WWII movie..
Kamikazes.
** V ^ Wing and a Prayer (1944, Don Ameche) Some film shot on
Yorktown (II) as it worked up, with an
airwing of Hellcats, Helldivers, and
Avengers. Story of an Avenger torpedo
squadron, resenting the tough CAG CDR,
at Midway, from Carrier "X". Only
Avengers flew at Midway, and they were
land based. Newsreel footage is well
integrated, along with some model work.
Includes shots of rare hangar deck cat
shot and over the bow Avenger landings.
This Man's Navy (1945, Wallace Beery) Blimps! Shot at
Lakehurst , Del Mar, Moffett Field,
Santa Ana.
^ High Barbaree (1947, Van Johnson) Shot at North
Island. Story of PBY crew shot down off
Tulgai, telling their story through
flash-backs. Used 2 PBY's brought out
of mothballs.
** ^ Task Force (1949, Gary Cooper) Shot on Antietam,
Bairoko (as Langley), North Island
** V ^ Flat Top (1952, Sterling Hayden) Shot on
Princeton on route to it's second Korean
cruise. Plenty of CAG-19 Corsairs and
Avengers.
** V ^ Men of The Fighting Lady(1954, Van Johnson) Shot on
Orsikany
*** V ^ Bridges at Toko-Ri(1954, W.Holden)Reservist is recalled to
fly Panthers in Korea. Apparently shot
on Oriskany as well. Plenty of good
colour film of Panthers and H-5 rescue
choppers. Noteable for it's portrait of
sailors that might resent the war, or
let loose off duty, but still function
as %100 professsionals when on duty.
Something missing from almost all
Vietnam flics.
Jet Carrier (1954) Filmed on Yorktown (II) off
California.
Air Strike (1955, R.Denning))
^ The Eternal Sea (1955, S.Hayden) Story of John Hoskins,
Carrier Commander
Battle Stations (1956, William Bendix) Shot on Princeton
again, with Vc-3 Corsairs and VS-23
TBM-3's. Fictionalized account of the
Franklin and it's survival. Lots of
newsreel footage of Franklin.
Crowded Sky (1960, D.Andrews) Navy T-33 collides
with airliner.
*** V ^ Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) Story of Dec.7, 1941 attack on
Pearl Harbour. Parts shot on Yorktown,
also DD's Philip, Sproston, Brister,
Newell, Sheldrake for attack scenes at
Pearl. Part was shot in Japan, they
built a *full-size replica(deck-up)* of
the IJN BB Nagoto, a replica of 3/4 of
the deck of the Akagi. There was another
replica of the hangar deck. The actual
attack was filmed on location with over
30 replica Japanese aircraft. 29 were
flown off of Yorktown using carrier
qaulified pilots. 45 mockup B-17's,
PBY's and P-40 were made, and blown at
the actual remains of Ford NAS. A full
scale reproduction of the aft end of
Arizona was built on two barges.
I Bombed Pearl Harbour(1972, Japanese) Co-production with
Tora-Tora-Tora. Poorly dubbed into
English. Apparently poorly made in
relation to Tora, for some odd reason
since they had access to most of the
same footage.
** V ^ Midway (1976, H. Fonda) Some shot on Lexington
with two Wildcats, plus Tora footage.
Also shot at Pensacola, Point Mugu, Fort
McArthur, Long Beach N.B. [Fonda
actually served under Nimitz at Guam,
Glen Ford, also in here, was a CG seaman
on a forward picket at Midway.] Tells
the story, but not very well as a story.
It works better if you know the history.
Chraltin Heston's mission switchs a/c
types 4 times in one sortie!
** V ^ Final Countdown (1980, K.Douglas) Nimitz goes back in
time to Dec.6 1941. Shot on Nimitz, two
stars for the hardware only, SF story is
not very credible.
** V ^ Top Gun (1986, T.Cruise) Two stars for hardware
only. Shot partly on Enterprise off
California, with interiors shot aboard.
