One of the lesser known feature films of John Ford has Richard Greene and Preston Foster co-starring in Submarine Patrol. Foster has been court martialed, reduced in rank and now in command of a submarine chaser which looks to be the equivalent of a PT boat World War I style. He's also been given a really green and rank crew.
Greene is a fresh young squirt with connections and looks like he got a part that possibly Tyrone Power rejected at 20th Century Fox. It's just like the kind of hero/heel role that Power was beginning to make a specialty of. He's not happy being assigned to a submarine chaser, but orders are orders as he's firmly told.
The ship's first job is to escort a convoy and on one of them is Nancy Kelly, daughter of Captain George Bancroft. Bancroft ain't liking Greene no way, no how with his preppy rich boy attitude. But Greene is persistent here and persistent in showing Foster that he can be counted on in a pinch.
A lot of the rest of the crew is made up of Ford regulars like Jack Pennick, J. Farrell MacDonald, and Ward Bond. The usual monkeyshines associated with a Ford military picture are all present here. Take particular note of the harassed cook Slim Summerville who seems only to be able to make and serve lamb stew and the bookish Elisha Cook who actually earns his BA while on board the ship.
Submarine Patrol is not likely to be rated as one of his best, but Ford does not make bad ones for the most part.
