NO better lines were ever written for any WWII movie. Those lines are a truism for the world in which we live today. I wish that those lines were in print.

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.

The quality of the print I saw was superb. It could have been made yesterday - instead of DURING the war - in Technicolor!In the initial romance scenes, I think Miss Baxter would have had the smitten man locked up - if he hadn't been played by Tyrone Power. His charm somewhat overcomes the creepy aspects of the portrayal.The romantic episodes in any event didn't merge all that well with the rest of the movie. Despite what others have written, the black character did undergo verbal abuse, yet still followed the white guy around like a lap-dog. (Although the white guy's abusive attitude is explained later in the film).But you do get to see Washington DC in the early 40s and some spectacular action set-pieces.

Tyrone Power's last film before going to war was this World War II epic which co-starred him with Dana Andrews and Anne Baxter and a good cast of supporting players. This did win an Oscar for Special Effects with the raid on the Nazi Submarine base.And that's what makes this thing so stupid. Where was that base? Given what World War II vintage subs could do in performance, that base had to be Block Island, Martha's Vineyard or at worst, the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. You're asked to believe that the Nazis constructed a secret submarine base somewhere on some mythical isle in the Atlantic. These guys went off on some short cruise from New London to find this base. Just where were the Nazis operating?Tyrone Power must have laughed himself silly every time he thought of this one. Especially in the South Pacific where served with the Marines in several major Pacific campaigns. At his funeral, there was a Marine honor guard as would befit a retired Major.The rest of the story is your standard triangle the kind Power played in with Don Ameche during peacetime in the 30s. Except that here, the Ameche part was played by Dana Andrews.One positive note. Black actor Ben Carter played a cook in the submarine galley and he's shown in an actual combat mission. It was an unusual role for a black actor to play at that time and I think he played it well. Some racial stereotyping, but his concern and affection for James Gleason who was the CPO on the submarine was real and rang true.