Ranger at North Island. Also at
NAS Miramar, and at NAS Fallon for some
air-to air. The F-14A's bore fictious
markings but they were from
VF-114, VF-213, VF-1, VF-51. F-5E's
played "Mig-21's".
V Supercarriers (1988, R.Jeakel) Pilot for TV show
*** V ^ Flight of the Intruder(1991, W.Dafoe) Shot on the
Independance. Look for current low-vis
A-6's in some shots.
MAINLY SUBS
===================================================================
Behind the Door (1919)Silent about "blood-thirsty"
U-boats in WW1.
Men without Women (1930) Subs! Sub sinks, 14 men try to
escape. Watch for John Wayne in a bit
part as one of the crew.
The Seas Beneath Us(1930) Supposed to be subs as well.
Hell Below (1933, R. Montgomery) Subs! An USN sub
sinks in the Adriatic during WW1.
Morgenrot (1933, German) Subs again! Lets hope one
of these is still floating around!
Another sub sinks, this time after being
rammed by a British destroyer.
Submarine D-1 (1937, Pat O'Brien)
Neutral Port (1940, L.Banks)Merchant captain goes
after U-Boat in neutral port
49th Parallel (1941, E.Portman)U-boat is sunk off
Canada, stranding 6 crew. Realistic
U-boat was a replica built in Canada
(The RCN didn't have a spare sub).
Submarine Raiders (1942)
** V ^ Destination Tokyo (1943, C.Grant)Good story of sub,
"Copperfin" on mission to Tokyo Bay for
Dolittle weather report. Appears to be
filmed around Mare Island. Some model
work, newsreel footage. Look for John
Forsythe as one of the crew.
Crash Dive (1943, T.Power)Disgruntled ex-PT
commander takes over sub. Big special
effects ending.
Silver Fleet (1943,R.Richardson) Dutch shipping owner
destroys U-boat and himself.
V We Dive at Dawn (1943, J.Mills,) Royal navy sub "Sea
Tiger" sinks German battleship.
The Damned (1947, French Title "Les Maudets")
U-boat tries to escape after VE day.
Flying Missile (1950, G.Ford)USN Sub commander adds
missiles. This must be based on V-1
launches tested about then.
Mystery Submarine (1950)
Morning Departure (1951, J.Mills, US Title "Operation
Disaster") British
V ^ Operation Pacific (1951, J.Wayne) Conflict on a sub, the
"Thunderfish"
^ Submarine Command (1951, H.Holden) Holden is plagued with
doubt during Korean war.
Sealed Cargo (1951, D.Andrews) Sail captain battles
U-boats off Newfoundland.
Hell and High Water(1954) Sub verus Chinese communists
Above Us the Waves(1956, J.Mills,British) Midgets attack
on the Tirpitz
V Hellcats of the Navy(1957, R.Reagan) Sub in Tushima
Straits, 1944.
** V ^ Run Silent, Run Deep(1958, C.Gable)Good story of tension
between Gable and Lancaster on sub
("Nerka") run to Tokyo bay.
V Torpedo Run (1958, G.Ford) Ford pursues Jap carrier
to Tokyo Bay because it's shielded by a
transport with his family on board
("Grayfish").
* V ^ Up Periscope (1959, J.Garner) Routine sub movie, with
Garner an underwater demo man sent in
1942 to steal the Japanese codes single
handed, clashing with sub commander Pat
O'Brien. Shot at Pearl using an Gato
(??) class sub. Japanese attack with a
T-28 and a DE. Closing scene as they
pull up to the dock with band playing,
has a 1950's carrier pulling out behind!
(Forrestal class ??). Underwater shots
of a completely different class of US
subs are from some earlier movie.
The Battle of the Coral Sea(1959, C.Robertson)
Mystery Submarine (1963, British, UK Title "Decoy" J.R.
Justice)Tale of British manned U-boat,
that ends up being "recaptured" by the
RN.
