Die Höllenhunde des Pazifik (1957)

Die Höllenhunde des Pazifik: Directed by Nathan Juran. With Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Arthur Franz, Robert Arthur. The daring exploits of a submarine commander whose mission is to chart the minefields in the waters of Japan during World War II.

“US Navy submarines bravely try to penetrate the heavily-mined entrance to the Sea of Japan, in order to sink enemy shipping which is carrying coal, food and iron from China to the Japanese homeland.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn one level a simple war action movie, this film is also a commendable study in the morality of leadership. The central question posed by the movie is whether a commanderu0026#39;s duty towards a single seaman in obvious danger outweighs his overall responsibility to his crew.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRonald Reagan is very good as the straight, correct Captain Casey Abbott. Back at Guam he has a girl, a nurse in the military hospital (Nancy Davis, to give her her professional name). When a frogman who is also a rival for the nurseu0026#39;s affections gets into difficulties, Captain Casey has to try to separate personal and professional motivations.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCaseyu0026#39;s Executive Officer, Dan Landon, clashes with his skipper but by a twist of fate finds himself having to make a very similar decision. Will he call the plays differently?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film works as an uncomplicated war story, but does contain a few infelicities. The submariners are depicted as nice guys in order to enlist viewer sympathy, but this is a little overdone and the sailors come across as childish simpletons, stealing cookies and hiding their dice. Wes Barton has to be portrayed as a popular guy so that we will resent his treatment at the Captainu0026#39;s hands, but to have sailors pleading for a Barton story as he is entering the airlock on a dangerous mission is just unbelievable. The crew of the USS Starfish get sealed orders for a special mission. They are to enter the Straits of Tsushima, land a party on a fortified island, and destroy its defences. Would an ordinary submarine crew really be entrusted with such a specialised task? The frogman sequences are shot in murky water and are hard to follow. Penetration of the minefield channel is effected in a few seconds, when such an undertaking would surely last many hours.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor contemporary viewers, much of the filmu0026#39;s interest will lie in the unique experience of watching Ron and Nancy onscreen together. They had been married for five years when u0026quot;Hellcatsu0026quot; was made, and at the time of writing, 42 years later, they are still going strong. It is tempting, if unwarranted, to scrutinize their lines for significant snippets. Ronald Reaganu0026#39;s character is asked what he will do after the War and he announces, u0026quot;Iu0026#39;m going into the surplus business.u0026quot; Given his leadership style, some would say that was an accurate prediction of both his gubernatorial performance in California and his presidency. Much of Ronu0026#39;s dialogue is an essay on the burden of leadership, and how only a special few are fitted to bear it. Nancy confides to him, u0026quot;You know I was fresh out of a bad marriage when we met. I wanted to be sure this time. So we played it safe, until I knew you were Mr. Right.u0026quot; In fairness to the Reagans, that, at least, has proved to be autobiographical.”