Battle of the Coral Sea (1959)

“In my book, anybody who cooperates with my enemies isn’t neutral.” – Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Conway

Number of Times Seen – 1 (3 Dec 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A submarine commander and his crew are sent on a top secret mission to gather intelligence about the Japanese armada in the Coral Sea and must deliver the information before an upcoming battle in the region.

My Take on it – This is a film that I came across by accident and was curious to see how they would present this aspect of World War II in the Pacific theater.

The story is juts a small footprint within the overall context of the whole engagement against the Japanese and it works well here.

Most of the characters are typical sailor and soldiers and none really stand out more than the rest.

The lead character played by Cliff Robertson is great to watch because every move he makes is calm collected and most importantly calculated and we can get a better understanding of everything that he chooses to do here.

The story does a nice job blending together naval and land missions and is able to show how imperative it ca be for a commander to make split second decisions in order to deal with the safety of his crew, even during wartime.

This also shows how a commander must undertake actions that he might not have expected to do when he finds himself ad his men in situations that they come across.

The special effects are a bit poor and whenever they show the submarine underwater, it’s easy to see that they are filming in a tub.

Conversely tho, the action scenes above water are quite thrilling to watch.

Bottom Line – Great story that works so well within the context of the overall war in the Pacific during World War II. The characters are fine but the lead character played by Robertson is by far the best because we can understand every move he makes along the way. The way that the film mixes together naval missions with land missions is done well in helping establish the diverse work that officers needed to undertake in war especially in unexpected situations like the one provided here. The special effects are poor even for the days this was made, yet the story is able to be thrilling enough. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Screen debut of George Takei. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)