* ^ Submarine X-1 (1968, J. Caan, British Midgets)Appears
to be filmed up a Scottish loch with one
of the RN 1950's midgets.
** V ^ Murphy's War (1971, P. O'Toole) Filmed with Argentine
Navy sub. O'Toole goes after a U-boat
up a South American river that had sank
his ship using a Grumman Duck biplane.
** V ^ Gray Lady Down (1978, C.Heston)
*** V ^ Das Boot (1981, German, US Title "The Boat")
journalist goes on harrowing U-Boat
patrol. Shot with 3 full scale
mock-ups, originally as a 6 hour
minseries.
OLDIES
================================================================
Old Ironsides (1926) War of 1812. Must be a silent.
Drake of England (1935) Spanish Armada. Reasonably
accurate historically, but models are
obvious.
*** V ^ Mutiny on the Bounty(1935, C.Gable) Exteriors shot on the
derelict Scottish clipper "Balclutha"
(1886), now restored in San Francisco.
Not very accurate historical, but quite
a movie.
V Fire Over England (1936, L.Olivier) Drake/Armada
V ^ That Hamilton Women(1941, L.Olivier, UK Title "Lady
Hamilton") Nelson's love affair.
Accurate historically, but not a lot of
naval action (Trafalgar was shot with
models).
** V Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951, G.Peck) Napoleonic epic.
** ^ John Paul Jones (1959, R.Stack) Biography
*** V ^ Damn the Defiant (1962, A.Guiness, UK title "HMS
Defiant") Naploneonic
^ Seven Seas to Calais (1962, R.Taylor) Drake, heavily
fictionalized.
V Billy Budd (1962, R.Ryan)
** V ^ The Mutiny on the Bounty(1962, M.Brando)Even less accurate
than 1935 movie, except for the ship
Full size Bounty replica now at St.
Petersberg, Florida.
The Nelson Affair (1973, G.Jackson, UK Title "A Bequest to
the Nation") Naval action was shot
indoors!
** V ^ The Bounty (1984, M.Gibson) Far more accurate, but
not as watchable as 1935 flic.
** V ^ Ironclads (1991, E.G.Marshall) Monitor and
Merrimack. Shot with effective models.
Mainly a (probably fictional) spy story
One of the few recent navy movies, the
only one that deals with the civil war,
and the only one that covers the early
ironships.
MAINLY SURFACE ACTION
=================================================================
Potemkin (1925, Russian silent, "Battleship
Potemkin") Classic movie on Soviet
revolution shot on dreadnought.
Today We Live (1933, G.Cooper) Torpedo boats
Here Come's the Navy(1934, J.Cagney)
Brown on Resolution(1935, J.Mills, Also "Forever England",
US title "Born for Glory") Single man
captures German WW1 ship.
Submarine Patrol (1936, P.Foster) WW1 Subchasers
Sea Devils (1937, P.Foster) USCG Action
V ^ Long Voyage Home (1940, J.Wayne) Merchant marine
Convoy (1941, British)
*** V ^ In Which We Serve (1942, N.Coward) Story of fictional
destroyer based on Mountbatten's loss of
HMS Kelly. Shot on a soundstage with a
full scale mockup.
Stand By for Action(1942, R.Taylor) Destroyers
V Navy Comes Through(1942, P.O'Brien)
V ^ Action in the North Atlantic (1943, H.Bogart)
Corvette K225 (1943, R.Scott, UK Title "The Nelson
Touch") Commander of new corvette
revenges his lost ship. RCN, Filmed
during workup by HMCS Kitchener (K225!)
and 5 convoy roundtrips by the director.
Very rare instance of real combat
footage that fits the story exactly.
V Destroyer (1943, E.G. Robinson)
V ^ The Sullivans (1944, W.Bond, also called "The Fighting
Sullivans") Story of 5 brothers who go
down together on the USS Juneau.
