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
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