Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

robertguttman "The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional", says the opening credits. That statement is just about the most accurate thing in this film. The Battle of the Coral Sea was a strategically-important naval engagement fought between the U.S. and Japanese Navies between 4 and 8 May 1942. It stopped a Japanese attempt to carry out an amphibious invasion against Port Moresby, the last Allied stronghold in new Guinea. It also stopped Japanese expansion towards Australia.However, there is nothing in this movie about the Battle of the Coral Sea until the last ten minutes. The rest is a fairly routine story about POWs and their warders. consequently any viewer interested in learning about the Battle of the Coral Sea is advised to look elsewhere than this mis- named movie.

Leofwine_draca BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA is a complete misnomer of a title for this B-movie WW2 flick about the crew of a US submarine finding themselves at the mercy of the Japanese navy. It's not a battle film at all, it's too cheap for that, and the titular event merely takes place in the last five minutes of the production thanks to some aged stock footage. No, what we have here is a typical prisoner of war film, with the submarine crew forced to surrender to the Japanese, faring on a remote island, and eventually rising up against their oppressors.The cast is headed by genre favourite Cliff Robertson with the likes of L.Q. Jones in support, and there's a tiny role for a debuting George Takei if you can manage to spot him. Generally the production is hampered by a small budget which means that this is a very talky production without much in the way of action or excitement, although the eventual uprising scenes are quite well handled. Sadly they come too little too late for this to be an enjoyable production.

bkoganbing Just in case you're wondering Battle Of The Coral Sea has absolutely nothing to do with the Pacific Allies engaging the Japanese Fleet from May 4 to 8, 1942. The title should not lead you to expect to get a film like The Longest Day or Midway which are factual docudramas about those battles. The Coral Sea battle does deserve such a film and maybe an American or Australian film maker will do such a film some day. This ain't it.This is instead about Cliff Robertson and his submarine sent on a scouting expedition to find out Japanese intentions. They do find out, but the submarine is destroyed and Robertson and his crew are taken prisoner. After that the film plot line is one of escape as Robertson, his surviving crew members and some Aussie prisoners are also looking to break out. Along for the ride is Gia Scala daughter of a French plantation owner who is Japanese speaking and serves as interpreter. She's surviving the best she can by coyly alleging Vichy sympathies.What Robertson might have been doing is anyone's guess because we knew of Japanese intentions having broken the Japanese code. So the film is false on the face of it. Add to that Robertson's rather unbelievable escape, similar to Errol Flynn and his crew in Desperate Journey. Hopefully one day we'll get the real story of the Coral Sea. Demand it rather than this be the film that purportedly tells it.

PudgyPandaMan I'm a big fan of WWII movies - even though Im a 40 yr old female. Go figure?! So I was glad to come across one I hadn't seen yet.The basic story of the movie follows events leading up to the Battle of the Coral Sea, not the actual battle itself. One thing I'm unsure of is whether the storyline of the movie itself actually took place. The basic synopsis is a Sub commander, Jeff Conway (played by Cliff Robertson}, is given basically an intelligence mission to go scope out a build-up of Japanese navy ships & carriers in the Pacific. They aren't to engage the enemy, just capture photos & record details of the specific ships and their locations. In the process, their sub is discovered and ordered to surrender. The main crew is sent to a regular POW camp but the commander and his officers are sent to a special island interrogation camp in order to try to force info regarding their mission out of the commander.As I mentioned before, there isn't a tremendous amount of action since its the events that precede the actual battle. But it still kept me interested enough to keep watching. I think Cliff Robertson plays his role very well and is the best in the picture. I also liked Teru Shimada who played the Japanese commander Mori at the POW camp. I like when he & Robertson first meet and play a sort of cat & mouse game trying to size each other up.This movie may not keep you on the edge of your seat, but is still worth the watching to see whether or not Robertson's character gives up the info or is able to get off the island.