Hell and High Water (1954)

HELL AND HIGH WATER is one in a run of war and western pictures put out by director Samuel Fuller during the 1950s. This one's a very average sort of story in which Richard Widmark leads an unorthodox crew on a secret mission up to the Arctic Circle where the Red Chinese are up to no good with nuclear weapons.It's a submarine film making liberal use of stock footage from previous movies. Now, while I enjoyed the premise and set-up of this movie - it's nice to see the crew a little more relaxed than they would be in a wartime thriller - the execution is strictly pedestrian and this feels more like a B-movie than an A-list picture. Part of the reason it's so watchable is Widmark himself, who delivers a solid leading performance that brings out some of the nuance of his character.The rest of the cast don't fare so well, particularly female scientist Bella Darvi who has been shoehorned into the picture and doesn't really fit; rumour has it she was only in the film as she was the producer's girlfriend at the time. I was delighted to see Cameron Mitchell in an early role but he does play a pretty minor character in this film. Victor Francen is more interesting as the nuclear scientist who comes along for the ride.HELL AND HIGH WATER isn't a bad film per se, and the action sequences are adroitly staged by sure-hand director Fuller. A run-in with a rival Chinese submarine is a highlight of the undersea action, and there's a surprisingly gruesome accident which works well in a shocking, vivid way. The last third of the film descends into stereotypical gung-ho antics but I had no problem with that as it helps breathe life into the picture. The special effects are quite wonky but passable for the era.

This exciting film contains cold war heroics , non stop excitement , and full of tension and intrigue . Pure entertainment from Fuller , it is set during the Cold War , a privately-financed scientist Prof. Montel (Victor Francen , though Charles Boyer was originally cast for this role) , his assistant (Bella Darvi) and colleagues hire an ex-Navy officer (Richard Widmark) to conduct an Alaskan submarine (Sub used was WW2 ex Japanese sub) expedition (including familiar faces , as sailors appear the followings : Cameron Mitchell , David Wayne and Gene Evans who helped Bella Darvi with her dialogue) in order to prevent a Red Chinese anti-American battle , as well as a deviously plotted plan that could trigger WW3 . As they fit a Japanese submarine to lead them to Arctic Circle . Along the way , they are pursued by a Chinese submarine , stalking each other , and intent on ramming the other .The intriguing premise gets to satisfy completely , as it has breathtaking moments , including an explosive climax and as when two submarines stalk each other through the depths . It mixes a twisted tale with intrigue and schoolboy science-fiction about a scheme that may lead to World War III . This sometimes little objective film lacks a sense of definitive character undermining its important message . This picture is more a submarine movie than a Warlike or Cold war film . The scene from the attack on the first island was taken from the movie ¨Crash Dive¨ (1943) , particularly the ammo exploding in the depot and the burning fuel cascading over the short cliff into the sea . Nice acting by Richard Widmark as an ex-Navy officer assigned to a dangerous mission : to find a secret Chinese atomic island base . Victor Francen plays well the obstinate scientific who designs the risked operation to prevent a Communist plot . And the gorgeous Bella Darvi , this marked the feature film debut of Darryl F. Zanuck's muse Bella Darvi, whose stage surname was a combination of the first names of Zanuck and his wife Virginia . Darvi became a 50s symbol for one of the many movie "Cinderellas" playing ¨Sinuhe the Egyptian¨ , ¨The racers¨ and whose bright and beautiful Hollywood fairy tale would come crashing down, ending in bitterness and tragedy . Bella finally committed suicide in 1971 after turning on the gas stove in her apartment, she was only 42. The movie displays a colorful cinematography in CinemaScope by Joseph MacDonald . This was Twentieth Century-Fox's fifth CinemaScope production . Thrilling and stirring musical score by the prolific Alfred Newman . In this picture Samuel Fuller proved his talent of vision and intelligence . Fuller being especially known as filmmaker of such exploitation films as ¨Shock corridor¨ and ¨The naked kiss¨ . Fuller made various Western as ¨I shot Jesse James(49)¨, ¨The baron of Arizona (50)¨, ¨Run of the arrow¨ (56) , ¨Forty guns(58)¨, and ¨The meanest men in the West (76)¨ , but his most fluid and strongest work lies in his war films as ¨Steel helmet(51)¨ , ¨Fixed bayonets(52)¨, ¨Hell and high water (55)¨, ¨China gate (57)¨ , ¨Merrill's Marauders (62)¨ and ¨The Big Red One (80)¨. Being his best films : ¨Pick up on South Street¨(53) , ¨Underworld Usa¨(60) and ¨White Dog¨(82) . Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .

When yet another atomic scientist goes missing behind the Iron Curtain, a private submarine expedition is put together to trail a freighter suspected of being able to lead the crew to what is believed to be the place where the Chinese are conducting nuclear research in preparation for a war. Former submarine commander Jones is contracted to lead the exhibition with a ragtag crew and a submarine in need of maintenance time that is not available to him. With Professor Montel technically in charge with his (female) assistant Professor Gerard by his side, the boat sets out on the mission of observation but with the ever present threat of danger in the hostile waters.A bit of a romp this one as it revels more in the gaudy sweep of the telling rather than the tension from narrative detail. The plot doesn't really matter so much as it is a simple device for the voyage. Along the way we get personal conflicts, crew tensions and underwater stand-offs as well as some fire-fights. At no point was I hooked but it is rather entertaining in the way that school-boy adventure stories are – full of tough men, sacrifice and action. In this regard it suits the people making it and Fuller directs with simple but bright colours – easy to understand and engage with even if they are too simple to be real. So it is with the characters and plot but it still works. The romantic side of the story is a flop and I didn't see why a female character couldn't just be a character and had to be a love interest (well, obviously I understand why this decision is made, but I didn't see the value of it in the story).The headlining of Richard Widmark is rarely a bad thing and he fits this tough action drama with his stern delivery and commanding presence. There is no doubting that Darvi is sexy and a good presence when it comes to being coy and flirtatious however when more is asked of her she is found wanting as she lacks the range. The rest of the cast fit in well around them – nobody brilliant of course but everyone able to be at the level required by the material.Not that intelligent or complex a film but a solid enough wartime action film which will do the job if that's all you're looking for.

Hell and High Water is a great Fifties film with Richard Widmark and his handpicked crew of WWII veterans trying to foil a dastardly Communist plot to start WWIII.Widmark is a former submarine commander who's been hired to check out a secret base that the Communist Chinese seem to be building in the islands north of Japan. The group that's hired him is some kind of consortium of western scientists who seem to be operating as a secret society. Like Captain Midnight or heaven forfend, the Tri-Lateral Commission.Parts of the plot and definitely some of the footage is taken from another submarine picture that 20th Century Fox did, Crash Dive. It's so obvious, especially when you have Richard Widmark's voice with no closeups, over the footage from the previous film. That also concerned a secret Nazi base in the Atlantic and the submarine crew that went to clean them out.Along for the ride in the submarine are scientists Victor Francen and his assistant Bella Darvi who was Darryl Zanuck's main squeeze at the time. Ms. Darvi had a short and tragic life and her story would make a real interesting picture.Far more interesting than this, though I will say the submarine special effects are outstanding.