Battle of the Coral Sea * (1959, Cliff Robertson, Gia Scala, Patricia Cutts) – Classic Movie Review 13,891

The 1959 American war film Battle of the Coral Sea stars Cliff Robertson, Gia Scala, and Patricia Cutts, and tells the story of ‘the most decisive battle in naval history’.

Director Paul Wendkos’s 1959 Columbia Pictures black and white American war film Battle of the Coral Sea stars Cliff Robertson, Gia Scala, and Patricia Cutts, and tells the story of ‘the most decisive battle in naval history’.

The Japanese seize a US wartime submarine on a reconnaissance mission and take the crew prisoner, but Karen Philips (Gia Scala) and British and Australian prisoners help three lieutenants to break free to get their all-important shipping Japanese installation surveillance photographs home to the Allies.

Cliff Robertson shows his stiff upper lip as Jeff Conway, the American Lieutenant Commander, in a run-of-the-mill actioner with exceptionally dull work in the acting, scripting and directing departments. There is a lot of talk and little action in this soporific movie, with an ordinary production. There is one bright spot. The best thing about it is the score by Ernest Gold, as well as the actual footage of the 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea that ends the film. There is obviously historical interest here too in this now mostly forgotten major naval battle story.

Cast: Cliff Robertson, Gia Scala, Patricia Cutts, Rian Garrick, Gene Blakely, L Q Jones, Robin Hughes, Tom Laughlin and George Takei (uncredited) as Japanese Radio Operator.

Filming started in March 1959, with location work on Santa Catalina Island and the Channel Islands off the coast of California.

Battle of the Coral Sea is directed by Paul Wendkos, runs 86 minutes, is made by Morningside Productions, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Dan Ullman [Daniel B Ullman] and Stephen Kandel, is shot in black and white by Wilfrid Kline, is produced by Charles H Schneer, and is scored by Ernest Gold.

Release date: November 1959.

The Battle of the Coral Sea was fought between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the naval and air forces of the US and Australia in the Pacific Theatre of World War Two from 4 to 8 May 1942. It was the first naval battle where the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired on one another, attacking over the horizon from aircraft carriers, and it was the first military battle between aircraft carriers.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,891

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com