Mystery Submarine ** (1950, Macdonald Carey, Märta Torén, Robert Douglas, Carl Esmond, Ludwig Donath) – Classic Movie Review 6674

Director Douglas Sirk’s little-known 1952 thriller stars Macdonald Carey as undercover US Navy Intelligence Officer Dr Brett Young, who sets out to save naive duped widow Madeline Brenner (Swedish star Märta Torén) and kidnapped scientist Euro-boffin Dr Adolph Guernitz (Ludwig Donath) from the clutches of Commander Eric von Molter (Robert Douglas), the conniving renegade Nazi skipper of the U-boat mystery submarine of the title.

A strong cast and a fine director fight the good fight against a screenplay by George W George and George F Slavin that is plenty busy but packed with clichés, cardboard people and incredible plotting.

This minor movie from one of cinema’s esteemed names is tolerable enough adventure entertainment. As Sirk’s first film for Universal, it is very much a B-movie and a modest start, but his contract stipulated one major A-project within the first year, which was Thunder on the Hill (1951), starring Claudette Colbert.

Carl Esmond, who plays Lieutenant Heldman, lived till he was 102 in 2004. It also co-stars Ludwig Donath, Jacqueline Dalya, Fred Nurney, Howard Negley, Katherine Warren, Ralph Brooke [Brooks] and Paul Hoffman. Esmond and Donath were both Austrian.

It runs 78 minutes, is shot by Clifford Stine, produced by Ralph Dietrich and Joseph Gershenson.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6674

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