*** V ^ They Were Expendable(1945, R.Montgomery) PT boats in the
Philipines. One of the best wartime navy
movies. Montgomery was a *real* PT
captain.
Fighting Coast Guard (1951, B.Donlevy)
** ^ The Gift Horse (1952, T.Howard, UK Title "Glory at
Sea") Brit reluctantly takes charge of
an old US DD (?).
Sailor of the King(1953,J.Hunter) WW2 naval action.(UK
Title Single-Handed") Remake of "Brown
on Resolution".
Okinawa (1952, P.O'Brien) Destroyer fights off
Kamikazes, "USS BLAKE".
Sea of Lost Ships (1953, W.Brennan) USCG
*** V ^ The Cruel Sea (1953, J.Hawkins) Story of the frigate
"Compass Rose" and her years at war, and
the stress on the crew. No false
heroics, from a novel.
^ The Ship That Died of Shame(1955, R.Attenbourgh)
V ^ The Sea Chase (1955, J.Wayne) Wayne as German Merchant
Marine captain sneaking back to the
Reich in 1939!
** V ^ Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956, A.Quayle, originally "The
Battle of The River Plate"). Not a lot
of action.
** V ^ Away All Boats (1956, J.Chandler) Story of assault
transport through Pacific war. Shot
with APA 212 Montrose (as "PAC22
Belinda") Appears to be shot around
Hawaii. Great colour film of damage
control and Amphib ops., overly heroic
captain Chandler. Watch for Clint
Eastwood as one of the crew.
Battlestations (1956, W.Bendix)
** V ^ The Enemy Below (1957, R.Mitchum) Mitchum as DD captain
hunting U-boat.
** V ^ The Deep Six (1959, A.Ladd) DD in the Aleutions,
Ladd comes to terms with killing.
** V ^ Sink the Bismark (1960, K.More) They did.
V ^ The Gallant Hours (1960, J.Cagney) Story of Bull Halsey.
^ Under 10 Flags (1960, Van Heflin)Story of german
Q-ship.
** V ^ PT109 (1963, C. Robertson) Filmed in the Key
West area using Ex-USAF crash rescue
boats modified by ELCO with PT upper
works. Story of JFK's war service and PT
sinking. Ther're attacked a Jap T-6.
"Chief Bensen" was played by real PT109
Crewman George Ross.
^ In Harm's Way (1965, J.Wayne)Wayne is an Admiral in
the Pacific. Real stuff includes DD298
Cassiday.
*** V ^ Sand Pebbles (1966, S.McQueen) McQueen on a Chinese
river gunboat, "USS San Pablo", circa
1926.
V ^ Hellboats (1970, J.Franciscus) This is probably
the same as "MTB",neither of which
appear in the film guides. MTB is about
PT's at Malta.
** V ^ Mission of the Shark(1991, S.Keach) Sinking and survival
of Indianapolis in the Pacific, and
subsequent scape-goating of Captain
McVey.
MISC.
===============================================================
Navy Blue and Gold(1937, J.Stewart) Annapolis
An Annapolis Story(1953, J.Derek)
Shipbuilders (1943) Clyde shipyard during the war, I
assume they built warships.
The Navy Way (1943) Boot
Destination Gobi (1953, R.Widmark) Navy Weathermen fight
off Japanese in the Gobi Desert.
*** V ^ The Caine Mutiny (1954, H.Bogart) Court room drama on DD
mutiny. Made with USN co-operation only
after a struggle, after the producers
agreed to have Caine go off because of
battle-fatigue.
V Silent Enemy (1958, British, J.Clements)RN Frogmen.
*** V ^ The Best Years of Our Lives(1946, D.Andrews) Going home
after WWII. This one swept the Oscars.
** V ^ Fighting Seabees (1944, J.Wayne)Wayne forms Seabees with
naval officer. One of the few movies
where Wayne screws up and gets men
killed.
The Frogmen (1951, R.Widmark)Frogmen sabotage
Japanese invasion obstacles.
