In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

See it – Not a run-of-the-mill submarine movie. James Garner stars as an underwater demolitionist expert in World War II who just happens to be fluent in Japanese. But for some reason he is hand-picked by the government to go on a secret mission that requires neither. His mission involves hitching a ride on a submarine, commanded by an uptight captain who does everything strictly by the book. The submarine takes Garner's character undetected to a Japanese island, where his mission is to scuba dive from the sub to the island, sneak into the enemy outpost, and photograph documents for military intelligence. Most of the movie takes place on the sub. The sub encounters an enemy battleship and enemy planes. The best part of the film is the last 30 minutes, when Garner's character finally gets off the sub and gets to sneak around in the jungle. Despite its unique plot, the rest of the movie is very average, including the action. 2.5 action rating.

I really like some submarine movies -- "Destination Tokyo" is fun and "Das Boot" is unique -- so I hate to say it but "Up Periscope" is pretty bad.Edmond O'Brien is the skipper of the Barracuda and he's given the task of taking specialist James Garner to a remote Japanese-held island in World War II. Garner must swim ashore from 2000 yard out and steal an important code book before a coming invasion. O'Brien refuses to put his boat at risk after some earlier traumatic incidents, while Garner argues that he is being sacrificed because of O'Brien's excess of caution.Both the leads are professionals and they're okay as far as that goes. They've each given better performances -- O'Brien in "DOA" for instance, and Garner in "Barbarians at the Gates." But then what could they, or anyone else, do with these dumb roles? The script, a rude lump of malignancy, was written by Richard Landau. It's as if someone had handed him a fistful of Benzedrine and told him to sit down and write an action/submarine script in 48 hours -- and make it exciting. Oh, and include an unnecessary love interest.If there's a cliché missing, I missed it. There's the injured man dying below decks because the skipper can't take his boat to the surface, the submarine stuck on the surface for repairs in enemy waters, the strafing by the Japanese airplane (which gets shot down), the depth charges by the Japanese destroyer (which gets sunk), the wounded officer on the deck ordering, "Take her down!" at the sacrifice of his own life, the comic crew member who isn't nearly as funny or charming as the writers think he is (Alan Hale, Jr., son of a genuinely charming cook on the Copperfin in "Destination Tokyo"), the grumbling seamen who don't like the by-the-book captain, men saluting with their caps off below decks. "Dive, dive!" "Rig for silent running!" You will be pardoned if you pendiculate.There IS something striking about the movie. It's startling in its lack of imagination. It's not an innocent flag waver like "Destination Tokyo" and it doesn't even pretend to the realism of "Das Boot." And it isn't even as funny as "Operation Petticoat."

This film is a hidden gem. When one talks of WWII submarine films, movies such as Das Boot and Run Silent Run Deep come up but Up Periscope rarely gets a mention.The plot, to sum it up, is about a US navy submarine in the early days of the war with Japan. It has been given a task to deliver a commando (James Garner) to a remote Japanese outpost in the Pacific to do some reconnaissance work. Along the way many perils face both him and the boat.Its a great film because it doesn't get too dramatic and the subplots are there in just the right amount, not overpowering the main story. The captain of the ship is a good yet slightly flawed man and the characters in general aren't one dimensional. The tension is genuine and the film keeps you at the edge of your seat. Visuals are great too, thanks to the cooperation of the Navy and some very well done miniature scenes.If you like war films, navy films, WWII films or just a good thriller, watch this.

O'Brien is the sub commander, who loses the trust of his crew, Garner the naval officer assigned a commando mission-but the real story here is the vintage cast-Richard Bakalyan and Warren Oates are joined by TV's familiar faces: Edd (Kooky) Byrnes, Henry (Otto Schmidlapp from "Life of Riley") Kulka, and Alan (the Skipper from "Gilligan's Island") Hale Jr. The fine performances are punctuated by adequate action scenes that result in a very watchable picture.