BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA

US, 1959, 80 minutes, Black and white.
Cliff Robertson, Gia Scala, Tom Laughlin.
Directed by Paul Wendkos.

Battle of the Coral Sea is not exactly about the battle itself. The battle takes up only the last five minutes of the whole film. It took place on May 7, 1942, less than six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The action stopped the progress of the Japanese fleet towards New Guinea and Australia.

The film is mainly about a mission taken on by a small submarine that was to travel to the Japanese fleet, gather data to help the Americans plan the battle - and to develop a technique of photographing through the periscope. However, the submarine is discovered, made to surface, the men taken to a prisoner-of-war camp, the photos that were thought to be abandoned discovered by the Japanese. Most of the film takes place in the camp, the clash between Cliff Robertson as the commander of the submarine and the Japanese official. Gia Scala appears as an interpreter, receiving hostility from the prisoners but eventually helping them and escaping with them herself. The latter part of the film shows the escape.

Paul Wendkos was at the beginning of a long career in films and television. Cliff Robertson was to win an Oscar ten years later for his role in Charlie. Tom Laughlin appears as one of the officers and he was to become famous for some years in the early 70s as Billy Jack.

1. An American war film with the perspective of the 50s on World War II? Seen in the perspective of decades later?

2. The title, the role of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Americans bombing the Japanese fleet and preventing them sailing further? Preparation for the clash at Midway and the changing of World War II?

3. The black and white photography, naval sequences, the prisoner-of-war camp? Score?

4. Life on the submarine, the captain and his command, the fellow officers, their friendships? The officer developing the camera? The action in the Pacific, going to Australia? The new command?

5. The mission, sailing, photographs, the Japanese fleet? The depth charges, their being put out of action, surfacing, getting rid of the photos, the surrender?

6. The camp, the officer and his treatment of the men, the hard work of doing the water treadmill? The captain and his being kept healthy in order to answer questions? The captain waiting until the passing of the date of the rendezvous? The personalities of the men, life in the camp? The prisoners already there, the man and the woman, their help? The interpreter, their hostility towards her, her giving them the hat, the knife, her cutting the power, helping them to escape?

7. The escape, the drama, making the bow and arrows with the knife, getting the gun, the wounding and fatalities, getting to the boat, the rendezvous?

8. The perspective of the Battle of the Coral Sea in the picture of World War II, the role of the Americans, the need for data-gathering and the development of photography? A tribute to those participating in the battle?