BOOK/MOVIE: Run Silent, Run Deep (1955/1958)

VS.

                From boyhood I have loved history.  In elementary school I can remember devouring history books from the library.  The library is still one of my favorite places to visit.  I have always preferred nonfiction (military history in particular), but I have occasionally branched out into historical fiction.  I am picky about novels I read.  I have found that it is difficult to find military novels that are enjoyable. Usually because there is not enough combat and they are not realistic enough for my standards.  My favorite subgenre is nautical fiction, especially the Napoleonic Wars.  The first historical fiction book that I can recall reading was Edward L. Beach’s Run Silent, Run Deep which was published in 1955.  It was a bestseller and was made into a major motion picture in 1958.  I read the book more than once over the years, but had not read it again for over three decades.  When I watched the movie a few years ago, I found that the movie differs from the book, but did not remember to what degree.  I vowed to do a book/movie post on it when I could get around to it.  That time has arrived.  This post is designed for people who have seen the movie and are interested in how the book differs.

                First, I have to say that the movie gets worse every time I see it.  I have reviewed it earlier so I won’t go into anything but implausibilities now.  These begin almost immediately.  The movie opens with a sub being sunk by a Japanese destroyer off Bungo Strait, which is on the coast of Japan.  It is 1942.  Next, we see the crew is in the water and then the captain is desk-bound at Pearl Harbor one year later.  The chances of a shipwrecked crew being rescued off the coast of Japan in 1942 would have been virtually zero.  Richardson convinces the brass to let him seek revenge by giving him command of a new sub over the head of its exec Bledsoe.  They have never met before.  Although told to avoid the Bungo Strait, Richardson disobeys the order.  Why did the Navy give this obsessed man a new boat and then tell him not to pursue his obsession?  Also strange is the reaction of the crew. They are on the verge of mutiny over having to go into the dangerous patrol area.  Apparently, the technical adviser had no problem with the movie portraying a sub crew as cowards.  The captain gains the respect of the crew by attacking a convoy on the surface during broad daylight.  He manages to sink a pursuing destroyer as it is firing on the sub.   This should have been what the crew had a problem with.  Attacking on the surface in daylight and not diving immediately with a destroyer chasing?  The captain is clearly insane.  To prove it, the next time they face a convoy, they are on the surface in daylight again!  But this time, they stay when aircraft drop at least ten bombs!  Luckily, the captain suffers a concussion and Bledsoe takes over and decides to return to Pearl.  The crew is elated that they will be returning home early and with a bunch of torpedoes remaining.  They are cowards, remember?  Bledsoe changes his mind and they attack a convoy in a carbon copy of the first attack in the movie.  They are almost sunk by a Japanese sub which somehow manages to target them while both are submerged.  Very implausible.  They surface and start sinking merchantmen to lure the enemy sub to the surface.  Why would it do that when the American has suicidally exposed itself?!  They sink the sub by firing under a decoy ship.  Supposedly the decoy has such a shallow draft that this is possible.  It is highly unlikely that the draft would be less than a sub.  As you can see, the movie is a tactical farce.  Richardson dies at the end (of a concussion!) and Bledsoe survives. 

                The movie is centered on the classic sub cliché of command dysfunction.  Bledsoe is upset with Richardson taking the command he and the crew feel he deserves.  In the book, Bledsoe is upset with Richardson because he prevented his exec from being promoted.  The book throws in the love triangle cliché with Bledsoe marrying a woman Rich is smitten with.  The situation is awkward, but the crew is not involved.  Their first patrol is to Bungo Strait where they are depth charged by Bungo Pete.  They do not release a body and debris to fool the Japanese.  There are no serious injuries and the captain does not sustain a concussion.  They have several more patrols before they go back.  The captain drills the crew strenuously, but there is no grumbling.  The drills emphasize detection and avoidance of subs and swiftly changing fire control problems.  Not diving and firing bow shots.  They figure out Tokyo Rose and Bungo Pete are aware of their presence by reading their trash.  They start releasing trash with another sub’s name.  They attack a convoy on the surface at night successfully in spite of the subtheme of faulty torpedoes.  But the Walrus takes a hit on its bridge and the captain is injured.  This results in an extended hospital stay and Bledsoe takes over the boat.  He goes on several spectacular tours which unfortunately we are not along for because Beach unwisely decided to write the book in first person.

                When Walrus is sunk by Bungo Pete, Richardson gets a new boat named Eel and sails off to get revenge.  The climactic battle occurs on a stormy night.  The foes are a sub, Q-ship, and Bungo Pete.  They sink the sub when it submerges and they use sonar and an estimate of it being at periscope death to sink it.  Lucky, but plausible.  They then easily sink Bungo Pete and the Q-ship.  Beach chose realism over suspense.  In the book, Richardson rams the life boats to assure that Bungo Pete does not sail again.  (We can guess why that scene did not make it into the movie.)  He is awarded the Medal of Honor on the return trip for rescuing some downed fliers. 

                You can see that the movie took huge liberties with the book.  Basically they bought the title and then changed the plot to reflect what Hollywood thinks the public wants in a sub movie.  With powerhouse stars like Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, you have to have a power struggle.  You must have dysfunction.  You must have redemption.  Shockingly, the movie dispenses with the love triangle.  The movie is only 93 minutes and needed to be much longer to cover the book properly.  They must have had a shortage of film because the movie has a weirdly truncated ending.  The book covers only one patrol.  The novel would make a great miniseries.

                I have to admit I was disappointed by the novel.  It is excellent if you want to learn about submarine warfare.  It reminds of Napoleonic naval novels with its use of jargon.  But it lacks suspense.  And could have used some dysfunction.  Not the silly stuff of the movie, however.  Normally I find that war movies based on novels are better than the source material, but not in this case.  When I returned to a book and movie that I was fond of when I was young, I was disappointed by both.  But I was embarrassed by the movie.

BOOK  =  B

MOVIE  =  C