*** V ^ Mister Roberts (1955, H.Fonda) Comedy on supply
transport.
Underwater Warrior(1958, D.Dailey) Frogmen, apparently
based on a true story of a Korean war
era diver.
*** V ^ The Last Detail (1973, J.Nicholson) Two long timers
escort a sailor to the brig. Partly
filmed in Toronto
V ^ Cinderella Liberty(1973, J. Caan)
** V ^ Officer and a Gentlemen (1982, R.Gere) Jerk manages to
pass Officers boot selection
V ^ Purple Hearts (1984, C.Ladd) Set in Vietnam. Medical??
V Caine Mutiny-Court Martial(1998, J.Daniels)Remake for TV.
** V ^ Philadelphia Experiment(1984)Science fiction.
V A Few Good Men (1992, T.Cruise) Court room drama.
COLD WAR/TERRORIST CLASHES
===================================================================
** V ^ The Bedford Incident(1965, R.Widmark) Obsessive DD captain
hunts down a Russian sub.
V ^ The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming (1966,
C.Reiner)
** V ^ Ice Station Zebra (1968, R.Hudson)
V ^ On the Beach (1959, G.Peck)
** V ^ The Hunt for Red October(198 , S.Connery) Good action
flic.
V The Finest Hour (198?)USN Seals Action
V The Patriot (1986, L.Neilsen) Navy SEALS action
* V ^ NAVY SEALS (1990, C. Sheen)Typical shoot up bad
arabs with big guns.
V Full Fathom Five (1990,J.Moriarty)Russ sub seized by
terrorists
** V Under Seige (1992,S.Segal)Shot on Alabama, Missouri
used for external film. Terrorists
attack Washington capital with BB.
MiniSeries
=================================================================
War and Remberance()Shot with models, also the Lexington.
and Barry as a "Cruiser".
Pearl Some footage from Tora
Winds of War Some footage from Tora
From Here to Eternity- Footage from, you guessed it.
Documentaries
=================================================================
The Fighting Lady (1945) Documentary movie shot on
Yorktown (II). Also used film shot on
Lexington, Wasp, Essex,
Hornet, Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga
Life and Death of USS Hornet - Documentary Movie
** V ^ Victory At Sea (1954) Documentary Movie from TV series.
Honourable/Dishonourable Mentions
==================================================================
Tell It to The Marines(1926, L.Caney) Partly filmed
onboard the US Pacific Fleet during war
games. First movie made with
co-operation of USN.
** V ^ Thirty Seconds over Tokyo(,)Shot with large models, 135"
section of the Hornet deck bulit ona
soundstage with two real B-25's, and a
lot of well-integrated newsreel film.
* V ^ Apocalypse Now A lot of film on a riverine craft, but
forget it as naval history. Makes
riverine look as bad as everything else
in the movie
*** V ^ The Longest Day (,J.Wayne) Amphib section was filmed
using 1600 Marines and 25 ships of the
6th fleet of Corsica.
** V ^ McArthur (,G.Peck) surender signing shot on real
spot on Missouri, amphib bit shot at
Coronado beach.
The "shot on" is for the real film stuff. Almost all used
sound stages, models, some with carrier deck replicas, and
most used various combat films.
V - Available on VHS Video cassette
^ - Still floating around recently on the tube (in the US/Canada)or
PAY-TV.
Ratings *** Great, highly reccomended, realistic. May be famous as
a classic. [You may get the wife and kids to watch.]
** Good, some good footage, story okay. [Wife leaves,
kids stay.] Some of the recent action flicks like "Top
Gun" fit in here, only for their entertainment value,
* Not really reccommended, usually 'B'movie, may have
silly story, heroics, etc. [Wife, kid and even the dog
leave.]
--
**********************************************************
* Rick Anderson * Digital Equipment Corporation *
* "My timing is Digital" * Database Systems Division *
**********************************************************
