Product Details

• Actors: Richard Arlen, Wendy Barrie, Nils Asther, Roger Pryor, Abner Biberman
• Directors: Frank McDonald
• Writers: Maxwell Shane
• Producers: William C. Thomas, William H. Pine
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: January 27, 2004
• Run Time: 66 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00011D1J0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,564 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Submarine Alert" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

SUBMARINE ALERT - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unka Woo, don't forget to kiss her!, June 30, 2004

By 

Steven Hellerstedt "SH" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Submarine Alert (DVD)

A brace of Nazis arrive at a secluded rural shack. "Ve haf come for ze transmitter, Mr. Bergstrom." Bergstrom ain't selling and he ain't giving it away, either. In fact, he's running away. Not, unfortunately for him, fast enough to outpace a bullet. The Huns shoot, Bergstrom falls and is presumably ground to gruel as a tractor/tiller runs over his body. Fortunately for the plot ze transmitter is unharmed, and the Huns steal it.
Soon enough the spy bad guys are using ze transmitter to contact the submerged bad guys. Axis submarines off the American coast are alerted when American cargo ships are departing, and vital oil tankers begin sinking at an alarming rate.
And so the premise of SUBMARINE ALERT. It stars the mediocre Richard Arlen as Lew Deerhold, an electronic engineer who is recruited by the Nazis to work on ze Bergstrom transmitter. The FBI has orchestrated his firing to put him on the street, as it were, and Deerhold isn't aware those throwing all that money at him are agents of the enemy. The female lead is played by Wendy Barrie, whose trivia entries at imdb.com are much more intriguing than her on screen performance or credit list. Barrie's godfather was, we are told, the author of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie. Pan's Wendy was named after Miss Barrie. Another interesting snippet - Barrie was once engaged to the gangster "Bugsy" Siegel. Barrie plays undercover FBI agent Ann Patterson, who is assigned to Deerhold. The two leads don't necessarily strike sparks in their scenes together, but they seem to be hitting their marks and delivering their lines competently enough.
The 3-stars I gave to SUBMARINE ALERT is for fans of the sub-sub-genre Action-War-War Bond Rally movies. In other words, if you like movies that deal with war and that were churned out quickly during a war, in this case World War II, SUBMARINE ALERT will satisfy your craving. Just barely, but it'll do. You can tell this is a War Bond Rally movie because it contains a final scene with one of the leads giving a testimonial to all that is good about America and why we have to defeat the enemy at any cost.
Even fans of the genre will be annoyed by the most cloyingly cute child actress I've ever seen. Fortunately, the only reason she's in the movie is to require an expensive operation. The film trots her off to a hospital before the bad taste has a chance to set in your mouth. In other words, she gives the Arlen character an altruistic reason to need money NOW and explains his willingness to ask too few questions when approached by the disguised Germans. More annoying are some closing scenes of airplanes chasing a submarine. They must not have had any stock footage of subs or planes because this is the most pathetically obvious use of cheap models I've seen this side of Ed Woods. Finally, some scenes reveal a seriously scratched and deteriorated master print.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rainy Day Fun, July 12, 2009

By 

Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Manly NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Submarine Alert (1943) (DVD)

Richard Arlen was a Paramount contract star dating back to the silent era, where he gave an emotional performance in Wings, one of the most famous of silent films. During the 1940's he became the rugged and stoic action hero of "B" movies, designed to entertain on a slim budget. Some were subpar, but this one is a nifty little wartime "B" with a good story from Maxwell Shane. Because it is a "B" from a major studio rather than a Poverty Row entry, it's a little tighter and leaner than most, streamlined direction from Frank McDonald and pleasant leads keeping you interested on a Saturday morning or late at night.

A secret transmitter is being used by German spies to pinpoint oil tankers for Japanese subs to sink, slowing the war effort. The F.BI. decides to have several topflight radio engineers laid off and see if any are approached. The firing comes at an inopportune time for our stoic hero Arlen, as his daughter Tina needs a costly operaton. Anne Patterson (Wendy Barrie) just happens along so he can save her from a scripted purse snatching, and she can keep an eye on him. When he's offered work which unbeknownst to him is helping the enemy with their transmitter, her feelings for he and his small daughter make her give him the benefit of the doubt.

When an F.B.I. man is knocked off at his place, and the transmitter he'd been working on stolen, he takes off after the bad guys to see what's going on. He's already pegged Anne for a Fed and blows her off because she's been lying to him. Nice touches, such as a waterwheel being used during an exciting little chase, help elevate this nifty "B" above most of Arlen's other slew of low budget action films from the 1940's. Once Anne arrives it gets better, albeit a bit cornball, as they're both trapped in a room full of steam and must rely on a young ham radio operator who knows Morse code to get help and save those oil tankers.

It is swiftly paced and played out so sincerely you don't get those eye rolling moments you do in many programmers from the era. It won't grab you, but will keep you interested on a rainy night, rewarding the viewer with a dash of excitement near the end. Nils Asther is among the cast, and fans of Gunsmoke can catch a young Milburn Stone in a small part. A nice little "B" film with a fine cast and a couple of stylish touches which lift this one to the higher echelon of "B films.

4.0 out of 5 stars Homeland Security, March 31, 2011

By 

Acute Observer (N. Jersey Shore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Submarine Alert (DVD)

Submarine Alert, 1943 film

The story begins with an automobile on a highway. It turns off to a farm road. Two men go into a house to ask for a transmitter. They are refused, but they do not accept this. They send a message. At sea a submarine launches a torpedo at a tanker. The headlines tell of other ships sunk. [America was then an oil exporter.] At FBI headquarters they investigate these sinkings; someone has been sending messages. Teams are looking for the transmitter by using triangulation for its location. The place is searched, "no results". [A mobile transmitter?] They have a plan to discover a suspect. Many radio engineers are fired. One of these is an alien. He looks for work and meets a man who hires him to work on a patent. We see the man who provides information; he is caught in the act. But he won't talk. The spies continue their work. So too does counter-intelligence.

Lou Deerhold is brought in for questioning. His rooms are searched. The spies go to Deerhold's rooms, there is a confrontation. Later Deerhold returns, then flees as the police arrive. They chase him, he escapes by driving his car into a train tunnel! Deerhold returns to that gang to make a deal. "We need clever men, and you too." Deerhold is given a task; how well will he do? The action picks up! Shots are fired. The movie shows how coded messages are recorded so they can be speeded up in burst transmissions to avoid detection. Can Deerhold prevent this? There is a fight with Toyo. They chase Deerhold and release their guard dogs. Anne Patterson drives by, but the place is closed for the season. There is a double surprise at the shipping company! Anne and Lou are taken for a ride, then put in a locked room which is heated to a high temperature.

Can Deerhold send a message for help? Can the spies send their message to the submarine? Will a young boy receive a message and call for help? Yes. A bomber drops one bomb on the submarine. The FBI captures the spies, others release Anne and Lou. There is a happy ending.

This movie is an example of what entertained America in the 1940s during the war. It is still a good story. The locale isn't mentioned, but that city resembles parts of San Francisco.