The Deep Six

At the end of Susan's first visit to Alec's place,one reason she says she must leave is because it is quite late.

And it was indeed dark out when she arrived, but it is clearly daytime when she leaves.

During the bomb scene, Alan Ladd is wearing a wedding ring, though he is supposed to be single.

Near the start of the movie, Alan is having dinner with his girlfriend at a restaurant.

They are served drinks.

Her drink goes up and down in volume depending on what angle the camera goes.

Sometimes even fuller than it started.

As Alan and William Bendix get the unexploded bomb out of the ship, Alan is leaning on one knee with his left foot on the ground as William talks.

The camera shifts to Williams side, and now Alan has his right foot on the ground as they pick the bomb up.

THE DEEP SIX 1958This 1958 film was a co-production between Warner Brothers and Alan Ladd's Jaguar Productions. The film is a WW2 drama with Alan Ladd in the lead.

This film is quite good. The romance element quickly gives way to an interesting story of World War 11 where Alan Ladd's Quaker faith is put to test in battle.

With the exception of William Bendix and James Whitmore the performance of the cast is flat. Alan Ladd sleepwalks through the picture as if he would rather be somewhere else.

Raised by a peace-loving Quaker mother, artist Alan Ladd (as Alexander "Alec" Austen) is nevertheless enlisted for World War II service. This interrupts his romance with attractive younger Dianne Foster (as Susan Cahill).

I recently read the Bev Linet book on Alan Ladd. The book consistently talks about Alan's decline at Warner Bros.

This movie was really quite bad. No action, the conflicts were not well dramatized.

This story of a Quaker gunnery officer on a Navy destroyer in World War II bears some resemblance to Howard Hawks' "Sergeant York" but not much. Will Allan Ladd manage to overcome his unwillingness to fire at the enemy and save the lives of his shipmates?

The very subject of the movie eludes the director.The movie looks like some kind of cross between "Friendly Persuasion" (Wyler)and "the Caine Mutiny" (Dmytryk) Like Anthony Perkins in Wyler's movie,Alan Ladd's mom is a quaker and he was brought up that way and carefully taught;unfortunately he does not know where he stands anymore and whether he should or should not kill.

The cast is terrific, especially the always under-appreciated Dianne Foster in a thankless role, and the dialogue is crisp. But most of the cast is considerably older than their roles, and this movie adds little new information.