One of the harshest realities authors of either non-fiction or fiction books or stories must face is that when a Hollywood studio buys one of their "properties" for adaptation into film or television series, chances are that they, the writers, won't be too thrilled with the movies or shows that bear the names of their literary "babies."

For instance, four films have been made by producer Mace Neufeld that are based on four of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels, starting with The Hunt for Red October and continuing up to The Sum of All Fears. In interviews (some of them published in The Tom Clancy Companion), the novelist has expressed his ambivalence about the films, saying (in the case of Hunt) that they try to capture the essence of the source novels but often change settings, characters, and even the chronology of the so-called "Ryan-verse" to justify the James Bond series-like switching of the lead actor who plays Clancy's Everyman hero, Jack Ryan.

Another author who never did like the film version of his novel was Capt. Edward L. Beach, Jr., a highly decorated naval officer who served aboard several submarines in the Pacific during World War II and later, during the Eisenhower Administration as the CO of USS Triton,was the first submarine captain to circumnavigate the world while submerged.

Beach, during a stint ashore at the Pentagon, had written his first novel about the Navy's "Silent Service," Run Silent, Run Deep, in 1955, basing it not only on his intimate knowledge of American subs during the war, but also on officers who became famous "aces" - Sam Dealey, "Red" Ramage, and Dick O'Kane.

Of course, when Howard Hecht, then a partner in actor Burt Lancaster's "Hecht-Lancaster-Hill" production company, made an offer to buy the film rights to Run Silent, Run Deep as a vehicle for Lancaster, Beach was pleased - as any author surely would be under the circumstances.

However, once he saw the finished film as adapted by screenwriter John Gay (A Private Battle) and directed by Robert Wise (Star Trek: The Motion Picture), the proud but outspoken Beach - who'd later write two sequels to Run Silent, Run Deep - said bitterly, "All they wanted was my title."

This 1958 film, which stars the aforementioned Burt Lancaster as Lt. Jim Bledsoe, USN, Clark Gable as Cmdr. "Rich" Richardson, USN, Jack Warden as Yeoman 1st Class Mueller, and "insult comedian" Don Rickles as Petty Officer 1st Class Ruby, is not a bad film by any means. Indeed, it's one of the better, if not quite the best, movies about submarines and the men who serve aboard them made so far.

Screenwriter Gay, probably under instructions to keep the film tightly focused and pretty fast-paced, eschews two thirds of Beach's novel and focuses on Cmdr. Richardson's almost Ahab-like determination to sink "Bungo Pete," a Japanese destroyer which has sunk seven American submarines in a sector adjacent to the Bungo Straits and designated by the Navy as Area Seven.

The film, therefore, begins with action as Richardson, commanding a Gato-class "boat"*, orders an attack on a Japanese convoy sailing placidly in Area Seven. But as his sub is making her final attack approach, she's spotted by Bungo Pete (officially named the Akikaze) and BAM, sunk by Japanese depth charges. And as the titles come up, the debris of the sub and a pitiful band of survivors bobs on the surface of the Pacific, including a badly-injured Richardson.

Flash forward a few months, and when we next meet up with Richardson, he's unhappily serving behind a desk at Submarine HQ in Pearl Harbor Naval Base. He seems physically fit, but he is obsessed with "getting" Bungo Pete; even in his office on "the beach," he is constantly war-gaming attack runs on the Akikaze with his enlisted aide, Yeoman Mueller.

When Richardson gets wind that three other U.S. boats have been reported as "missing, presumed lost" since his own sub was sunk in Area Seven, he pulls all the strings he can to get command of a sub...new, or otherwise.

The only sub available to Richardson is the USS Nerka, which has just returned to Pearl after a war patrol in which her skipper was killed and left Lt. Bledsoe, her executive officer, in command. Bledsoe, a young, up-and-coming career officer, is up for promotion and is expected by everyone - especially Bledsoe himself - to be the Nerka's new captain.

But upon arrival at Pearl, Bledsoe is told by Capt. Blunt, a senior officer who has been grooming the lieutenant for his first command, that the Nerka will be his, but not on the upcoming war patrol. Instead, Bledsoe will be "Rich" Richardson's XO till further notice.

As in director Robert Wise's 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the movie derives much of its drama not so much from the action sequences but rather from the sparks that fly between Richardson, the veteran but perhaps dangerously unfit usurper, and Bledsoe, the young naval officer out to make his mark as a commander who feels resentment at having to give up "his" boat to a senior officer who pulled strings to get her. (Watch ST-TMP and observe the relationship between the similar Kirk-Decker duo and compare.)

Here, of course, the stark contrast between Gable (the fading leading man) and Lancaster (the rising Hollywood actor/producer) is reflected in the Richardson-Bledsoe dynamic, and the two actors' generational differences - in acting styles as well as in their characters' personas - are the driving forces that make the performances transcend the sparseness of the screenplay.

Although Run Silent, Run Deep boasts more than its fair share of good, even fine performances, its "stripped to the bare necessities" screenplay doesn't really break any new territory. Yes, it's more realistic, by Hollywood made-for-entertainment war movie standards, but with the exception of the seemingly-mad Richardson's relentless dive-and-torpedo-attack drills on the way to the Nerka's patrol sector, very few of the situations or even supporting characters are unique to Run Silent, Run Deep.

Would a more faithful adaptation of Beach's novel have been better? Perhaps, perhaps not. Viewed exclusively on its own merits, Run Silent, Run Deep is good enough as it is if what you want is a well-acted and sharply focused movie. Despite a few weird flaws (the filmmakers always have the torpedoes launched from Nerka coming out of the same tube no matter which tube is mentioned in dialogue), the battle sequences are good and the effects are about as nice as 1950s techniques would allow.

And yet, maybe more of Beach's story would have been nice to have, such as the earlier butting-of-heads before World War II when Bledsoe had screwed up aboard an old S-class boat and nearly wrecked his career, or some of the two men's pre-Nerka war patrols. (The one story thread I am glad that screenwriter Gay deleted was a cliched pre-World War II love triangle between Richardson, his then-girlfriend Laura, and Bledsoe. Laura, played in the movie by Mary LaRoche, makes a brief appearance in which she doesn't know Bledsoe.)

Nevertheless, Wise's directorial skills get good performances from the almost-all male cast, and Gable and Lancaster do work well together. These two factors, above all, make Run Silent, Run Deep worth watching and raise it above its standard-issue cliches and familiar situations.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older